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

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

#321

Post by kentonv »

cma256 wrote: post #319

> but it's still a disturbing amount of energy usage and something I'm trying to debug As someone who is deeply frustrated with their HVAC this stood out to me. A new home should have exterior insulation. Plus the solar panels plus "efficient heat pumps". I would expect it to perform very well. I'm curious to know the square footage and how much power is being used. Did you have a blower door test done when the home…

5200 sqft. There are 5 heat pumps which seem to combine for an average 10kW power usage, with considerably less variation through the day than I would expect.

Yes, they did blower door tests.

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

#322

Post by shmeeed »

stevage wrote: post #88
echoangle wrote: post #56

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 expen…

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.

The noise of a room full of soundbars ;)

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

#323

Post by patrickhogan1 »

kentonv wrote: post #303
patrickhogan1 wrote: post #301

This is amazing! I’ve been into LAN parties since the 90s but stopped going after the early 2000s, so seeing this brought back a ton of memories. The 2011 photos hit me with nostalgia—so much of it feels like the LAN parties I remember. The 2024 setup looks awesome too, though the vibe has clearly evolved. It’s incredible you’ve kept this tradition alive for 30 years! A photo series of your LAN parties over the decad…

I dug up an old video from 2003 and tweeted it: https://x.com/KentonVarda/status/1857991074708369788 But my parties go back to 1996, before we had digital cameras. I'm hoping my mother is able to dig up some really old photos from her storage and scan them...

Awesome!

Let me guess: the LCD monitor sitting at the comfy empty chair was yours. Meanwhile, your friends lugged their bulky CRT monitors to your house—nearly breaking the monitors in the process—and instead of being jealous, they insisted it was worth it for the superior color accuracy, contrast ratios, and refresh rates.

Also, shoutout to moms with camcorders and minivans—two things we were all embarrassed by back then but now fully appreciate for their superior practicality.

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

#324

Post by kentonv »

patrickhogan1 wrote: post #323
kentonv wrote: post #303

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dug up an old video from 2003 and tweeted it: https://x.com/KentonVarda/status/1857991074708369788 But my parties go back to 1996, before we had digital cameras. I'm hoping my mother is able to dig up some really old photos from her storage and scan them...

Awesome! Let me guess: the LCD monitor sitting at the comfy empty chair was yours. Meanwhile, your friends lugged their bulky CRT monitors to your house—nearly breaking the monitors in the process—and instead of being jealous, they insisted it was worth it for the superior color accuracy, contrast ratios, and refresh rates. Also, shoutout to moms with camcorders and minivans—two things we were all embarrassed by back…

No, my chair was the one seen at the very end. (The first/last room in the video was my bedroom so I was sitting at my regular desk.)

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

#325

Post by dividuum »

mattbee wrote: post #241
zamalek wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember our biggest issue being IP addresses. We had no router, or expertise, so we were at the whims of automatic addresses (254.x... as far as I recall?). Good times.

I've definitely been to a LAN party where IP addresses were written on clothes pegs by the entrance. You take a peg on your way in, clip it to your ethernet cable, configure that IP statically!

Aka Peg-DHCP (RFC 2322) - https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc2322.txt

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

#326

Post by patrickhogan1 »

kentonv wrote: post #324
patrickhogan1 wrote: post #323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Awesome! Let me guess: the LCD monitor sitting at the comfy empty chair was yours. Meanwhile, your friends lugged their bulky CRT monitors to your house—nearly breaking the monitors in the process—and instead of being jealous, they insisted it was worth it for the superior color accuracy, contrast ratios, and refresh rates. Also, shoutout to moms with camcorders and minivans—two things we were all embarrassed by back…

No, my chair was the one seen at the very end. (The first/last room in the video was my bedroom so I was sitting at my regular desk.)

Ah I see! Nice man. Great setup!

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

#327

Post by laidoffamazon »

newsclues wrote: post #278
laidoffamazon wrote: post #238

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone that was previously bullish on Workers but now fully disillusioned with a barely positive cost basis on it right now I disagree with this - if anything I feel burned for believing and continuing to believe. Either way, people like me aren’t going to be able to capture even a tenth of the success of joining Google in 2005 or buying a $1m house in Palo Alto ~4 years after graduating (I’m 6.5 years out of gra…

"people like me aren’t as human as the folks that own this house" What do you mean? People aren't human if they do not have a certain level of wealth? Seems to imply that you may think people with less wealth aren't valuable or even human. What should people with less wealth than you feel?

My net worth is temporary, theirs and their status is not.

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

#328

Post by 47282847 »

mikem170 wrote: post #217
47282847 wrote: post #199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s this fixation on house ownership? It doesn’t make sense rationally. Stock markets always perform better, easily beating ownership and the hassle and associated risks of managing property.

One factor: It's an investment that you can get for 20% down, or less. You can't borrow that much to gamble in the stock market. All is well as long as the value of the house doesn't go down. People like the idea of making money. They are used to real estate always increasing in value. We'll see what happens as boomer demand ages out.

Even with subsidies taken into account, the ROI is still higher with stocks and the risks a lot higher with properties. 401k is also subsidized. See studies.

I understand that there may be arguments individually for the decision and emotional safety is one, but it should be based on fact, not myth and misunderstanding.

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

#329

Post by defrost »

alchemist1e9 wrote: post #287
blackqueeriroh wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is factually incorrect. In fact recent studies show that up to 25% of cavities are still prevented by fluoridating water. On top of that, multiple Canadian cities are adding fluoride back in their water after 10 years of having it removed because of excellent evidence that the lack of fluoridation in the water is what led to the increase in cavities in those cities, since they had neighboring cities who kept flu…

What is significant political progress is that such measures are now allowed to be debated if they are justified or not. Western political culture clearly shifted far towards dogmatism and needed a course correction. We shouldn’t be afraid to question scientists and studies. It is factually correct fluoride can be dangerous and studies have shown that. It is also factually correct fluoride in water reduces cavities.…

> It’s also possible reducing cavities with fluoride comes at an IQ cost isn’t it?

There's no evidence to suggest that though.

Just evidence that high levels (much higher) of fluoride and other elements in water has an adverse effect.

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

#330

Post by eps »

Moru wrote: post #272
albertzeyer wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I remember the first time, we bought some 10BASE2 ethernet cards and BNC connector cables, and spend hours to figure out why it does not work, only then to learn the next day that we also need cable end terminators (if I remember that correctly). But then it worked and we had lots of fun.

Yes, you need terminators for them :-)

... unless you make it into a ring ... IIRC. It's been a while.
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