Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-edu (150 mails)

[kevin.taylor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

>  1. Embedded/Appliance/Tur(n)key applications
>     ie Internet gateway, email server, NAS device.
>     Often admined through a web interface, user
>     doesn't know a thing about the OS

This could be a very real possibility.  I am eagerly
awaiting my copy of smoothwall, to see how much
of a 'blackbox' I can make some of my old 486s
(see http://www.smoothwall.org/)

If I have a single CD with all I need to turn it into
a firewall, admined via a web interface (as they
claim)  - then I see no reason why a central body
could not collect 486s, configure them up in this
way, and ship them back to schools as internet
firewalls ...

This is the sort of idea that can really appeal - ie
someone providing a service of turning old PCs
into 'black boxes' doing something useful.

Similar applications could perhaps include :
- Print server
- Email/web server
- File server (network access storage ?)

For client end of things, a similar thing could
be setup to build X terminals (of course this
would rely on your having a suitable server
to serve them of course).

It would be interesting to see how much could
be gained from recycling PCs into 'network
appliances' as it were ...

Someone at my last LUG meeting suggesting
raiding skips for thrown out boxes, popping
Linux on them, and giving them out to LUG
members for experiments (a bit extreme,
but I am sure something could come of it).

Just my thoughts.
Kevin.