Quamby LAN 12 ???

Friday 26^th March 2004 1:35 pm - Many People have asked me "Mark when is the next Quamby LAN", at last count it has been 5 people in the previous 2 weeks. This is generally a sign that people want some more Quamby LAN action. so here's the dealyo - the ONLY time that i have this semester that is appropriate for another LAN will be the week after easter, from Good Friday till the next Monday. I doubt that people will want a mid-week LAN so my proposed date for the LAN is
Saturday the 17th April
this date is far enough in the future to give people warning to cancel work commitments and still be in our mid semester break from Uni. If this date suits people then i think this time, the LAN will run from say 3:00pm Saturday till 12:00 pm Sunday, this gives me enough time in the morning to do the mandatory LAN VAN run into glenferrie to pick up the uni crew.
Misc News Concerning Quamby LAN developments (hardware):
This should probably be in three seperate News segments, but its easier to tack it on this one.
1/. The recent purchase of a 4 port 100 meg switch means that the Quamby LAN can now support (in un-expanded form) 12 computers (6 of them on 100 meg connections) when we hold Quamby LAN's and people bring switches along this is expanded to 32 computers (23 on 100meg) so from now on, we should have enough ports to run everyone at high speed.
2/. The Quamby Fileserver "Chomper" has been retired from active service, as it was total overkill for our LAN needs - AMD 2400+, it has been replaced with an Ex-buisness Server box known as "Dual" it runs dual P2 350Mhz processors and has 3x SCSI 10000 RPM, fast seek drives. The Basic layout is the same, it runs E-Smith server 6.2 and allows Windows filesharing, Apache Webserver, streaming MP3's, DNS resolution etc. The www.Quamby.LAN site has been revamped (your currently viewing www.Quamby.org) with frames, to allow faster access to files via HTML and browser interface (as a alternative to filesharing)
3/. Quamby goes Wireless - The purchase of a Wireless access point and its addition to the Quamby LAN, initially for the support of my brothers Laptop computers, means that the Quamby LAN can now support up to 20 computers over 802.11g wireless networking. while this is fantastic for internet connection sharing and moderate bandwidth gaming, it is not all that great for bandwidth hogging filesharing apps (such as DC++). All users on the Wireless share the same 54Kbps (compare ethernet cable at 100Kbps) bandwidth to access anything on the network, so the more Wireless connections there are, the slower they all are. This means that the Quamby.wlan domain will be useful if we run out of space in the rumpus room, but will never replace the CAT5 cable mess we usually use.

Quamby LAN 11 and Gold Class LAN in review

Friday 26^th March 2004 1:00 pm - Well things just keep getting bigger and bigger. Quamby LAN 11 was quite a smash hit, with 14 participants, a host of newer games and some basking in the glow of a new computer (namely my own). Having built my machine only a few days before i obviously spent ages installing everything that we intended to play. but that didn't stop me from participating in some rousing games of Battlefield 1942, Desert Combat, Warcraft 3 and yes, even Counter strike. We also saw the addition of a Gamecube and an X-Box to the list of participating hardware. Also the advent of the future was heralded by the arrival of our first PC with LCD monitor, a rarity among gamers who prefer 21", heavy as all hell, large and in charge CRT monitors. Greater use of DC++ filesharing meant that times spent installing games and waiting for patches were greatly reduced. Overall a good LAN, that ran out of steam at about 8:30 in the morning sunday.

Next item of news is the luck invite of myself and a few other Quamby gamers to the GoldClass LAN. Held on the RAAF base at Laverton the LAN was the first chance ive had to get my PC out and about. I took Stumpy (my server box) along for the ride and it performed very well as a DC hub and Roger Wilco server. It was a different experience to get some LAN game on with some other folks, and see how they do LAN. The atmosphere was fantastic, with weapon schematics across the walls and camo netting on the roof, and even a mess waiter coming around to serve drinks (beer, bourbon, coke you name it). The greatest difference was in the games we played. We never even TOUCHED half-life, (except to inpect a new Mod called "Sven Co-op" where the bots are stronger than you) and spent a Lot of time in Halo, and surprisingly Medal of Honour - Allied Assault. This game proved to be a winner in both scale and multiplayer enjoyment. The levels were never too big and its deathmatch style was tempered by its rock/paper/scissors style weapons. As in indication of how much we liked it, we spent over 5 hours playing before we decided to change. Variey was maintained with Warcraft 3, Battlefield and Desert combat. Overall a great LAN experience and we can learn from it to make Quamby even better.