Setting up a network and sharing internet

[Steve]

Hi,

Can someone give me a few pointers on setting up a network and sharing a 
dialup (don't laugh) internet connection? Here are my details:

BOX#1:
OS: Ubuntu 5.04 (Gnome)
Modem: internal USR hardware (ppp0) INTERNET CONNECTION
NIC: integrated NForce2

BOX#2:
OS: Windows XP
NIC: integrated (IBM Thinkpad)

1. Do I require a "crossover" ethernet cable to connect BOX#2 to BOX#1?
2. What is the best (most secure) way to share internet? NAT? DHCP? What 
steps are involved?
3. Do I need to run samba to share files on BOX#1 with BOX#2?
4. Currently I am using Firestarter on BOX#1. Would it be better to use an 
iptables scipt? If so, does anyone have an iptables file that I can use for 
this purpose? Also, how do I enable iptables at boot time (instead of using 
"iptables-restore <file>")?

Thanks a lot for any help... please feel free to contact me privately 
(offlist) if you want.

-Steve.
-- 
Ubuntu :: Linux for Human Beings [Intelx86/AMD64/PowerPC]
ubuntulinux.org<http://ubuntulinux.org>
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