[HN Gopher] Show HN: I built a(nother) house optimized for LAN p...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Show HN: I built a(nother) house optimized for LAN parties
        
       I wasn't quite sure if this qualified as "Show HN" given you can't
       really download it and try it out. However, dang said[0]:  > If
       it's hardware or something that's not so easy to try out over the
       internet, find a different way to show how it actually works--a
       video, for example, or a detailed post with photos.  Hopefully I
       did that?  Additionally, I've put code and a detailed guide for the
       netboot computer management setup on GitHub:
       https://github.com/kentonv/lanparty  Anyway, if this shouldn't have
       been Show HN, I apologize!  [0]
       https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22336638
        
       Author : kentonv
       Score  : 280 points
       Date   : 2024-11-16 15:52 UTC (7 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (lanparty.house)
 (TXT) w3m dump (lanparty.house)
        
       | anotherhue wrote:
       | I assume this is also a CF PoP?
        
       | hed wrote:
       | I think these are cool and seeing the NetBoot + CoW setup for
       | gaming is fun.
       | 
       | Thanks for sharing!
        
       | lostmsu wrote:
       | Do you run Linux or Windows?
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | The server is Linux but the game machines are Windows.
         | 
         | But I am going to try switching the game machines to Linux at
         | some point. I can't tell you how many times I've run into what
         | were almost showstopper problems with the whole iSCSI netboot
         | thing with Windows, only to get really lucky with some registry
         | hack that worked around it. I'm sure it's going to just stop
         | working at some point. Whereas with Linux I can dig into the
         | stack and make things work however I want.
         | 
         | In fact, in the old Palo Alto house, when I first completed it
         | in 2011, the game stations were Linux for the first six months.
         | In theory it was a better setup because the machines were able
         | to use their local disks for the copy-on-write overlay (this
         | was easy to set up with an initrd script and Device Mapper).
         | With Windows, I haven't figured out how to utilize the local
         | disk at all -- so all the copy-on-write overlays are on the
         | server side, which of course wastes server resources.
         | 
         | Of course, the problem with Linux is game support. We got a
         | long way with WINE in 2011 but there were just a few too many
         | issues. Here in 2024, Linux is ostensibly a much more capable
         | gaming platform, with Steam support, Proton, etc. So maybe
         | it'll work better this time?
         | 
         | Anyway, just another project on the todo list...
        
           | tim-- wrote:
           | Have you thought about using Clonezilla and broadcasting out
           | an image using PXE boot?
           | 
           | Would completely bypass the iSCSI setup, and each machine
           | would still get the latest image from your server before the
           | lan party begins.
        
             | kentonv wrote:
             | A really neat thing about the netboot setup is it takes
             | zero time to clone the image to all the machines. As soon
             | as I'm done installing updates on one machine, I shut down,
             | run one command that completes instantly, and now I can
             | boot all the machines immediately with that image.
             | 
             | There have been a decent number of times when I actually
             | did this during a party to fix an issue, or between parties
             | just to keep the machines maintained for the family to play
             | with, etc. It'd be hard to do that if I have to spend hours
             | transferring a large image every time.
             | 
             | Aside from the stability issues at boot time, there isn't
             | really a down side. I don't have any problems with load
             | times. So I'm pretty happy with the setup.
        
       | f1shy wrote:
       | How much does it cost? Probably can only be pay be Musk, Wall and
       | Gates
        
         | 082349872349872 wrote:
         | Nope, USD 150k (for stations & cabinetry):
         | https://lanparty.house/#cost
        
           | levzettelin wrote:
           | Fake news.
           | 
           | > The house overall was a 7-digit number. Sorry, I'm not
           | comfortable being any more specific than that.
        
             | renewiltord wrote:
             | You can get that size of home for 2 million in Austin. The
             | work to make it a LAN party home is not that expensive in
             | comparison. The magic for him is that his dad is an
             | architect. The home is very well designed and if you want
             | that kind of design you'll be paying more. Especially if
             | you want the whole thing ready built.
        
