Hey Michael,

I think you can block a range of ip addresses that the router will pass with
a subnet mask. Set a static IP on your son's computer (say 192.168.0.129)
and set the ROUTER subnet mask to 255.255.255.128. This should pass all
addresses between 192.168.0.0 and 192.168.0.127, and reject all else
(assuming you set your lan address to that particular block address).

I THINK that's the right approach ... you can still use the hub portion to
allow connections on your lan, but the subnet mask will prevent him from
crossing the divide to the real world.

Or, for even more fun, set the subnet mask on all your home computers to
0.0.0.0 (allow all to communicate), leave your router subnet mask set as
255,255,255,0; and set your son's computer to 192.168.x.y, where x is 1-255
(just not zero), and y is 0-255.

*****

Wouldn't WINE be a better approach however? It would allow you to retain
your linux administration stuff, but allow the windows application a place
to run (er die?). BSOD only kills the windows app, not the supporting OS.

HTH,

Rick
"Silvan" wrote in message
...


Although, I guess I won't be saying that too much longer. I'm going to
throw Windows on my son's computer. I can't quite expect him to learn the
Linux way of programming his Lego Mindstorms, and he's on the team at
school. The trick is going to be making sure that pile of monkey guts
doesn't figure out how to get onto the internet even though it will be
plugged into a router. The last time I tried this, it said "Oh, I see you
have installed a router. Now Internet Exploder is ready to acquire
viruses
for you." Maybe that would be friendly to some people, but I actually
like
having complete control over every aspect of my system. I'm not used to
things happening without my express permission, and that annoys the hell
out of me.

--
Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan
Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/
http://rosegarden.sourceforge.net/tutorial/