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Technical Details Behind the LAN-Party Optimized House
New submitter Temporal writes "Yesterday, Slashdot reported on my LAN-party optimized house. But, lacking from the internet at that time were key technical details: How do I boot 12 machines off a single shared disk? What software do I use? What does my network infrastructure look like? Why do I have such terrible furniture? Is that Gabe Newell on the couch? The answer is a combination of Linux, PXE boot, gPXE, NBD/iSCSI, and LVM snapshots running on generic hardware over generic gigabit ethernet. I have even had several successful LAN parties with a pure-Linux setup, using WINE."
...plenty of wine would make a Linux-centric LAN party tolerable, and perhaps even enjoyable.
No, the burning question was what kind of chuckle-head would spend all that money and stick his friends on fixed height desks all (it looks from the pictures) at writing height, not typing height.
He's going to give all his friends who are not very tall shoulder and wrist problems.
Look at the pictures. They're all (except for one very tall guy) very badly positioned for work.
He's going to need a to dole out ibuprofen by the pound to his guests.
the stodgy guys at bell labs were doing this in 1990
with plan 9.
or should i update my lingo and say "1990 called and
wants its idea back?".
- erik
Great follow up to the previous article.
Kudos to you.
Why would you ever name a device Crashman? This just seems ominous!
"Which machine do you want to use for the LAN party?"
"Oh, Crashman looks really stable."
Honestly I'm kicking myself for not having written everything up before going public. The vast majority of people who saw the original post will not see the technical details. :/
Does anyone know if this setup would work with Windows 7 images? Not the installer, PXE boot the whole OS. I've often wondered.
I can't imagine a single machine serving out over iSCSI to have performance acceptable to play any modern, intensive game. How's it all work?
It's like you went public beta before working out the kinks~
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
"I purchased 12 copies of Windows 7 Ultimate OEM System Builder edition, in 3-packs. However, it turns out that because the hardware is identical, Windows does not even realize that it is moving between machines."
I love how this guy signed in as Anonymous Coward. I don't have a house this cool and wish i did! I long for cat5e Ethernet in the walls, let alone a complete LAN party setup. Kudos Temporal.
That's google for ya.
Every computer using geek has an Asian girlfriend except me.
How they fuck do they do it?
You have to be white, nerdy, and socially awkward. I've got all three! Come hither, ladies!
You should be my #1 fan then. I always "sign in as Anonymous Coward".
Release early, release often. I thought that was the way we're supposed to work.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
It was a good write-up... I was curious about a lot of that when I saw it the other day.
;)
I'm blown away by how much you put into the project. The cabinet rigs in particular came out really slick. Congrats, and go get your employer to use it as a demo for SketchUp.
Honestly I'm kicking myself for not having written everything up before going public. The vast majority of people who saw the original post will not see the technical details. :/
A lot of people wouldn't care about the technical details either. You can be a gamer without being a geek.
Kickass house, dude. Pay the AC no attention, envy is not a pretty thing. Thanks for the technical article, there's definitely stuff in there everyone can use, even if they don't have a house purely optimized for LAN parties. In fact, I wouldn't mind seeing additional details, tutorials on setting up the images and the like.
Warning: Opinions known to be heavily biased.
It would be neat to see how a setup like this would hold out for gaming with Windows 8, Hyper-V and remotefx (assuming gaming cards play nice with it), then you could consolidate expenses to a machine or two, and keep your existing "client" hardware for years, if I understand how it will work...
You do realize that it is extraordinarily easy to install cat5e wall plates and drops in most modern homes, right?
You can use powertools, have an rj45 modular crimping tool, and know where to buy bulk cat5e right? (If not, can I please verify your geek card...)
All you need is hidden utility closet to house the punchblock and local switch hardware, and you are golden. With how small some of this hardware has gotten, you might even be able to get away with a breakerbox enclosure from lowes, assuming you put some ventilation in it.
My current home was once refit as a beauty salon by the previous owners, and has so may utility hookups in the living room that I could have a christmas tree made entirely of christmas lights and not blow any fuses (hookups for dryer chairs have beefy amp ratings). If I wasn't such an antisocial recluse, and actually had lan party friends to come over I could really do crazy shit with my place too.