               | kentonv wrote:
               | > The magic for him is that his dad is an architect.
               | 
               | Yes. I could never have done any of this without that
               | fact. When you hire an architect, especially for a high-
               | end house, they are incentivized to make expensive design
               | decisions in order to make the house more impressive for
               | their portfolio, and of course the contractor is not
               | going to stop them because they want the money. And if
               | you're just a normal person not experienced in
               | homebuilding, you will not be able to spot what they're
               | doing. I'm sure I would have been taken advantage of if
               | the architect wasn't a family member.
        
         | stavros wrote:
         | Not just those, but probably not too far off, either.
        
       | 082349872349872 wrote:
       | LAN party game room by night, Cybersyn II by day?
       | 
       | But where are the ceiling duct tape hammocks?
       | http://octanecreative.com/ducttape/walltapings/images/german...
        
       | xfalcox wrote:
       | This is super awesome, congrats!
        
       | lifeisstillgood wrote:
       | So we have an ongoing debate in the white collar world - work in
       | the office or work at home. I am firmly on the "teams work better
       | in physical proximity camp" but there are still many better ways
       | to arrange that physical space
       | 
       | And this - the hideaway desks that fold down to become a table
       | top gaming session, well that could make much more flexible
       | office spaces. (Don't get me started on offices with one or two
       | desks and doors that shut !)
       | 
       | But yeah, I like it, even if my house has that many people in I
       | would probably just hide in the kitchen all night
        
       | lukevdp wrote:
       | Love the creativity and dedication to the project. And really
       | cool house.
        
       | seg_fault wrote:
       | Awesome! The fold up mechanism is a great idea to make it look
       | clean, when there is no party and it also saves the hardware from
       | dust :D
        
       | GauntletWizard wrote:
       | You're living the dream, man.
        
       | renewiltord wrote:
       | Extraordinary home! Great design. Especially love the cat stuff.
       | I have to say, it's wild that something "moderate" like an i5 /
       | 4070 build is so powerful these days. It's middle of the line in
       | this era but it's enough to play practically anything.
       | 
       | Also, this is a classic example of the power of leverage. $200k
       | down on a $1m home, home goes to $2m gives you a $1m profit on
       | ~$240k. Accidental, in this case, but nice.
        
         | somishere wrote:
         | to see that upside on a home requires you 1. sell and 2. buy
         | somewhere cheaper (or not buy at all) ... Otherwise it's a zero
         | sum game. Home for a home.
        
           | renewiltord wrote:
           | Indeed that's what OP did. Bought in the Bay low, then sold
           | high and moved to Austin, where presumably the increase in
           | value is again sufficiently high because Austin prices
           | skyrocketed in the last 5 years.
        
       | jgeralnik wrote:
       | What DDR pads are those? Are they custom made?
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | They are L-TEK Ex Pro X. Shipped all the way from Poland!
         | 
         | They seem to work pretty well. Have been using them frequently
         | for more than a year with no issues yet.
        
           | jgeralnik wrote:
           | Thanks, those were the main recommendation the last time I
           | looked into it (a few years ago), good to hear you recommend
           | them too!
        
       | jameskraus wrote:
       | Hahaha, the anecdote about the subcontractor is great.
       | 
       | What a thoughtfully designed space for your family and friends! I
       | feel like going this custom is pretty rare, and you're clearly
       | getting the value out of it. I also love that you did the math on
       | the cable runs making essentially no difference.
       | 
       | Thanks for sharing :)
        
