[ILUG] Linux Internet Cafe Software?

[Bryan O'Donoghue]

Nicholas Kelly wrote:
> Dear All,
> 
> It looks like I might be writing the software that handles everything login/logout related for an internet cafe. This will include guest logins and member logins. Unfortunately my Linux programming experience is very limited and I would greatly appreciate any suggestions that anyone could give me on how to get started on this project. I have extensive Java experience as well as some graphics programming experience with C/C++. I'm also familiar with PHP/MySQL. 
> 
> What would be the best language to do this in? I'm not terribly concerned with portability, just as long as it works on all the main Linux distros, M$ is not important. 
> 
> One of my main concerns is how to handle logins. Should every login simulate a normal guest logging into a Linux account or should the software be running on a guest account all the time?
> 
> Many thanks indeed for any assistance that anyone can give me,
> 
> Best Regards,
> 
> Nick
> 
> PS: I'm very open to learning new languages.


Have a client app which does a select ()

The controlling station send a signal to a server box somewhere, who has some 
sort of db and data redundancy facilities.

Server box sends a signal to client app who starts logging either a) time b) 
bandwidth or c) both.

The logging signal is the beginning of the session, when the customer goes over 
  to the couter to pay, the controlling station send another signal to stop 
logging and provide information to client/control station as to stats.

Then you have some sort of automagic UI to calculate how much bandwidth/time 
the customer is liable to pay for.

The Server calculates/logs/signals admins everything.

Do this in C/C++/PHP/Java/Perl, just about any language that supports sockets ?

I dunno, you could probably knock together a really simple PHP app to do this 
or knock it together in C in nearly the same amount of time.

Server--------------DB
|                   |
|                   |
Controller         (n)_random_clients


Indeed on the client machines you could make some sort of process watch dog, 
just in case some smartass managed to kill the logging process.... perhaps.. 
you could even have it administer a mild electric shock to the keyboard/seat, 
in such circumstances??


-- 
Bryan O'Donoghue
Embedded Software Engineer

Europlex Technologies Ltd
Clonshaugh Business & Technology Park
Dublin 17
Ireland

T:+353 (0) 1 2500500
F:+353 (0) 1 2500590
E:bryano at euoplex.ie
W:www.europlex.ie