Welcome to Josh's Homenet!
(janeshouse.com)
You know, I forgot how long it's been since I've
updated this particular webpage. Last time I did this, it was
mid-2000, and Flashcom was my ISP. How times have changed.
Let's recap the new environment, shall we?
First, coming into the house, I have a generic ADSL model with a
1.5Mb/768Kb ADSL connection to my ISP, Speakeasy. The splitter is outside
the house, making it easier to maintain compatibility with the alarm
system and simplifying the filter issue.
It then hits my basement, where the server "room" lives (photo below):
What you see here is as follows, left to right, top to bottom: First
there's a Netopia R910 router. It's got Ethernet in, and a 4-port
Ethernet hub on the back. Next over is the ADSL bridge - it's a
no-name unit that was provided by the CLEC (Worldcom, in my
case). Next to that is the UPS for the top shelf - a cheap APC
SOHO unit. Finally on the top shelf we have two devices stacked -
a Linksys router that is ready to go if I ever have to cut over to
cable again quickly, and above that is a 16-port Linksys Fast Ethernet
switch.
On the second shelf, there's two systems. The one on the left
that's white-colored is the home server that we use here in the
house. It's mainly for tinkering and file transfer, and it runs
Linux. The hardware is a Celeron 366 in a FlexATX case. The
second one is the server that's serving up this page you're reading
right now. It runs Mitel SME Server 5.6, and is a Mini-ITX based
PC with a VIA CPU. They share a big UPS and KVM, both of which
are on the lower shelf. That's the black PC's console you see on
the screen. The bag below is supplies for cleaning up some of the
wiring above - a project I've been Meaning To Get Around To for about a
year now.
Also downstairs is one of our Linux client boxes - currently being
rebuilt by me. It's for casual surfing by visitors and whatnot.
Now, let's head upstairs to the Nerd Room. It's prettier than it
used to be:
You're looking at MacDaddy - a shiny new Apple iMac G4 running at 1.25
GHz. It's hooked up to an Intel microscope, a Canon scanner, and
a media card reader. Next to it in the bag is my PocketPC.
MacDaddy runs the latest MacOS (10.3 Panther), which I've expounded
upon in my blog somewhat.
On the other side of the room are my other two routine PCs - the
smaller one on the right of the pair is Zippy - Zippy is a homemade P4
system with a lot of goodies installed - noteably an ATI video capture
card, FireWire, separate DVD and CD-RW drives, and a ton 'o extra USB
2.0 ports. Zippy runs XP, and as you can see it was busy updating
aas I took the picture. The PC on the left is an Athlon 700 that
runs Mandrake Linux - it's kind of my testbed for cool stuff. The
thing attached to my monitor is a Dallas Semiconductor 1-wire reader
with a Java Ring attached to it. I've dabbled in programming it,
but I suck.
There's a few other devices in da house, but not pictured. One is
an Apple PowerBook that, as of this writing, I'm trying to sell.
It was my main computer until MacDaddy came along. I also have a
hacked-up i-Opener appliance
that my friend Rob and I turned into a full-function PC. It's a
cool hack. There's also one more old PC that's currently not
fully assembled - an old P2 system. All my home-built PCs, by the
way, use Asus motherboards - they're
a little pricier than some, but very stable, well-supported, and show
excellent quality control.
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