←back to thread

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

(lanparty.house)
1071 points kentonv | 2 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
Multiplayer ◴[16 Nov 24 21:02 UTC] No.42159307[source]▶
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.

replies(2): >>42160766 #>>42161972 #
zamalek ◴[17 Nov 24 04:30 UTC] No.42161972[source]▶
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.
replies(5): >>42162489 #>>42162967 #>>42163272 #>>42163495 #>>42174227 #
1. WorldMaker ◴[18 Nov 24 16:51 UTC] No.42174227[source]▶
I remember the parts of the 90s where the most reliable LAN party connections for the games we were playing were IPX/SPX or worse, as I recall, and they didn't really have automatic addresses at all, so trial and error configuration tweaking in DOS config files, DOS Game UIs, the Windows 3.11 UIs, and then Windows 95 UIs was way too much of the process.

It is amazing to think how much IPv4 and IPv6 "just work" in comparison.

replies(1): >>42174536 #
2. kentonv ◴[18 Nov 24 17:17 UTC] No.42174536[source]▶
Oddly enough, my memory of IPX/SPX was that it "just worked" by default whereas when we switched to IP we started having to manually configure IP addresses and make sure no one chose the same address.

That said my first LAN party was 1996 and we were running Windows 95 by that point, which probably helped.