[ale] Making kids stop being entitled slackers with free software

[Dustin Strickland]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'm still looking at my options
right now. I'm still thinking
of using a PV domU on workstation-0 as the proxy; it's the least
utilized machine in the house as far as specs go. I've been monitoring
RAM usage, and it will barely touch 3GB during periods of intense usage
out of an installed 6.5GB. I can't recall who said that Xen has issues,
but I would disagree. I use Xen on my machine, workstation-1, and have
never had any problems with desktop use besides those due to faulty
hardware(thanks HP). I know it can have problems with nVidia cards on
dom0, but these two machines are both using Intel's integrated graphics.

In any event, good luck to you, Jim. I know it can be a pain to watch.
Maybe your kid will do something more productive with his time, like
learn how to hack his way around your restrictions :P I'm honestly
hoping this might be the case with my brother -- but then, it would do
everyone some good to learn a little more about computers.

On Wed, 5 Mar 2014 13:25:22 -0500
Byron Jeff <byronjeff at mail.clayton.edu> wrote:

> On Wed, Mar 05, 2014 at 12:11:06PM -0500, leam hall wrote:
> > External motivation is not self-sustaining. What if you put energy
> > into finding out why the lack of motivation?
> 
> There isn't a lack of motivation here. To recap:
> 
> ---------------------
> play video games, think about playing video games, watch Youtube
> commentators play video games, or munching on unhealthy food that he
> will never be able to work off if he continues his daily routine(while
> talking about video games).
> ---------------------
> 
> There is the young man's motivation. It's his passion. The problem is
> it's a bit difficult to make a living on most passion. It's the
> reason that most of us do work that isn't necessarily directly
> related to our passion. Very few of us will still go to work after
> picking up the big lottery check.
> 
> Systems management is a part of the issue. The other part is coupling
> the work that has to be done (school, chores, etc.) with the passion
> that wants to be done (gaming).
> 
> BAJ
> 
> > 
> > On Tue, Mar 4, 2014 at 10:26 PM, Dustin Strickland
> > <dustin.h.strickland at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > So, my (much)younger brother is doing middle school online. As
> > > kids his age do, he has issues with motivating himself to do
> > > anything other than play video games, think about playing video
> > > games, watch Youtube commentators play video games, or munching
> > > on unhealthy food that he will never be able to work off if he
> > > continues his daily routine(while talking about video games).
> > >
> > > I think I have a solution, but I would like ALE's opinion on the
> > > best way to implement it. Here is a simple map of my home
> > > network(using generic names, of course):
> > > http://s29.postimg.org/fgrszgq4n/network_map.png
> > >
> > > My goal is simple: Unless he does a set amount of work each
> > > weekday when scheduled, the network will lock down to prevent him
> > > from doing anything else. Also, the network will lock down at 9
> > > PM(10:30 on weekends) and unlock at 6 AM. There will be an
> > > override method for everyone else. His X session will also be
> > > suspended at these times on his main machine(he uses Steam), and
> > > ideally all game consoles would refuse to boot as well. If
> > > Microsoft were nice, they would allow you to remotely change the
> > > parental controls PIN and settings for the Xbox 360 remotely so
> > > that I could automate this job, but they have an extensive
> > > history of making gimmicky products that are barely usable if you
> > > need flexibility, so it is to be expected that they don't.
> > >
> > > After getting my feet wet in the field with a quick Google
> > > search, I'm thinking that I want to use Squid. I'm probably going
> > > to install Xen on his main machine, workstation-0, and have a PV
> > > domU take care of everything. Do you guys approaching this the
> > > right way(from a technical standpoint I mean, I really don't care
> > > what you think about the ethics of it), and is there any other
> > > software you would recommend for this purpose?
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> > 
> > 
> > -- 
> > Mind on a Mission
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