But I don't, so I haven't and won't. But if you want to run cat5e in your house, the only thing stopping you is inertia, since as far as I know you don't need an electrician to run the stuff, being so low voltage.
So he does not seem to get the full 6 mbps that http://www.sonic.net/ offers on DSL. Must be to far from the CO or RT to get the full speed.
he bases Comcast but they have faster speeds and better upload. But the Sonic.net directv bundle is better for TV.
But MS may see 12 systems with the same key live at the same time.
This is a made up story by the liberal media.
Blizzard clearly stated that no one is interested in LAN parties and the whole concept is dead. Please move on. There is nothing here to see.
I'm not quite sure what you mean. How is 32 less than 6?
A typical Comcast package appears to be 15mbps, according to their site. Comcast Business Class does offer pretty good bandwidth, though.
The question isn't "How", its "Why".. money doesn't seem to be the big issue here, so why not spring for Server 2008R2 and manage all the boxes from there? it does all this updating/registering/etc your hacking together, and for around $800, versus your hourly rate x hours hacking, seems less expensive and the result is a heck of a lot more manageable. I'm all for the do-it-yourself type, but managing disk images? Yeah I can spend my time better elsewhere
sonic.net also has 20Mbps or up to 40Mbps broadband on Adsl+2 but 40 is dual line.
I think he's having a mental fault and mixing units.
32mbps = ~4MByte/s
which is better than the ~24mbps I get off Comcast (a solid 3MB/s off Steam content servers, at least until my cablemodem starts having seizures.)
Why bother spending $800 bucks for an OS you may not particularly like the style of anyway? For a task like this, I really don't see a particular advantage that Windows would hold unless all you know is Windows. The tools to do this sort of stuff are trivial to work in Linux (I personally think easier than Microsoft tools, but that may be a preference).
I would give MS the benefit of the doubt on a setup suggesting AD account management, though I haven't tried 389 which may have a nice integrated feel. Standard OpenLDAP+Kerberos realm is a little more work than setting up AD for a relatively small setup, but I see that as superfluous either way for this sort of setup.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
The only thing stopping me from running cat5e in my home is not inertia, it's the large structure made of wood that runs up, down, and horizontally through the walls. Unless I wanted to cut holes in the walls so I could drill pass through holes between floors, there's no way to do it completely in the walls. Of course, you could put up molding in the corners and along the ceiling to hide everything. Some might even go under the carpet (which I did in one room).
get your employer to use it as a demo for SketchUp. ;)
Or perhaps to follow Microsoft's lead and create some games, as it leads into experimenting with lots of technologies. Perhaps Linux gaming will get a boost too.
Build your own energy sources from scratch. http://otherpower.com/
sonic.net also has 20Mbps or up to 40Mbps broadband on Adsl+2 but 40 is dual line.
Yes, that's what I have. The 40Mbps dual-line "Fusion". Due to distance from CO, it gets 32Mbps, but it is a consistent 32Mbps.
As the author of Syslinux/PXELINUX I found the article rather interesting and enjoyable. :)
Clone away... SIDS only come into play if ur adding them to a domain otherwise have at it....
I'm curious as to what sort of latency he gets by extending USB through repeaters and if he uses hubs on his keyboard/mice at the other end? I know HDMI can be run quite a long distance (relatively speaking), but USB isn't made to be run long distances at all. If I remember correctly, there is a maximum distance USB can run before you need to add a hub/repeater. Adding to that, hubs in my experience interfere with peripherals, especially gaming peripherals (fast and high dpi mice). He doesn't really go into much detail besides saying he runs USB and HDMI to his remote stations.
Generally that problem can be solved with 36 inch flexible drill bits (they exist and are awesome and not too expensive), maybe some flexible drill bit extenders (you may need the equivalent of a 100 inch drill bit), and some fishtape. Usually, you just drill down until you hit the unfinished part of your basement, or you drill over until you hit an air duct and run plenum rated through that with the fishtape.
You know, I always wondered why the extlinux component of syslinux hasn't taken hold as a boot option in most of the major Linux distros yet? It has the file system support similar to grub, yet the simplicity of lilo. Perfect combination for when grub seems like overkill (I often run into cases where I can't easily get grub to do what I think it is supposed to do, and extlinux has ended up saving my hide).