       | srbloom wrote:
       | This is super freaking cool. I'm curious how you feel about
       | Austin vs Bay Area in terms of general quality of life, culture,
       | things like that?
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | It feels pretty similar, but more chill. Distances are shorter.
         | The sky doesn't fill with smoke for a week every year. The
         | weather is much more interesting -- honestly I got really bored
         | with Bay Area weather after 15 years. I even like the heat in
         | the summer, in short intervals. There are enough tech people
         | here to be interesting, but not enough that a random person you
         | meet on the street is likely to be in tech.
         | 
         | One thing I appreciate is that there is tons of _building_
         | happening. Housing prices went up during the pandemic, but
         | there is new housing being built everywhere you look, and as a
         | result the prices are now going _down_ quite a bit! (Which I 'm
         | fine with, even as a homeowner, because I wasn't planning to
         | sell anytime soon anyway and I like to see problems getting
         | solved.) The downtown skyline keeps changing -- the tallest
         | tower when I arrived is now hardly notable!
         | 
         | All that said I'm not sure I personally am very affected by
         | where I live. When I moved from Minneapolis to the Bay Area,
         | people asked me if it was a culture shock, but all I really
         | noticed was less snow and more left turn lanes...
        
           | iwontberude wrote:
           | Having lived in the Midwest, Texas and Bay Area I can soundly
           | say there is no comparison which can be made about the
           | natural splendor. Bay Area, even with smoke in the air for a
           | week, is orders of magnitude more comfortable and
           | interesting. In Texas people cloister into giant houses and
           | say goodbye to enjoying nature, it's really sad that people
           | prefer such a reality. It lets them forget just how grand a
           | world there is worth saving and fighting for instead of
           | letting it all become privatized and exploited unsustainably.
        
             | kentonv wrote:
             | I do a lot of biking, and TBH I've had an easier time
             | finding enjoyable bike routes near my house in Austin than
             | I did in Palo Alto. During the summer I go biking at dawn
             | and it's great, and during the winter there are usually
             | 70-degree days regularly enough.
             | 
             | Of course, on that measure, Minneapolis blows both of them
             | out of the water -- at least during the half of the year
             | when biking is enjoyable.
        
       | mewse-hn wrote:
       | Beautiful house, great ideas, love the stow-away workstations --
       | no patch panel in the network rack _facepalm_
        
       | gloflo wrote:
       | I wish I was rich too.
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | He seems like he has a really good attitude about it.
        
       | w-m wrote:
       | Wait, why do you have the same living room as Bojack Horseman?
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | Lol, never seen it before, but looking now, yeah it looks kinda
         | similar!
        
       | teruakohatu wrote:
       | This is truely living the dream, well done mate! It is indeed
       | crazy that cabinetry costs the same as the technology.
       | 
       | How does the cat restroom exhaust work? Always on or does it have
       | a sensor?
       | 
       | Do the cat doors prevent sound getting into the kids' rooms from
       | the living room?
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | The cat room fans are standard bathroom fans. At present we
         | just leave them on all the time -- you can see the switches
         | taped down in the photos. I suppose it might be a good idea to
         | rig up a sensor...
        
           | hunter2_ wrote:
           | Might be able to use a flipper zero as the sensor, if the
           | cats are chipped. Then you'll have data to catch any unusual
           | usage, like a urinary blockage, before it becomes a serious
           | problem! At that point you're a smart switch and Home
           | Assistant script away from fan control.
        
             | kentonv wrote:
             | Garply had a blockage once and he did a remarkably good job
             | of communicating the problem to us directly!
        
             | ahaucnx wrote:
             | I would recommend to use an TVOC sensor that detects smell
             | very easily and then automatically switch on a fan. Could
             | be a fun project.
             | 
             | Just need: - TVOC sensor like the SGP41
             | 
             | - ESP32 microcontroller
             | 
             | - Electric Relay
        
           | devenson wrote:
           | Constant fans are sucking outside air into your house. Could
           | be part of your Heat/AC efficiency problem mentioned in your
           | post. A timer to run every 10th minute would be a simple
           | improvement.
        
       | Symbiote wrote:
       | > [High AC cost.] Perhaps we have too many windows letting in too
       | much sunlight...
       | 
       | My office has automatic blinds that open and close according to
       | some climate control system. The blinds are within the double
       | glazing, so they can't be damaged by weather (or cats). The nice
       | version for a home would be something like [1].
       | 
       | I'm sure the owner could program the automation so they only
       | change position if no-one is in the room. There's no point having
       | sunlight streaming into an empty room.
       | 
       | [1] https://www.betweenglassblinds.co.uk/
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | Yeah good idea. We do have electric shades on many of the
         | windows... I just need to rig up some software control of them.
         | I suppose as an experiment I could leave them all down for a
         | day and see how much power it saves. The shades are on the
         | inside of the glass, but light-colored, so should reflect back
         | a fair amount of light.
        
