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Show HN: I built a(nother) house optimized for LAN parties

lanparty.house

11–20 of 397 posts

Re: Show HN: I built a(nother) house optimized for LAN parties

#11
post #5

Do you run Linux or Windows?

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...

Re: Show HN: I built a(nother) house optimized for LAN parties

#13
post #6

How much does it cost? Probably can only be pay be Musk, Wall and Gates

Nope, USD 150k (for stations & cabinetry): https://lanparty.house/#cost

Fake news.

> The house overall was a 7-digit number. Sorry, I'm not comfortable being any more specific than that.

Re: Show HN: I built a(nother) house optimized for LAN parties

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, USD 150k (for stations & cabinetry): https://lanparty.house/#cost

Fake news. > The house overall was a 7-digit number. Sorry, I'm not comfortable being any more specific than that.

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.

Re: Show HN: I built a(nother) house optimized for LAN parties

#17
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.

Re: Show HN: I built a(nother) house optimized for LAN parties

#19
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 :)

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