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

(lanparty.house)
1071 points kentonv | 4 comments | 16 Nov 24 15:52 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source

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

Show context
srbloom ◴[16 Nov 24 20:13 UTC] No.42158909[source]▶
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?
replies(2): >>42159092 #>>42160306 #
kentonv ◴[16 Nov 24 20:35 UTC] No.42159092[source]▶
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...

replies(1): >>42159388 #
iwontberude ◴[16 Nov 24 21:12 UTC] No.42159388[source]▶
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.
replies(2): >>42159563 #>>42160781 #
1. kentonv ◴[16 Nov 24 21:35 UTC] No.42159563{3}[source]▶
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.

replies(2): >>42160660 #>>42163479 #
2. WD-42 ◴[16 Nov 24 23:54 UTC] No.42160660[source]▶
As a fellow cyclist I find this strange. I visited austin to see what the hype was about and left knowing I couldn’t live there. Massive 6 lane stroads running through suburban sprawl for miles in every direction. Barely any elevation to speak of. Strangely humid despite there being no water in sight.

Most people I know that are happy with the move to Texas from California are the types that never cared for going outside in the first place. It’s a good place to build a big house and fill it with toys, which is exactly what you’ve done, so nice work there!

3. amluto ◴[17 Nov 24 11:15 UTC] No.42163479[source]▶
I’ve never biked in Texas, but the routes even a short distance west from Palo Alto are excellent. You need to be willing to go uphill, though :). LAN party house v1 would have been maybe 15 minutes from where Page Mill starts to get spectacular, not to mention spectacularly steep.

In the modern e-bike era, the hills are more accessible, too.

replies(1): >>42164184 #
4. kentonv ◴[17 Nov 24 13:52 UTC] No.42164184[source]▶
Oh I biked down Page Mill and into the hills a lot, that was my main bike route. And yes, it was great. But there was really only one part of those hills that was close enough to get to without driving first. In Austin I have a few more options nearby.