         | necovek wrote:
         | In the winter in a normal European/northern US climate, you
         | probably want sunlight streaming into an empty room to reduce
         | the heating bill.
         | 
         | Possibly never in Austin, TX: I am not too privy to the
         | temperatures it gets down to in the winter, though heating was
         | brought up too.
        
       | eertami wrote:
       | The biggest surprise for me was seeing the desks with no mouse
       | pads (or if you wanted to build it into the cabinet you'd
       | probably want to stick down a desk pad).
       | 
       | But I also in my circles everyone takes their own
       | keyboard/mouse/pad/headphones as those are the things it's hard
       | to adjust to - admittedly my priorities could be completely
       | different.
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | I mostly haven't used a mouse pad in decades... until recently.
         | I now have a mouse pad on my main work desk because the wood
         | where my mouse was kept attracting weird black spots. They were
         | easy to clean off but weirded me out. And I guess it would be
         | sad if I ended up with a permanent wear spot...
         | 
         | But I think the LAN parties don't really happen often enough to
         | cause much wear. In 10 years at the old place no one used mouse
         | pads and it was never an issue.
        
           | zexodus wrote:
           | > the wood where my mouse was kept attracting weird black
           | spots
           | 
           | Have the same issue, but can't subscribe to mousepads. I
           | believe that's dust getting in the crevices of the wood.
        
             | hk1337 wrote:
             | Or oils from your hand, perhaps?
        
           | buildsjets wrote:
           | May I recommend the 3M Precise Mouse Pad with Repositionable
           | Adhesive Backing? Dumb name, good product.
           | 
           | https://www.amazon.com/3M-Precise-Repositionable-Adhesive-
           | MP...
        
       | amatecha wrote:
       | Wow, this is beyond badass. Not only is the LAN and home network
       | setup top-notch, that location is excellent too - what a view!
       | Congrats on the amazing LAN setup and such a fun place to enjoy
       | some gaming with your friends & family. Truly worthy of some
       | envy, that's for sure :) Looks like it was a good chunk of work,
       | but 110% worth it!
        
       | hk1337 wrote:
       | > Normally, maintaining twelve machines used by random guests
       | would have two huge problems:
       | 
       | Maybe you did this with your other house but I would have thought
       | guests would bring their own computer to a LAN party. All you
       | have to do is provide the space and network capability?
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | See: https://lanparty.house/#why-build-in
        
       | syntaxing wrote:
       | > Jade and I needed a bigger house, but we really could not
       | afford to buy (much less build) anything bigger in Palo Alto.
       | 
       | I'm really surprised about this, really shows how ludicrous the
       | housing market is in the Bay Area. How high does your income need
       | to be to afford a bigger house?!
        
         | valzam wrote:
         | Also considering 1400 sq ft (130 sq m) too small to raise a
         | family is peak American... That's bigger than 99.9% of
         | apartments people live in in Europe and raise a family just
         | fine.
        
           | Tijdreiziger wrote:
           | At first, my jaw was open looking at the photos.
           | 
           | Then I remembered... oh yeah, everything is bigger in America
           | (especially in Texas)!
        
           | sevg wrote:
           | I suppose if you want to raise a family AND have a huge
           | dedicated lan party area, then maybe 130 sqm isn't enough.
           | 
           | But I do agree with you. We live in a 4 bedroom detached
           | house approx 120 sqm and this is plenty of space for a
           | family. In fact, it's above average space out of all the
           | families I know...
        
