Since my school has implemented Citrix and is creating applications to “stream” within the web browser, i wanted to find a open source solution for fun and testing…. I found Kasma Web. I’m running it from a virtual ubuntu server – with no real graphic hardware, but it does run. Desktops work.. audio works… It looks like it uses docker containers to provide the apps/desktops…. so I need to learn more about creating my own. I’ll be installing this on physical pc and real video card….. I want to test steam on it… Overall i’m impressed with the project.
I do game on occasion, but I normally don’t play that much. Pool usual takes my time.The current machine has a Ryzen 5 3600 – yes i am an AMD fanboy. 32 gigs of ddr4 ram and about 4tb of space. I use Steam the most to launch my games. However, my gaming pc is in the study and i play “remotely” from my notebook in the upstairs bedroom. With my wireless 6E access points, I have no real problem playing this way. I have a dedicated access point that I only use just for gaming – any other wireless devices uses a different wireless access point – I have 3 wireless access points in the house. Steamlink and moonlight are installed on my bedroom laptop and I connect via wireless to my game machine. With port forwarding and my new router, i can play games remotely.. say from a starbucks in Ohio – of course this depends on a lot of factors. Now the actually upgrade was a processor, but after installing I noticed that the machine was getting a little worm. The new CPU is a ryzen 5 5600x3d – only from a visit to our “not so local” Microcenter in Dallas. This CPU is really just a gaming cpu, kind of budget, mostly for 1080p high fps games – but does get warm. So, updates where a new cpu fan, and new case with better “air flow” …and a total rebuild of my OS, why not.
One of the projects for the house was to create a big NAS. This would be used to house all my digital media, blu-rays, dvd’s, documents, music, and anything i felt was important. I eventually decided on unRAID. Traditional NAS’s usually require duplicate drives for data protection… so to have 2TB worth of data space would require 2 x 2TB total and they would have to be equal size. This would be IDEAL as a mirror of the drive, but not that economical. Unraid requires 1 parity drive (biggest drive… lets say 10TB – yes that is the size of my parity drive), and anything smaller, but you can have multiple drives of anything less than the parity drive. This is why i chose Unraid. I am using just normal consumer parts for the build… Basic MB, 14 platter drives – ranging from 3tb to 10tb, 1 parity (10tb) , 1tb (SSD), 30G usb (unraid is runs from this). I’ve install server grade sata multipliers to allow the 16 total drives in 2 4u server cases…. I do have multiple power supply’s running also. All the drives are in cages…so i can remove them easily and replace if needed. The cpu in my server is a ryzen 5 3600x. 80gigs dd4 ram.
Currently we have been using Frontier Fios for as long as Fios was available… not sure when that started to be in our area, but that plan was 75/75. We finally did an upgrade and went to the 2gig plan from frontier. After the install, i saw issues on how things where done, I felt i should be getting more……so i identified them and have solved most of the problems. A little bit on how the network was used before, and where i made the mistake regarding it.
The old network was wired via Fiber > ONT > Network cable (Not sure what spec it is… came with the house… probably cat5 which was good enough for 75/75. With this setup i was using an edge router lite to split the networks from that network cable that was coming into the house. Network 1 (Ethernet) went into supporting my physical network lines, desktop, remote gaming pc, printers, and AP1 – a TP-link AC mesh network for wireless access. Network 2 (moca) was using ethernet to moca adapter that was connected to my coax that ran through the house, in my bedroom, i have a dedicated moca to ethernet adapter that connects to a wireless 6 AP. My gaming laptop had wireless 6 capabilities….. I only use my gaming laptop (overkill), to connect to my remote gaming pc…. and games are played that way. Moonlight and SteamLink are used. It was also supporting my TV stb’s… yes I still had them.
Now my network upgrade…and what I used to solve the problems.
Moca internal network is gone (my fault… didn’t really understand what they where saying when they installed things). I”m working on figuring this out.. without spending more money or even having them come back.
The wireless router they gave me was a Eero Pro 6e Wireless device. Though this is a nice enough router, it did have limitations. It is very basic, kind of like apple products – but works for the masses. Router is controlled by phone app – which i hate. It did have a 2.5gig wan network link and the phone app did report that i was getting 2.3gig up and down .. but going to the lan was only 1gig.. boo……2.5 gig network cards are installed in my desktops, server and remote gaming system, I have a 2.5 gig switch between all of these devices… but they where never seeing download speeds due to the 1gig upload on the Eero pro 6e router. So my solution to this problem… build my own router – why not… i had to buy a few parts and space in my server case… $80 for a new router that maybe over kill but who knows… Basically, Ryzen 2400g, matx mb, 32 gigs ram, 400atx psu, 2 x dual 2.5 gig intel network cards, and Opnsense.
The new network… Fiber > ONT > CoAx > Coax to Ethernet adapter > Opnsense router > 8 port 2.5gig switch > all devices wireless or hardwired. Server, Desktop, gaming PC are seeing around 2.3gig up and down.
The Eero pro 6e is just an access point via bridge settings and connected via ethernet to the 2.5gig wlan port. It is reporting 2.3gig up and down via phone app. I did install a 6e card in my gaming laptop, what a pain, and it is getting ~900mbs download when 2 feet away from the Eero pro 6e. Not sure if this is correct. I’m also running 6ghz band with this.
I started playing pool in high school, but i just went with my friends to play around at the local bowling alley. It was in college when I purchased my first cue – a purple butt Mcdermoot basic cue – nothing fancy, just stained with no inlays. When i was college I won a tournament to play against Jack White (Pool hustler) from the back in the day. He comes to school campuses. This is my 15 minutes of pool fame.. when i knew how to play pool better. Right click on the video and select play. Sorry for the bad VHS capture.
