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  For all of you going to Quakecon
                     

There will be an informational meeting for all of us going to quakecon 2003 in an AIM Chatroom tonight around 11 or 12pm. Dan, whose AIM s/n is "Barkenchicken", or myself (Eclipse278) will be inviting people to the chatroom, so if you want to be involved, contact one of us. If you cannot make it to the meeting, I have created a page on my site where we can keep official information here. The link will also be made available on the "Recent Links" section to the left on the main page, and on the "Features" page. Here you can make sure we know you are coming and other important stuff to keep this organized for everyone. This year we really are going! We are going with or without you, so it's up to you guys to make sure you know what's up, and up to you guys to make sure we don't leave you behind. Talk to you all tonight.

This meeting was cancelled because Dan was sleepy :D


Thu Jun 12, 2003
[1] comments | Category: LANParty


  It is a mystery
                     

Why Computer Crash?

So at the codex lan my computer would crash non-stop in any game. Its been like this for a while now, off and on. It crashes in every game, and every once and a while in Windows it just reboots. At tim's lan I took out a stick of 256mb ddr RAM from my computer and it was instantly fixed for about a week. I traded my Radeon 8500 for codex's Geforce4 MX 440. These cards are about the same, though i got better frames in Q3 with the Radeon, and better frames in RtCW:ET with the Geforce. So I went home after the LAN and tore my computer completely apart. Every thing I could take apart was taken apart. I even ripped the CPU Heatsink apart and I cleaned it all. I also used a lot of tape and creativity to hide some of the extra wires to improve airflow, though i dont think heat was a problem. This took most of the day, and it was a little boring, but I haven't built a computer in so long it was a little fun. Also, I put my Sound Blaster Audigy back in, no use in having it sitting on the desk anymore. So far, its been much better, all the unusual sounds are gone and its been perfectly stable. If it messes up again, you can bet you'll hear from me again.

I'll leave you off with the specs of my computer then:


Mon Jun 09, 2003
[0] comments | Category: LANParty


  200 miles of disappointment
                     

Had to start the day off with Six Flags training. I'm trying to get a job as a ride operator there. I couldn't go to sleep the night before so I was really tired. So the only thing that got me through that was knowing I was going to go to the Whempys LAN in Columbus afterwards. Well, we all drove down in Tim's car and after the hour long trip there were like 30 people there. We didn't want to pay $15 for a 30 person LAN for only 8 hours or so. We went to Wendys to decide to go or stay. We left, so the trip consisted basically of driving 200 miles to go to Wendys. It was some damn good Wendys though.


Sat Jun 07, 2003
[1] comments | Category: LANParty


  Speaking of LAN Parties
                     

Whempy's LAN Party is this weekend, the 7th. Link
LANOhio's LAN Party is next weekend, the 14th.Link

Whempy's: Columbus OH, 2 hour drive, $15
LANOhio: Kirtland OH, 45 min drive, $12 ($9.60 prepay)

Let me know who is interested.

Oooh, this site layout is almost complete.


Wed Jun 04, 2003
[1] comments | Category: LANParty


  Whempy's Wireless Project
                     

Whempy's: The wireless project.

    The problem:  To fit 4 people and 8 computers (including 3 laptops  :P) into 2 cars and arrive at the Whempy's LAN Party in Columbus, OH.
    The solution: Establish a wireless ethernet connection between the two cars and Microsoft NetMeeting for voice communication.

    Situation: Two cars, My (Eclipse's) Car took the point because I had driven there before, although it was last year, so we weren't too sure where we were going.

    Equipment List:
        Eclipse's Car:
            Passengers: Eclipse, Codex
            Computers: Eclipse's Desktop, Eclipse's Laptop, Codex's Desktop, Codex's Laptop, Codex's Server
            Wireless Solution: Codex's Laptop with external antenna placed on top of car for extended range.
        Swiftwulf's Car:
            Passengers: Swiftwulf, Krhainos
            Computers: Swiftwulf's Desktop, Krhaino's MiniDesktop, Krhaino's Laptop, AC Power inverter, Access Point
            Wireless Solution: Krhaino's Laptop next to access point, powered by AC Power inverter.

Figure 1: Access Point. 
Obviously the backbone to a wireless network.  We chose to power an access point rather than connect the two wireless cards directly so we could get a larger wireless range.  Even with Swiftwulf's car directly behind, 802.11b doesnt have a whole lot of range.  Because Krhaino's laptop doesn't have a long lasting battery, the power inverter was used in Swiftwulf's car so he could use it to power the access point and laptop.  The access point was placed on the passenger sun visor for optimum range and we didnt trust it to be taped to the outside of the car.

 

 

 

 

Figure 2: Performance.
Performance over the mobile wireless network was marginal.  This picture shows Krhaino's laptop which was right next to the access point.  The strange thing was he got pings of around 45-50 to codex's laptop, while codex got pings of around 2000 to krhainos.  Voice over the network worked after a brief setup period, however.  File transfer between the two cars also worked, as tested by copying the directions back and forth.

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 3: Netmeeting.
Because there was no DHCP on this relatively simple network, static IPs were used.  The lead car was assigned 10.10.0.1, and the the other was 10.10.0.2.  Netmeeting was chosen as the communication software due to its simplicity, smallest setup time, and the fact that we didn't have much choice.  The problem we ran into was that Codex's laptop runs linux, and doesn't have netmeeting.  To solve this, we downloaded Gnome Meeting for him.  This connected with the windows laptop, but the two could not text chat to each other.  Voice chat worked though, and we ended up using that instead.

 

 

 

 

Figure 4: Execution
Both cars did an excellent job of staying close enough for the LAN to work.  Codex had some problems connecting to the access point at the beginning, but it worked and the two computers could talk.  We found out that sony microphones must suck because we were having some problems hearing krhainos, but overall it was cool.  Even had a radio station going for a few minutes :D

Next time, some improvements can be made and we hope to have wireless gaming during the 2 hour trip back and forth from Whempy's

 

 

 

Figure 5: Success!
We arrived at the LAN Party just in time for Codex to get a winning ticket.  He won two Cold Cathode Lights.  Congrats, Codex.

 

View the short movie! Click here!

 

 

 

 

More pics:



Tue Jun 03, 2003
[4] comments | Category: LANParty
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