       | RulerOf wrote:
       | > I've never heard of anyone else having done anything like this.
       | This surprises me! But, surely, if someone else did it, someone
       | would have told me about it? If you know of another, please let
       | me know!
       | 
       | I never had the tenacity to consider my build "finished," and
       | definitely didn't have your budget, but I built a 5-player
       | room[1] for DotA 2 back in 2013.
       | 
       | I got really lucky with hardware selection and ended up fighting
       | with various bugs over the years... diagnosing a broken video
       | card was an exercise in frustration because the virtualization
       | layer made BSODs impossible to see.
       | 
       | I went with local disk-per-VM because latency matters more than
       | throughput, and I'd been doing iSCSI boot for such a long time
       | that I was intimately familiar with the downsides.
       | 
       | I _love_ your setup (thanks for taking the time to share this
       | BTW) and would love to know if you ever get the local CoW
       | working.
       | 
       | My only tech-related comment is that I will also confirm that
       | those 10G cards are indeed trash, and would humbly suggest an
       | Intel-based eBay special. You could still load iPXE (I assume
       | you're using it) from the onboard NIC, continue using it for WoL,
       | but shift the netboot over to the add-in card via a script, and
       | probably get better stability and performance.
       | 
       | [1]: https://imgur.com/a/4x4-four-desktops-one-system-kWyH4
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | Hah, you really did the VM thing? A lot of people have
         | suggested that to me but I didn't think it'd actually work.
         | Pretty cool!
         | 
         | Yeah I'm pretty sure my onboard 10G Marvell AQtion ethernet is
         | the source of most of my stability woes. About half the time
         | any of these machines boot up, Windows bluescreens within the
         | first couple minutes, and I think it has something to do with
         | the iSCSI service crashing. Never had trouble in the old house
         | where the machines had 1G network -- but load times were
         | painful.
         | 
         | Luckily if the machines don't crash in the first couple
         | minutes, then they settle down and work fine...
         | 
         | Yeah I could get higher-quality 10G cards and put them in all
         | the machines but they seem expensive...
        
           | kridsdale3 wrote:
           | I'm building out a 10G LAN in my house (8k VR video files are
           | ludicrously enormous) and while it's mostly Mac, where I use
           | Thunderbolt to SFP fiber adapters, for my Windows PC I'm
           | looking around at what PCI options to get, and haven't pulled
           | the trigger.
           | 
           | If you make a decision on a 10G card (SFP or ethernet) I'd
           | like to hear what you picked.
        
           | toast0 wrote:
           | > Yeah I could get higher-quality 10G cards and put them in
           | all the machines but they seem expensive...
           | 
           | Bulk buying is probably hard, but ex-enterprise Intel 10G on
           | eBay tends to be pretty inexpensive. Dual spf+ x520 cards are
           | regularly available for $10. Dual 10g-base-t x540 cards run a
           | bit more, with more variance, $15-$25. No 2.5/5Gb support,
           | but my 10g network equipment can't do those speeds either, so
           | no big deal. These are almost all x8 cards, so you need a
           | slot that can accomidate them, but x4 electrical _should_ be
           | fine (I 've seen reports that some enterprise gear has
           | trouble working properly in x1/x4 slots beyond bandwidth
           | restrictions which shouldn't be a problem; if a dual port
           | card needs x8 and you only have x4 and only use a single
           | port, that should be fine)
           | 
           | I think all of mine can pxeboot, but sometimes you have to
           | fiddle with the eeprom tools, and they might be legacy only,
           | no uefi pxe, but that's fine for me.
           | 
           | And you usually have to be ok with running them with no
           | brackets, cause they usually come with low profile brackets
           | only.
        
       | Multiplayer wrote:
       | As the former proprietor of LanParty.com (which I mistakenly
       | included in a sale to IGN) I must salute you. The absolute genius
       | of the provided lan equipment and particularly the management
       | thereof is an inspiration.
       | 
       | I think the lack of any standing offerings of variations of Quake
       | is a glaring mistake but easily rectified. :)
       | 
       | It's really heartening to see lan gaming continued and offered in
       | such a way that the amount of hassle and setup is minimized and
       | the gaming is maximized. We spent far too much time in the 90's
       | and 2000's dealing with driver issues, etc etc. Bravo.
        
