gutsy and regular PCs on edubuntu lan

[Gavin McCullagh]

Hi Philippe,

On Tue, 30 Oct 2007, Philippe Rousselot wrote:

> It is apparently impossible (out of the box) to get regular PCs 
> connected to the edubuntu lan to access internet. it is only possible 
> for thin clients.

There are (as I understand it) two possible network topologies for
edubuntu:

1. Single network interface.  Edubuntu and all thin clients sit on the main
   network like all other machines.  Edubuntu runs dhcp for all machines,
   and thin client services for thin clients.
2. Two network interfaces.  Edubuntu sits on the main network, thin clients
   sit behind it, connected by a separate switch to its second network
   interface.

In [1], all machines can see the internet directly.  In [2], you can put
your desktops directly on the main network and they will get internet
access _or_ put them behind the edubuntu server which must then have
ip_forwarding switched on.

It's possible the above situation has changed recently.  I'm open to
corrections if it has.

> remarque: as the primary vocation for edubuntu is to be used in schools, 
> it is quite domageable not to get out of the box  :
>     1. parental control with GUI to modify white/black list
>     2. access to internet for regular PCs connected to the server

What you seem to be describing here is a firewall/content filtering server.
Edubuntu (again, as I understand it) provides a desktop OS for schools, not
a firewall.  You probably don't want to plug things together as though it
were the firewall and it doesn't attempt to provide content filtering
(which is usually best done at/near the firewall).

I would suggest a firewall/filtering product is required for this need.
Maybe edubuntu should try to provide it, I don't know, but the current
product is really not aimed at that.

... or such is my understanding.

Gavin