[20:20] <rmarcelino> Hello everyone
[20:21] <rmarcelino> I could use a bit of assistance please.
[20:21] <rmarcelino> I am the IT manager for 3 school campuses.. and would like to use Ubuntu in our computer labs
[20:21] <ahoneybun> highvoltage: around?
[20:22] <rmarcelino> Edubuntu to be exact
[20:22] <rmarcelino> I think they are off honey
[20:22] <rmarcelino> =)
[20:22] <ahoneybun> yea timezones
[20:22] <rmarcelino> no worries
[20:23] <rmarcelino> I appreciate you helping me out
[20:23] <ahoneybun> of course
[20:23] <rmarcelino> From what I gather Edubuntu is very similar to the Ubuntu....
[20:23] <ahoneybun> it is based on it
[20:23] <rmarcelino> I just need help getting things so the kids cant mess with anything they are not supposed to
[20:24] <ahoneybun> yea
[20:24] <rmarcelino> We already have a content filter in place for web etc...
[20:24] <ahoneybun> by default they will need the password to install things anyway
[20:24] <rmarcelino> yes and thats a good thing
[20:25] <rmarcelino> how do you make sure they cant make any systems or prefernce changes
[20:25] <ahoneybun> you can change the password so it is root so they can login and such but need the root password to do any changes
[20:25] <ahoneybun> I'm looking now
[20:25] <rmarcelino> yeah I have an admin account setup and a separate student account
[20:25] <ahoneybun> http://askubuntu.com/questions/51073/locking-down-systems-in-a-computer-lab-school-for-orphans
[20:26] <ahoneybun> bit old but worth a shot
[20:26] <rmarcelino> nice!
[20:26] <rmarcelino> reading it now
[20:26] <ahoneybun> ACL is setting getting updates
[20:27] <rmarcelino> I love our kids... but they seem to find ways around security
[20:28] <ahoneybun> I know the feeling lol
[20:28] <rmarcelino> is there a way to not allow running programs from a USB stick?  we are having issues with them using ultrasurf to get to pornography
[20:28] <ahoneybun> I got around the blocker once
[20:28] <ahoneybun> damn man that is hardcore
[20:29] <ahoneybun> I mean you can just run things from usb on Linux
[20:29] <rmarcelino> yep  I am thinking a couple students have ultra surf on a key drive and using that to get to things they should not
[20:29] <ahoneybun> other then a script
[20:29] <ahoneybun> that is a exe file
[20:29] <ahoneybun> so it will not run on Linux lol
[20:30] <ahoneybun> there will always be proxy servers
[20:30] <rmarcelino> lol  yes I knew that!
[20:30] <ahoneybun> can't block them all
[20:30] <ahoneybun> I once got pass the block by using the IP address of the website
[20:31] <ahoneybun> not the DNS one
[20:31] <rmarcelino> one of the reasons I want to move to a linux image... it prevents most of the abuses
[20:31] <ahoneybun> ye
[20:31] <rmarcelino> heh I have to explain a bit
[20:31] <rmarcelino> this is not a typical campus
[20:31] <ahoneybun> I mean they could ssh to a server and use it as a tunnel
[20:31] <ahoneybun> but just turn off the ssh port lol
[20:31] <ahoneybun> I can tell
[20:31] <ahoneybun> lol
[20:32] <rmarcelino> When protective services takes a kids from an unsafe situation, they come to live on our campus
[20:32] <ahoneybun> oh
[20:32] <rmarcelino> or when a kid has a choice to go to jail or come here
[20:32] <rmarcelino> we have alot of unhappy kids here that dont want to be
[20:32] <ahoneybun> Orphans?
[20:32] <rmarcelino> some...
