Moments that make you feel a little awesome...

Nakatomi2010

So, I'm sitting here in my apartment realizing just how much I've followed my own rule of trying to realize the limitless potential of networking....

I've got two desktop computers, a laptop, an HTPC and a server.

The HTPC houses all of my media content and allows it to be accessible by all of the other computers; TV shows, Movies, music, whatever. I've got my HTPC setup to allow for concurrent user log in so that while it is connected to my TV and I'm watching a movie, I can use another computer to log in and initiate downloads, burn CD/DVDs, change settings, twiddle with files while their on the computer, all kinds of stuff.

I've got a Windows Home Server which allows for all of the computers (Except for the gaming rig) to backup every night and make sure that no data is ever lost. The total capacity of the server is 1.64TB. Among other things its allowed me to have my own web server open for the general public to access to look at stuff on, or host my own photo album for my family to view, or initiate remote log-ins into my HTPC from anywhere else outside my apartment, so if I'm at work I can remotely log into my HTPC at home and use my own home intenret connection to bypass work's filters, or check downloads, things of that nature... Or even just store some files on the server so I can access them from anywhere... Hell, I've even done away with its wireless N adapter and just run 100ft of Cat 6 cable to it for gigabit speeds....

My gaming rig is just pure awesome 64-bit power for nothing but gaming...

As an example of the awesome factor here, I'm able to sit here in front of my gaming rig and I told Vista Ultimate to begin a full drive backup to another 80GB drive. 4GB of data on it, so I transfered it to the server, and then initiaed the backup, then whle the backup was running I logged into my HTPC and install the Server client software and configured it and then initiated a complete backup of 1.1TB on a gigabit network (about 24Hrs). Without even leaving my chair...

My HTPC is connected to a 52" and is properly outputting in 1080p at 24hz, which looks mind boggingly amazing when watching any HDDVDs or BluRays using its internal HDDVD/BluRay combo drive.... All controlable using the MCE remote...

I mean I've got 7.1 surround sound on my gaming ig being used for Jonathan Coultan right now, and 5.1 surround sound for my HTPC... I'm sitting here just amazed at how "connected" I am....

Hell, I've even got a wireless printer sitting in the middle of my apartment connected to the network wirelessly so that we can print to it from anywhere and have it easily accessible....

I've got 90% of my songs on my Zune so I can litteraly just pause my music here, pick up the Zune and just go with my music.....


Sorry.... I'm just having one of the moments where you just realize how much of a geeky person you as you just geek out in your natural habitat....


Honnestly, I think the only thing I could do to make this better would be to get a 46" TV in the bedroom and buy a wireless N media center extender for it....



You guys ever sit down in you Natural habitats and just realize how connected, efficient, whatever term you want to use, just realize "Wow, this shit I have created for myself is just awesome..."


Disclaimer: There is minor bragging above, but I'm HONESTLY interested in hearing about everyone else's "Natural Habitats" and what they've got goin' on that makes them have moments of awesomeness....

Silvoculous

For someone who lives at home in a tiny room, having a corner bookshelf that houses a TV (with a Wii, slim PS2 and SNES hooked up to it), game libraries for NES/SNES/PS2/Wii/Gamecube/PSOne, my arrangement of handhelds and classic Gameboy games, my DVDs and PC games, and a stack of spare hard drives all on shelves, it's easy to feel somewhat proud of what one can do with limited space.

I think at this point, were I suddenly given a huge room, I'd have no idea what to do with the space. Two surge protectors are located at key points in the room, one dedicated to powering the TV/digital clock/consoles and the other to the PC/monitor/speakers/printer. Meaning basically that roughly a third of the square footage of the room is stuffed with accrued technology, and another large fraction to books and periodicals. The mere setup is pleasing to behold.

Once I have the equipment, a setup akin to the one you described is first on my mind. I can easily see myself upgrading to a small HDTV that will fit this space rather comfortably, then snagging a TV tuner card for my current desktop and turning it into a media center (MythTV?). Possibly it could dual-boot a Linux MCE and Windows XP so that I can serve my backed up files over HTTP (crossover cable to the new rig I'm preparing to build - no data will be lost again). Pick up some cheap external enclosures for 2.5" drives and my spare laptop drives will be replete with renewed USB lovin'.

My setup might be impressive now, considering financial and space limits, especially since everything that I enjoy is accessible without leaving my chair. But it can always be improved on.

EDIT: Talk to me about how your server is set up. Did you build it yourself? Use low-end parts to save money? (I know of someone who used a PII 300MHz with 128MB of RAM and a huge-ass hard drive running XP without a monitor or keyboard for uTorrent's WebUI and general file serving).

FatmanGames

Yeah, digital life is great... Till someone busts down the front door of your new place in broad daylight, and...



Ganks your 62" screen, your Xbox 360, your PlayStation 3, all your games...



Snares your killer desktop computer with 22" monitor, and your laptop...



Snags your server / Media Center...



....aaaaand empties out the boxes you moved with to make stealing your stuff easier.