Well, let the distros know...
As the author of Syslinux/PXELINUX I found the article rather interesting and enjoyable. :)
Thank you for your useful software! Sadly I'm no longer using pxelinux since I switched to Windows, but I believe I'm still using your TFTP server. :)
If you need more than a damned good switch, internet connection, and wireless AP to optimize your LAN parties (real LANners have their own boxen, TYVM) you're doing it wrong.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
thank you, you gave me some leads for something I'm working on at work.
I love you.
Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
If you're the kind of user that cares about boot options, you should probably be using Arch Linux
I also love you
I love you too.
I'm replying to the guy above and just using one example I've seen.
Also why assume it's racist? It could just as easily describe a Caucasian that has grown up in a different environment to the person she is attracted to.
"I'm scared of overclocking. The thought of messing with voltages or running stability tests gives me the shivers. I bow to you and your superior geek cred, oh mighty overclocker."
After reading pages and pages of complex technical system configs, this really hurts me to read.
You can get a 2500k to 4.4GHZ without even taking it out of the Intel voltage and temperature recommended limits (with proper cooling).
The right way to do it requires no more than a 36' drill bit. If you are ordering online or with a building supply guy who is savvy, what you are looking for is called a bell hanger bit. They are not only quite long, but very flexible. (being largely spring steel, they snap quite easily if you drill too far off axis though) They commonly come in the smaller sizes needed to run simple low voltage lines like thermostats and door bells (hence the name) but can be found in larger sizes needed to run Ethernet. They are just the ticket for cutting a hole big enough for the outlet box and drilling from outside that, down through the base plate and into the cavity below. You then go downstairs and open another small hole and drill down to the basement. Having an assistant is invaluable when fishing the line, s/he can listen for the fish tape knocking in the first floor cavity if there is any doubt at all where your drill came out.
Even with Plenum rated cable, I'd avoid running it in an air duct if there was any way at all to avoid it. It's better to go around, using an extra handful of meters of cable for the longer route, then it is to have the duct cleaning guy get his brushes tangled in it next year. If you do use the duct anyway, use a grommet where it passes through the sheet steel, not only to protect the cable from being cut by the sharp edge, but also to reduce leakage from the ducts into the wall cavities.
I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
This article is strangely bringing a warm remember of having LAN parties in my mother's basement; ah, that was the time!
Being as how I have been thinking of this much recently, how would you recommend I handle my situation? I have a townhouse built on a slab, two floors and an attic. How do you run a cable from the attic to a lower level through the second floor? I have thought about using the furnace exhaust, but would be afraid of melted cables there...
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?
As a hypothetical case, I will assume you want to start a cable run from the furnace and hot water tank closet/room where your ISP connection comes into the house and then run Ethernet from there up to a home office in a finished attic in the diagonally opposite corner of the home. (since you mention possibly using the furnace exhaust)
You want to come up with a path that is vertical as possible until it reaches the attic space, going straight up from where your modem and/or router are. If you are lucky, there will be a closet on the second floor over the furnace space. Worst case scenario would be a bathroom right over it. I can't give you a simple map to follow, but I can give you general guidelines you can follow.
1. Going up through interior walls is preferable to going up through exterior walls. You want to avoid damaging the house insulation and vapour barrier envelope unless you are prepared to fix that as you go along. (problem is, the electromechanical stuff is almost always closest to an exterior wall...)
2) If possible, cut your holes in closets, your patch work will be a lot less noticeable there
3) attics always have triangular waste spaces between the eaves of the house and the knee walls of the room. If you have to, it is comparatively easy to go around even three sides of a square in the attic of you have to, in order to use the most direct path on the vertical segment coming up from the first floor.
4) As a rule, you plan your cable route from the bottom up, but then cut and drill from the top down.
I need a wheelchair van for my son. Help me get the word out. https://www.gofundme.com/wheelchair-van-for-jj
The main issue I have is running through two levels. I suppose the bendy drill bit would work, just use a old telephone cable hole that is in my bedroom on the second floor for the runs to the lower level.
My next house will have a basement, now I see the need for it :)
APK likes to ask for responses to the same things over and over. Maybe he just likes the responses?