Equipment you'll need

From TermiSoc: A WikiHistory

equipment needed to run a LAN Party

• network cables, switches and router
  • gigabit is largely unesessary, 100baseT works fine
  • 24 port switches are pretty cheap on ebay (£10-£20), and you can usually scrounge some off members
  • getting enough network cables can be tricky, tell people to bring their own, but you'll need at least a few of your own long ones to connect the switches together.
  • you'll also need something doing DHCP and possibly a wifi-ethernet bridge if your internet connection is over wifi
• power distribution
  • ~details on loading~
  • if in doubt, find Alan Santilo (EE faculty, is always happy to answer questions when people want to learn) on the top floor of smeaton or Peter White (also EE faculty, specialist in power electronics)
• USB hard drive full of games
  • we found distrubiting games off a network server was pretty slow, although doable, usb mass storage works fast
• Duct tape/cable management
  • sticking cables to the floor is pretty important. Anyone who thinks its some pansy health and safety nonsense has obviously never tripped over a loose ethernet cable while carrying a 21 inch crt.
• enough tables and chairs
  • ideally pick a venue which will have these already, but if not, you'll have to do some scrounging.
• optional
  • food and drink
  • projector, screen and sound system
  • consoles
  • dedicated server box
    • Unless you have 20+ players or running a game that is already pushing the server to its limit, a dedicated box isn't really needed
• transport
  • it helps if you have a couple of people with cars to give lifts to people who need to carry desktops across town to get to you
• whiteboard/notice board
  • writing down the server IPs and setup details on a board will save you repeating yourself every 30 seconds when a game starts