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Maybe you and I have different opinions of "enthusiast" in this context. There is really only so much you're going to do on a home network. You set it up and on

by dolni 6y ago

Maybe you and I have different opinions of "enthusiast" in this context. There is really only so much you're going to do on a home network. You set it up and once it's going, it requires very little maintenance. I would not consider running my own network gear a "hobby" any more than I would consider restaining my deck a "hobby". It's largely a one-time project. I do have requirements beyond what the typical consumer does of their network, like PoE to run a couple of access points, PPPoE so that I can put my modem in bridge mode, the desire to configure extra DNS records, dynamic DNS since my home IP changes. Oh, and let's not forget some filtering/rewriting capabilities so that I can force modern smart TVs to respect the DNS server I provide them. My network is much more usable having put the time into it. Yes, you could buy some off the shelf thing and get an OK experience, but that wasn't good enough for me.

floatingatoll 6y ago
I used to do all of those things on homebuilt FreeBSD routers for a commercial ISP we built and ran for a few years back in the day, and now I do them on my off-the-shelf router so that I don’t have to maintain the OS or link-shaping, I just click Update Now once in a while and it autoadapts to local congestion. All of these features are available out of the box and have a GUI intelligent enough to offer a text area for adding filtering/rewriting commands that exceed the GUI’s remit. I used to have to hand-build this. Now I can plug and play it, and end up with the same experience as someone who built their own server and OS, using the same open source components as they would. Total time invested, 8 hours over 5 years. I’m content with that exchange, and it has come with the only drawback being “it cost money to purchase the router itself”. I could DIY for less expensive in dollars and more expensive in hours. That’s the hobby-or-not choice, as I see it. I do not decry those who invest time instead. Good, do so! I invested thousands of hours of my life into DIY of this stuff. It was invaluable experience, but it’s no longer mandatory to DIY to get a great experience indistinguishable from DIY.

by dolni 6y ago

floatingatoll 6y ago

I used to do all of those things on homebuilt FreeBSD routers for a commercial ISP we built and ran for a few years back in the day, and now I do them on my off-the-shelf router so that I don’t have to maintain the OS or link-shaping, I just click Update Now once in a while and it autoadapts to local congestion. All of these features are available out of the box and have a GUI intelligent enough to offer a text area for adding filtering/rewriting commands that exceed the GUI’s remit. I used to have to hand-build this. Now I can plug and play it, and end up with the same experience as someone who built their own server and OS, using the same open source components as they would. Total time invested, 8 hours over 5 years. I’m content with that exchange, and it has come with the only drawback being “it cost money to purchase the router itself”. I could DIY for less expensive in dollars and more expensive in hours. That’s the hobby-or-not choice, as I see it. I do not decry those who invest time instead. Good, do so! I invested thousands of hours of my life into DIY of this stuff. It was invaluable experience, but it’s no longer mandatory to DIY to get a great experience indistinguishable from DIY.