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I strongly endorse this notion of equipping your own laboratory for your experiments. Learning through doing is always more durable than learning through readin

I strongly endorse this notion of equipping your own laboratory for your experiments. Learning through doing is always more durable than learning through reading only. While the author is looking at learning about and perfecting their skills as an administrator of networked computer systems there are other "kinds" of laboratories that people set up. Mine, and one I'm more familiar with, are electronics labs. If you're going to be learning about circuits and such it helps to have the basic kit at hand. Similarly for people doing robotics, having a 3D printer in their home lab is essential these days. Nearly everything you might do in a home laboratory will involve some sort of data processing so the ideas by the author are great for creating the lab's "IT infrastructure." In California it also makes it easier to defend the "I built this technology my own gear (picture/description of lab) so you don't own it." But that may be unique to California.

flapjaxy 5y ago
Exactly, I think this thread is focusing on the utility of an environment from a mature SDec POV. Personally having a cheap R710 allowed me to practice my sysadmin, networking, security and a host of other skills that directly translated to my (then) current and future roles. I think the perception of a virtualized environment being the same is false and diminishes the sys/network/security admin's knowledge set. It's is akin to saying that writing JS is the same as Java, coding is coding. I'll also say the number of times I've been in rooms of IT pros who don't understand underlying systems, OS, or networking is disturbingly high. Lastly, even if it is frivolous I see tinkering with hardware as part of the hacking spirit. It's fun, I like it and it gives me something to grumble about with the grey beards.
- ChuckMcM 5y ago
  Here in the Bay Area I know a guy who both wires and de-wires commercial buildings for networking. It is surprising to me how many businesses move out and simply discard any equipment they installed in the POE to support their network. He gave me a Catalyst 9000 series to play with (he usually sells them to the resellers) and it was cool to be playing with "real" hardware but man, that thing was LOUD with the fans.
mcshicks 5y ago
Yeah I think I was expecting a home lab = "home electronics lab", although some networking equipment is still required. The rack mount stuff is nice, but yeah, scopes, bench dmm and power supplies, solder station, cable hangers and many drawers to sort parts was what I was expecting to see. Still the rack mount stuff is pretty cool. I have quite a few raspberry pis these days and was always looking for some "rack mount" style ways to make the power/ethernet cables nice and still have some easy way to temporarily hook up keyboard/mouse/monitor when it's occasionally needed.
- jhallenworld 5y ago
  It's not a lab until you lower the Bridgeport milling machine into the basement. Also, you may need three phase, but you will definitely need 240V for the multi-process welder. https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/getting-the-new-bridgeport-into-the-basement.17909/ https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/getting-the...
  - ChuckMcM 5y ago
    Surprisingly enough I have two friends who both run mills (one is a Bridgeport the other is a full size Japanese brand) who use single-phase to 3-phase converters. Plugged into a 240V outlet they are essentially motor/generator sets. I was going to use one for a VAX6000 until I figured out the only reason for the 3-phase requirement was the blowers and re-wired it to work on 2-phase.

flapjaxy 5y ago

Exactly, I think this thread is focusing on the utility of an environment from a mature SDec POV. Personally having a cheap R710 allowed me to practice my sysadmin, networking, security and a host of other skills that directly translated to my (then) current and future roles. I think the perception of a virtualized environment being the same is false and diminishes the sys/network/security admin's knowledge set. It's is akin to saying that writing JS is the same as Java, coding is coding. I'll also say the number of times I've been in rooms of IT pros who don't understand underlying systems, OS, or networking is disturbingly high. Lastly, even if it is frivolous I see tinkering with hardware as part of the hacking spirit. It's fun, I like it and it gives me something to grumble about with the grey beards.

ChuckMcM 5y ago
Here in the Bay Area I know a guy who both wires and de-wires commercial buildings for networking. It is surprising to me how many businesses move out and simply discard any equipment they installed in the POE to support their network. He gave me a Catalyst 9000 series to play with (he usually sells them to the resellers) and it was cool to be playing with "real" hardware but man, that thing was LOUD with the fans.

mcshicks 5y ago

Yeah I think I was expecting a home lab = "home electronics lab", although some networking equipment is still required. The rack mount stuff is nice, but yeah, scopes, bench dmm and power supplies, solder station, cable hangers and many drawers to sort parts was what I was expecting to see. Still the rack mount stuff is pretty cool. I have quite a few raspberry pis these days and was always looking for some "rack mount" style ways to make the power/ethernet cables nice and still have some easy way to temporarily hook up keyboard/mouse/monitor when it's occasionally needed.

jhallenworld 5y ago
It's not a lab until you lower the Bridgeport milling machine into the basement. Also, you may need three phase, but you will definitely need 240V for the multi-process welder. https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/getting-the-new-bridgeport-into-the-basement.17909/ https://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/threads/getting-the...
- ChuckMcM 5y ago
  Surprisingly enough I have two friends who both run mills (one is a Bridgeport the other is a full size Japanese brand) who use single-phase to 3-phase converters. Plugged into a 240V outlet they are essentially motor/generator sets. I was going to use one for a VAX6000 until I figured out the only reason for the 3-phase requirement was the blowers and re-wired it to work on 2-phase.