“SmoothWall Linux 0.9.4 is a recent addition to the family of
Linux distributions and one with an interesting lineage. The base
system files are a stripped-down version of those found in VA-Linux
6.2.1, which in turn was derived from Red Hat Linux 6.2. What is
more interesting than its lineage is this distro’s purpose in life:
to function as, and only as, a firewall to the Internet.”
“SmoothWall Linux is a creation of Richard Morrell and Lawrence
Manning, two British programmers who wanted to “extend Linux via a
device that they can build that isn’t a cobbled together solution
but a fully fledged device with management facilities, into the
houses with Mac and Windows clients,” according to Morrell. In this
they have certainly succeeded, since SmoothWall does its one main
function very well….
“SmoothWall is currently available from SourceForge in the form
of two tarballed source files (one for the CGI and one for the base
code) or in one single ISO to burn onto a CD-ROM. The source files
are very small, just under 50K in size. Even the ISO is just over a
mere 18 Mb, which makes this a download that even a low-bandwidth
pipe can handle with just a little investment in time.”