The LAN Hobo

Over the years, we have had a wide array of computers. It started with my first system, which I purchased as a teenager. Back then it was just an outdated Apple IIe, for which I bartered and scavenged expansion cards and peripherals left to the dying of time. Then I expanded to the computer which has become the foundation of every setup I've possessed since: the AMDLS.

Once I was married, I envisioned a need for a separate system to serve my new wife's needs, which spawned Delyth. This system has changed a few times and now settled to the PosAlt computer. We've discovered we have no great need for side-by-side computing. It just isn't how we do things. PosAlt is a workhorse instead; a place where additional tasks can be completed when AMDLS is busy.

Later, we found a need for a file server, which has evolved steadily as the Infonexus. It is not the most impressive file server by any stretch of the imagination, but it gets the job done for us and that's what is important.

Recently, I've scavenged enough old parts from my storage bins to create the PosTake system, which is set up to allow us to capture information from the widest possible array of sources.

However, there is one gap left unfulfilled by all of these systems. Which one goes to the LAN event?

In the past, this has been the realm of AMDLS. However, that system sits at the center of a busy home now. It has no time to be packed up and carted off for a short retreat. Instead, we now have the LAN Hobo. This is a modest, previous generation (or older) system, but still plenty powerful enough to handle the common LAN fare. As such, it doesn't particularly lack loving in the hardware department. It just isn't the best system I own.

It is a solid computer. Capable, portable, and nothing I'd feel sick over losing should worse become the worst during a LAN event. There is a lot of comfort to be had both in the ease of this and the relative security. In fact, I am not entirely certain why I hadn't thought to create a separate LAN computer in the past. This is a good move, and I am proud to welcome the LAN Hobo to the Daugherty collection of computers.