Now... That said...
1. I'm outta there, getting a new house, and my insurance is making good on getting my stuff back.

2. I just wanted to remind you gently.... REMEMBER HOW IMPORTANT OFF-SITE BACKUPS ARE. I'm not kidding. I'd have nothing if it weren't for my off site backups. They stole all my discs (most of my discs - they left my really old games, Heroes on HD-DVD, and Live Free or Die Hard on Blu Ray).

Nakatomi2010

Silvoculous wrote: »

EDIT: Talk to me about how your server is set up. Did you build it yourself? Use low-end parts to save money? (I know of someone who used a PII 300MHz with 128MB of RAM and a huge-ass hard drive running XP without a monitor or keyboard for uTorrent's WebUI and general file serving).

It's birth was a little odd.... I had build a workstation computer for myself while working at a mom n' pop shop, I was THE technician doing most of the fixing and I needed a relatively powerful little box, so an Intel conference came up and I got a Pentium D 930, and a motherboard, I stuck it all in a Sonata case and away I went with a workstation.... Eventually I changed jobs to Circuit City and took all that stuff with me, for a month or two I had no idea what to do with the system, until Mircosoft announced Windows Home Server, basically a cheap stripped down version of Windows Server 2003 designed for home end use... And so the server was born, initially during the beta I used to it backup minor stuff, but as I added more hard drive to my HTPC, I needed more space in the server... Now it has two 500GB and two 400GB hard drives which contain my back ups....

All webhosting is done thourhg IIS and managed easily with a WHS add-in called Whiist, which makes making websites very simple.... I can actually get to the point where if I want to I can buy a domain name and have it point to my server and BAM, I have my own system going... Or I can host websites and things of that nature... The power that operating system gives is amazing....

Beyond that though, it's a tough little box that does Folding between backups.... Same as my HTPC....

Silvoculous

I'll have to look into Home Server. I have legal burned discs of Vista Business and Server 2003 from the vocational school I went to during my senior year, and haven't been able to put either to real good use. Reading the pages at Microsoft for this OS, it seriously looks worth picking up, and could be the ideal OS to dual-boot with my MCE.

Tamin

Well, there was that time I was sitting in the school computer lab when the C&C 3 demo dropped.

I ssh'd to my linux box, told it to start downloading (via lynx), and when it got done, managed to copy it over to my Windows XP machine. Couldn't figure a way to install it from there, though. Made me feel smart, at any rate.

When I got a wireless USB adapter, my Windows install was (is) 64-bit, and the appropriate drivers were easier to find for linux. So I get those installed, downloaded an ip-masq program (got *that* installed, and that was a trial), and convinced Windows to treat it as a gateway.

noobert

This hit me a few weeks ago too. I was sitting at home watching Entourage streaming to my 360, from my flie/print server, on a 32" LCD while msning on my laptop. My parents where using my gaming box, and their internets box to LAN Diablo 2.

Obviously not as complex as some people, but it did blow me away. All this technology just being used.

yalborap

I had a similar moment recently.

I was watching some streaming video, to be precise. An LP, if memory serves. Then, it just hit me:

"Holy shit...I'm watching video, delivered across millions of computer networks, that another guy was able to put up for FREE, and it's coming in faster than it can even be watched. We're in the goddamn future."

A small moment, but still, it really made me realize just how far we've come in not even a decade.

mastman

When I sit on my porch with my macbook in my lap, wireless mouse next to me, my iTunes playing music wirelessly over my hooge stereo via airTunes, and I have a glass of scotch in my hand is when I feel most badass.

ben0207

yalborap wrote: »

I had a similar moment recently.

I was watching some streaming video, to be precise. An LP, if memory serves. Then, it just hit me:

"Holy shit...I'm watching video, delivered across millions of computer networks, that another guy was able to put up for FREE, and it's coming in faster than it can even be watched. We're in the goddamn future."

A small moment, but still, it really made me realize just how far we've come in not even a decade.

The other day I was having breakfast with some friends when one of them said he wanted to see Cloverfield. I whipped out my iPhone and in 4 seconds had located a cinema showing it at a good time and had times for trains and buses to get us there. It was then I realised the slightly scary prospect that we're living in the future already.

Consider this: The technology (mobile phones, PSPs, Dses etc) we carry everyday outstrips a dozen times over the technology we had at home just 5 years ago.

Silvoculous

There was one time where my dad needed some drivers for his laptop - ones that I had already downloaded onto my flash drive and that he didn't particularly want to try to locate again. They were too big to email. So I moved the files onto a little HP e-Vectra I used to have, set up Apache HTTP server on it, set up a logon, and let him grab the drivers right off my hard drive over the Internet.

I felt awesome then.

EDIT: Of course now I have an account with an uploader that has unlimited bandwidth that I can just upload massive files to, but that's too easy.

Recoil42

I once controlled my xbox from my pc from my xbox from my pc to play music streamed from my pc.

(PC told Xbox to tell PC to tell Xbox to stream music from the network share on the PC)


Silly, but I smiled so damn hard when it worked.