On 10/25/2016 05:47 PM, D. Hugh Redelmeier via talk wrote:

By gateway, I mean router/firewall/whatever box that sits between your 
LAN and the internet.

Reasonable choices:

- ISP-provided / sanctioned device (combo wireless router and modem)

- ISP modem + user provided wireless router

  + possibly running custom firmware like CeroWRT or OpenWRT

- ISP modem + PC acting as router

  + lots of possible software (pfsense, debian, whatever)

For a variety of reasons I've always used PCs.  But which PCs are best
for this?

I have used http://www.acrosser.com/ for a number of network projects.
The nice thing about their products is that they have enough horsepower to run a full up linux install.

They once upon a time had some nice fanless 6port computers which were great for router/firewall applications.

They are not the cheapest but if you look around you will see lots of their products re-branded by others as complete solutions.

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