linux gateway and router = redundant?

[augie]

E Frank Ball wrote:
> I have two machines so I can use one while I work on the other and then
> do a quick swap.  One is a Pentium 60, the other is a 486/66, both with
> 32MB of RAM.  I run a firewall, ipmasquarading, a mailserver, webserver,
> ssh server, and ntp.  No sweat.  I still have lots of clock cycles left
> over for seti at home (I just finished 1000 work units).

this is what i thought. i have heard of a lot of people running 486's and 
older pentiums as firewalls. 

but now i'm also thinking about mikes point in his list of linux plusses: 
that is 'web proxy'. let's say i decide to run squid on the gateway to cache 
webpages to speed up websurfing even more. now i wonder if i should be more 
concerned with memory, hard disk storage, and proccessor speed?

--augie