       | xyst wrote:
       | I'm surprised people still have LAN parties.
       | 
       | My lan parties were more adhoc. Plan to play at some dudes/gals
       | house, bring pcs/laptops/consoles and other gear, run cat5 cable
       | between rooms, hook them up to some shitty switch and go to town.
       | Many hours of sweaty gameplay. Piss off the neighbors. Trip a few
       | circuit breakers.
       | 
       | This "lan party" has such a corporate feel to it. Almost reminds
       | me of a typical work office. Just what I need after grinding it
       | for 5 hrs and commuting home for another 1-2 hr -- to experience
       | the work environment again!
       | 
       | I'm actually more interested in the dedicated cat walk and doors
       | that lead into various rooms.
        
       | deadbabe wrote:
       | It's one thing to build a house like this, if you can actually
       | host a LAN party with friends and max out occupancy at every game
       | station you are rich in life.
        
       | iwontberude wrote:
       | Such a cool house, too bad it's in Texas
        
       | echoangle wrote:
       | This is so cool. But the keyboard disturbed me, wouldn't you at
       | least want a mechanical keyboard?
       | 
       | > Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired -- The world's cheapest keyboard
       | at $13 a pop. Works perfectly fine for all gaming needs.
       | 
       | I can't imagine playing stuff like overwatch on a membrane office
       | keyboard for $13 when having spent more than 100k on the setup.
       | Especially when cheap mechanical keyboards are not that much more
       | expensive either.
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | Honestly I've never felt it made any difference to me when
         | gaming. I would never code on such a keyboard but for the old
         | WASD it seems fine.
         | 
         | That said, guests are welcome to bring any peripherals they
         | want. There's a USB hub at each station to plug stuff in.
        
           | TheAceOfHearts wrote:
           | I guess it depends on what sort of games you're playing, but
           | isn't it possible for the lack of n-key rollover to be a
           | problem? My understanding is that many of these keyboards
           | fail to register inputs if too many keys are pressed at the
           | same time.
        
         | ics wrote:
         | For starters, it's a generic choice that's likely similar to
         | what many used in school computer labs. No bikeshedding over
         | which type of switches to get; that can be a very taste-
         | specific choice. I might have missed it but wonder if there are
         | any house rules against bringing your own mouse/keyboard.
         | 
         | Edit: kentonv replied answered before I hit submit. BYOK/M if
         | you want, nice.
        
         | stevage wrote:
         | The noise of a room full of mechanical keyboards, dear god.
         | 
         | Me, I bought a mechanical keyboard but I despise it. Switched
         | to a Logitech Keys.
        
           | Sohcahtoa82 wrote:
           | Not all mechanical keyboards are noisy.
           | 
           | I use TTC Silent Bluish White switches which produce a muted
           | "thock" sound, rather than the loud "clickety-clack" that
           | you're probably thinking of. They're only _slightly_ louder
           | than a typical membrane keyboard.
        
       | laidoffamazon wrote:
       | This is neat, but as a $NET shareholder and someone with another
       | ~$1m in net worth that can't afford to buy a house for at least
       | another 6 years this makes me think we should significantly
       | increase taxation.
        
         | crooked-v wrote:
         | Housing price issues in the US are fundamentally the result of
         | every major city making it expensive or impossible to actually
         | build enough housing. Changing taxes (in either direction)
         | really wouldn't move the needle at all. What's needed are local
         | zoning changes and significant revamps of permitting and
         | approval processes to remove endless discretionary roadblocks
         | from anyone who doesn't like medium density housing.
        
           | laidoffamazon wrote:
           | That's logical yes, but I'd prefer to see them punished (at
           | least 50% of them has a Stanford undergrad and thus thinks of
           | the rest of us as subhuman scum anyway so I think it's
           | perfectly fair).
        
             | paulproteus wrote:
             | OP lives in Austin. If you have $1M net worth, you can
             | probably buy a house there and live there. If you don't go
             | do that, I think you're just punishing yourself.
        
