[NTLUG:Discuss] version advice needed badly

[Phillip.Watts@nlynx.com]

  I would appreciate any comments.

  I have built some nice little routers with Debian 2.2.16
  but management wants more and more and more.
  Also, I understand that with netfilter I can do some
  stateful packet filtering and maybe not leave so many
  unpriveledged ports open.

  So I'm hankering to go to 2.4.x
  questions:

  I like running from ramdisk, 16Mb for Files, 48Mb
     for Linux.  In a router with a zillion things to do
     very fast, ramdisk is very nice.  File system doesn't crash,
     no swap partition.  Is that going to be significantly harder
     to pull off with 2.4, i.e get all the stuff necessary for a router
   into 16MB  ( takes about 8MB now ) ?
  In a single processor system, do you pay any price for SMP.
  Is it to early to go to 2.4 for a VPN router.

  Red Hat has 2.4 in their  7.1 .  They also use gcc 2.96.  Is
     that a buggy 2.96 or have they fixed it.
  I like dealing with Red Hat, paying for support can be good
     sometimes.  I know a lot of people don't like Red Hat
       and I haven't followed why.
              Whoops, just noticed  RedHat 7.2 is out.   Including
                          gcc 2.96-RH, gdb 5.0, glibc 2.2.4.
          Is that good or bad?

     or

  I've gleaned that Mandrake is the new star with a lot of
     people.  Don't know why that is either.  Do they
     have any telephone support in the U.S. similar to
     Red Hat or is it strictly email France.

  Assuming you think it's a good idea to go to 2.4
  for a router, which distribution would you recommend
  starting with.

  Thanks, Phil