If you PROPERLY set things up, your core stays up.
*hmm*
why do you guys fight this?
Just set it up like we tell you to, and stuff works, and it works well.
"nooo, i'm a control freak, and I want to control __EEEVERYTHING___"
Fine, augment Smoothwall onto your lmce core after you set it up. But let the core be the center of the network. The system works better for it, and you'll have access to all the features.
-Thom
Thom, I respect you immensely for both your knowledge and effort in this project. However, this post is as realistic as the LinuxMCE video touting the ease and functionality of LinuxMCE installation.
Please consider that these forums are absolutely riddled with posts demonstrating that the core WILL go down. I can't say this strenuously enough, if you build a LinuxMCE core and you plan to expand it's capabilities, IT WILL GO DOWN. I could point to many posts that demonstrate people having to reinstall because everything got screwed while they were trying to make their TV, STB, Phone, whatever work (it has happened to me on more than one occasion).
Imagine a scenario where a regular guy like me is working on his LinuxMCE installation at 11PM (as I usually do) and for whatever reason, hardware failure, my own ignorance of LinuxMCE, etc. my core now boots to an SQL database error. It's now about 1AM and I have to get up for work in 5 hours so I can't reinstall or attempt to research this error. Now, I have to go to work in the morning and I won't be home until about 6PM and a repair/reinstall will take at least 2 hours. So, in the recommended configuration this scenario creates these problems: My wife and son will have no internet that day, my Web/FTP server is down AND my TV doesn't work. In the above configuration the Core has no affect on my computers whatsoever and a happy wife = a happy life.
I agree that the intention is to have the core control everything, it's simply not realistic in most people's situation. For you it probably is, but please remember that your knowledge makes short work of minor problems that for most of us with little LinuxMCE knowledge are catastrophic.
The other issue I have with your reply and the many others wherein you say the same thing is that the impression is that your LinuxMCE won't work correctly in this configuration. That is simply untrue. The core doesn't give two shits about what's on the other side of the external NIC as long as the internet is there. To the core, the above setup is exactly the same as the recommended setup. I guarantee you can not point out a LinuxMCE feature that does not work because of this configuration. The only difference is that the network devices on that external network are 'external' to the LinuxMCE network and special configuration has to occur if you want interactions between the two (it's really not even that 'special' just standard routing/firewall stuff). But special configuration to make stuff work is a staple of LinuxMCE so there's not much difference there.
I do apologize if there is an aggressive tone to this post but it's a passionate response to what seems like you always having a "you're an idiot" tone to the posts you make on this topic. It really is insulting to us that prefer this setup for stability and reliability of our home networks.