           | cluckindan wrote:
           | No.
           | 
           | The global housing crisis is the result of international
           | organised crime owning or operating most of the large
           | construction conglomerates, using real estate as a fiat
           | currency to wash the proceeds from all their illicit
           | business, and (org crime infested) private equity companies
           | cashing in on the former situation, pumping assets by buying
           | up available real estate just to make it unavailable.
           | 
           | CRIME is the real reason worldwide for people not being able
           | to afford a house.
        
             | qeternity wrote:
             | This is absurd. Does it happen? Yes. But this is not the
             | primary driver.
             | 
             | We turned housing into retirement funds. The median
             | family's wealth is their primary residence. We cannot have
             | these assets depreciate in nominal terms for this reason,
             | and we actually need them to appreciate in real terms for
             | people to have a nest egg.
             | 
             | It's awful, but it's the truth.
        
         | kristianp wrote:
         | What's a $NET shareholder?
        
           | laidoffamazon wrote:
           | A somewhat small subset of my net worth is Cloudflare, which
           | has the ticker symbol $NET
        
           | theideaofcoffee wrote:
           | It's someone who owns shares in Cloudflare (their market
           | ticker being 'NET'), but everyone here thinks they're a
           | financial wonk when talking about big tech and finance so
           | they insist on making it opaque like that. It's a dumb and
           | cringey trend. Just say "as a Cloudflare shareholder", I
           | promise you the six bytes you save won't be missed!
        
         | compiler-devel wrote:
         | When have increased taxes directly contributed to your take
         | home pay?
        
           | IAmGraydon wrote:
           | It doesn't. They're just expressing their jealousy in a
           | thinly veiled and highly embarrassing way.
        
             | laidoffamazon wrote:
             | It's not very thinly veiled
        
             | compiler-devel wrote:
             | It truly is embarrassing. Imagine seeing something and
             | thinking, "how can I get the government to forcefully take
             | some of that for my benefit?"
        
               | laidoffamazon wrote:
               | It's not for my benefit, I just want to see Stanford
               | grads get punished. I could get more punitive but I keep
               | that for yelling at strangers in person.
        
         | IAmGraydon wrote:
         | You have $1M of net worth that isn't a house (and is therefore
         | likely to be liquid) and you can't afford to buy a house? Where
         | and how much?
        
           | laidoffamazon wrote:
           | I spend about $3.2k a month for a studio apartment in an HCOL
           | area. I don't even own a car.
        
         | tptacek wrote:
         | If you can't afford to buy a house, what you want is zoning
         | reform, not increased taxation.
         | 
         | (I want both, but I don't want more taxes to solve the housing
         | problem, because they won't.)
        
           | laidoffamazon wrote:
           | I want both too, but neither is going to happen in the next
           | 4-12 years so I can only fantasize about punitive measures
        
       | frakkingcylons wrote:
       | Amazing setup, thanks for the write-up! My dream house if I was
       | rich would have a LAN party room like this (plus a mini fridge
       | stocked with Bawls Guarana). Stretch goal would be a movie
       | theater like Brandon Sanderson has in his lair.
        
       | valzam wrote:
       | > I miss the old MX518.
       | 
       | Truely the peak of mouse design.
        
       | Sakos wrote:
       | This is amazing. In today's world, I'm not sure what's more
       | prohibitive though. Finding 20 friends who play video games and
       | would be into LAN parties or being able to pay for this kind of
       | setup.
        
       | yapyap wrote:
       | House, or room?
        
       | djhworld wrote:
       | Extraordinary and beautiful house, thanks for sharing.
       | 
       | Do you worry about the upgrade cycle on the hardware? Can't be
       | fun replacing the CPU in lots of machines :D
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | In 9 years in the Palo Alto house, the only things I ever
         | upgraded were GPU and RAM, and things seemed to work out fine.
         | So I'm not too worried about it, no.
         | 
         | That said, I do regret the motherboard choice, and I suppose if
         | I ever resort to replacing them then it's a fine time to
         | upgrade everything else. Hope it doesn't come to that though.
        