[20:32] <ahoneybun> I see
[20:32] <rmarcelino> sadly
[20:32] <ahoneybun> it is
[20:32] <rmarcelino> so they will try to contact people on the outside to coordinate escapes
[20:33] <rmarcelino> or they go out of the way to wreck things for other people
[20:33] <ahoneybun> damn sounds like they think it is a prison
[20:33] <rmarcelino> I am sure they feel like that
[20:33] <ahoneybun> I have no doubt it is better then what it really is out there
[20:33] <rmarcelino> the school itself and the teachers here are great, they just have a hard job
[20:33] <ahoneybun> yea
[20:34] <rmarcelino> so I want to make sure the kids have the tools they need to study and be successful, but I have to make sure they can't mess with the computers
[20:34] <rmarcelino> because they will set everything to black so you cant see the screen
[20:34] <rmarcelino> or bright red/yellow to make it hard to look at
[20:34] <ahoneybun> yea
[20:34] <rmarcelino> stuff like that
[20:35] <rmarcelino> if memory serves me, its possible to set linux up to prevent that kind of behavior
[20:35] <rmarcelino> That and most of these kids are not familiar with linux so it will be harder for them to mess it up
[20:36] <ahoneybun> lol
[20:36] <rmarcelino> heh  you laught =)
[20:36] <rmarcelino> laugh even
[20:36] <ahoneybun> they learn from messing things up
[20:36] <rmarcelino> but I have to pit my meager IT skills against 350 teenage boys desire to find porn
[20:37] <ahoneybun> yea
[20:37] <rmarcelino> My biggest challenge to be honest is getting the time to get things setup properly
[20:37] <ahoneybun> are you in florida?
[20:37] <rmarcelino> Arizona actually
[20:37] <ahoneybun> oh
[20:38] <rmarcelino> Why I am here asking for ideas and help
[20:38] <ahoneybun> how did you end up in the Florida room then?
[20:38] <rmarcelino> no idea...
[20:38] <ahoneybun> werid lol
[20:38] <ahoneybun> *weird
[20:38] <rmarcelino> but it worked out well though!
[20:39] <ahoneybun> yea
[20:39] <ahoneybun> XD
[20:39] <rmarcelino> So really, the base install of the edubuntu should do most of what I need then??
[20:39] <rmarcelino> except the memory stick issue
[20:40] <ahoneybun> I mean unless they start writing scripts
[20:40] <rmarcelino> just setup a non-admin student account and they wont be able to install anything
[20:40] <ahoneybun> but if the libs and bins are not installed to run the scripts they are usless
[20:40] <rmarcelino> is there a way to lock down screen and desktop settings?
[20:40] <ahoneybun> they will not be able to without the root/admin password
[20:41] <rmarcelino> OK
[20:41] <ahoneybun> btw for what you want to do, always stick to the LTS
[20:41] <rmarcelino> Thanks for the help...
[20:41] <ahoneybun> long term support
[20:42] <ahoneybun> I'm still looking around as well
[20:42] <rmarcelino> OK
[20:42] <rmarcelino> LTS thats the stable versions right?
[20:42] <rmarcelino> not the nightlies
[20:42] <ahoneybun> well everyone is marked as stable
[20:43] <ahoneybun> LTS get 5 years of support
[20:43] <ahoneybun> the other ones get 9 months
[20:43] <rmarcelino> ahh
[20:43] <ahoneybun> with a new version every 6 months
[20:44] <rmarcelino> I am trying to see what I still need to learn to support this
[20:44] <rmarcelino> so I need something relatively easy to implement for now...
[20:44] <ahoneybun> yea
[20:44] <ahoneybun> I know I saw another Ubuntu distro aimed for Students
[20:45] <rmarcelino> I am also the person that does all the network, server, desktop support and programming also
[20:45] <ahoneybun> wow
[20:45] <rmarcelino> so brain is pretty fried =)
[20:45] <ahoneybun> I see
[20:45] <rmarcelino> heh
[20:45] <rmarcelino> its all good though
[20:45] <rmarcelino> I used to know linux and I like it alot
[20:46] <rmarcelino> the new versions are incredibly polished compared to what I used to know
[20:46] <ahoneybun> Yep
[20:46] <rmarcelino> I remember trying to setup xwindows and having to specify how far over to draw the screen
[20:46] <ahoneybun> damn
[20:46] <rmarcelino> ah well  am reminiscing now
[20:48] <ahoneybun> lol
[20:48] <rmarcelino> gonna get back to fixing my vmware server now *sigh*
[20:48] <rmarcelino> Thanks again for the advice
[20:48] <ahoneybun> np again
[20:48] <rmarcelino> May pop into the florida room sometime and say hi again!
[20:49] <ahoneybun> I'll be around to hey back lo