I want to chime in with a thanks. I always heard Intel NICs were *better* but I assumed it was simply due to their drivers and OS compatibility, now I understand better. Thanks for the education, sorry for the hijack.
Good point, for desktops that never leave the protection of Untangle or similar setup, or where you have a number of different users inside your network whose hardware you may not always be able to access or monitor easily. I live alone but have laptops that go out into the wild regularly, and...
Many good choices recommended by the previous posters, I've tried most of them. As a home hobbyist, pfSense fit the bill for me. Re-purpose an older computer as a test bed and play with the various distros to help you decide what you like, and what you need when you go hardware shopping.
I...
I did the same exact thing a few days ago! Had no clue what the checked/debug version actually was but thought it sounded the best. Finally decided the .iso had to be corrupt and downloaded the regular Vista x64 SP1 version. Live and learn. :)