       | wdr1 wrote:
       | Has anyone done this on smaller scale? Say 4 or 8 stations?
       | 
       | We have space in our basement. And with our kids getting into
       | pre-teen/teen years, I think it'd be fun to have a place for lan
       | parties.
        
       | chipweinberger wrote:
       | my favorite part is the cat walk with the doors to the rooms, how
       | cool! treehouse vibes.
        
       | stringtoint wrote:
       | Where is the guy duck taped to the ceiling?
        
       | written-beyond wrote:
       | The amount of thought that's gone into that cat lavatory really
       | makes me envy your belief in yourself. Here I am rewriting my dB
       | schema 4 times.
        
       | ata_aman wrote:
       | Beautiful. All of it. I love it when tech brings people together.
        
       | marxisttemp wrote:
       | Nice, can you guys help me with a down payment? I don't need
       | dozens of 4070s, just four walls and a roof
        
       | mcdeltat wrote:
       | Not the best use of resources considering we are in a housing
       | crisis. Another thing on the list of things wealthy people think
       | they need...
        
       | latentcall wrote:
       | Younger me thinks this is really awesome. This was my DREAM
       | during Halo 2 years. Kudos. The design, the hardware, the room
       | itself. The house is beautiful. The pictures and write ups are
       | fantastic.
       | 
       | Feel free to ignore the next part of my comment:
       | 
       | Current me with lived experiences and knowledge of the world
       | thinks it's a little disgusting. I don't think it's your fault,
       | or you're intending to do that. I don't think YOU'RE disgusting.
       | Just flaunting wealth in your own nerdy gamer way which many
       | wealthy people are wont to do. I don't blame you. If I could
       | afford a 7 figure house and 150k for an adult playhouse I don't
       | think I'd say no. The computer hardware alone being outdated and
       | turning into e-waste soon enough while people including children
       | sleep and starve in the streets just rubs me the wrong way.
       | 
       | Anybody remember Rich Kids of IG?
       | 
       | Anyway. I wouldn't feel right with myself if I didn't say
       | something. I don't think you did anything wrong, you are a
       | product of your environment as am I. I won't check responses to
       | this comment just putting it out there is enough for me. Enjoy
       | your LAN parties dude!
        
         | nivethan wrote:
         | > I wouldn't feel right with myself if I didn't say something.
         | 
         | Many people live with not feeling right with themselves.
        
       | r1ch wrote:
       | How did you deal with the length of the USB and display cables? I
       | thought after 5m or so things would start falling apart. Are
       | there active extenders and can they can handle 240+ Hz?
        
         | kentonv wrote:
         | Yes, Monoprice sells a brand called "SlimRun" which actually
         | convert the signal to fiber optic and can handle 100ft runs for
         | USB, DisplayPort, and HDMI. They are pricey but they work.
         | 
         | I haven't tried 240Hz, but I have successfully run 7680x2160
         | wide screen at 120Hz (using HDMI), and 4k144Hz (using
         | DisplayPort).
        
         | slumberlust wrote:
         | Not OP, but he website addresses this:
         | https://lanparty.house/#cable-latency
        
       | asn007 wrote:
       | That's a sweet LAN setup you've got! The only few things that rub
       | me the wrong way is the choice of peripherals and the lack of
       | headsets. Must be pretty noisy in here!
       | 
       | The tabletops also seems a bit too thin and wiggly for my taste,
       | but, honestly, for LAN parties with chill people you personally
       | know -- it's ok
       | 
       | As for the actual host setup with a singular disk image -- great
       | job! LAN gaming centres do something similar with their setups,
       | with some differences (a lot of centres either use Windows-based
       | diskless solutions that mount vhdx files as drives remotely over
       | iSCSI, or use ZFS-based snapshotting, which is my personal
       | favourite)
       | 
       | But all in all, seems like my dream house :)
       | 
       | I own a chain of LAN gaming centres, so the feedback is
       | definitely skewered into the business perspective quite a bit
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2024-11-16 23:00 UTC)