After acquiring a gigabit [switch](http://www.alternate.de/html/product/Linksys/SE2800/850588/? "switch") and a network attached storage ([NAS](http://www.cyberport.de/?DEEP=3F38-07R&APID=14 "NAS")), I was forced to admit that my computer installation has a definitive [SOHO](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Office,_Home_Office "SOHO") scent. In fact, one finds quite a few of the essential concepts and elements of a "real" network:
![](../images/network_small.png)
For example, there is a router, a firewall, a switch, a wireless access point, a RAID 5 NAS, and clients connected either by the Gbit link of the switch or wirelessly by the router. There's also an all in-one printer, scanner, and copy machine. In a professional network, dedicated devices would take care of each of these services, but the intended functionality is the same (albeit here at a much smaller scale).
How the hell could that happen to me, who doesn't even have a smartphone and whose plasma TV cannot display 3D contents? How?
Let's see how this madness started.
**1987**: Schneider PC1512, CPU 8086/8 MHz, 512 kB RAM, 10 MB HDD, MSDOS 3.3
Highlights: Compiling my Pascal programs at home instead of waiting hours for a free place in the CIP pool.
**1992**: Mitsubishi Laptop, CPU 80386SL/25 MHz, 2 MB RAM, 20 MB HDD, IBM DOS J5.02/V
Highlights: TeXing at home after years of doing that on a dumb terminal. A truly superior feeling!
**1995**: Custom-made, Pentium I 90, 16 MB RAM, 512 MB HDD, Windows 95/Redhat 2.0
Highlights: [Comanche](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comanche_series "Comanche"), [Doom](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doom_(video_game) "Doom"), [Heretic](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heretic_(computer_game) "Heretic"), [Hexen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexen "Hexen"), [Descent](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descent_(video_game) "Descent"), [Duke Nukem 3D](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_Nukem_3D "Duke Nukem 3D"), [Command & Conquer](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_%26_Conquer:_Der_Tiberiumkonflikt "Command & Conquer"), and a PC Unix not unlike the Solaris I'd enjoyed on my [SPARCstation 10](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SPARCstation_10 "SPARCstation 10") at Mitsubishi a couple of years ago. Coupled with the 33.6 K Modem with [snafu](http://www.snafu.de/ "snafu") as provider, and the 17" Viewsonic monitor, this was about the ultimate PC anybody could have bought at that time. It also costed a mind-boggling 8000 DM ...
**1998**: Dell, Pentium II 266 + NVidia Riva 128/Voodoo II 8MB, 384 MB RAM, 8 GB HD, Windows 98/Mandrake Leeloo
Highlights: [Quake](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quake_(Spieleserie) "Quake"), [Unreal,](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal "Unreal,") [KDE 1.0,](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/K_Desktop_Environment "KDE 1.0,") and [T-DSL](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSL_(Telekom) "T-DSL") with 768/128 kbit up/down from July 1999. Together with the implementation of the [PPPoE](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point-to-point_protocol_over_Ethernet "PPPoE") protocol by [Roaring Pinguin,](http://www.roaringpenguin.com/products/pppoe "Roaring Pinguin,") I started to use the Dell as a router for my wife's gaming rig a year later:
**2000**: Custom-made, Athlon 750 + NVidia Geforce 1 DDR, 512 MB RAM, 20 GB HDD, Windows 98
Highlights: [Unreal Tournament.](http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unreal_Tournament "Unreal Tournament.") The whole package: clan membership, clan leadership, clan foundership, fights in a European league.
And so that's how it all started. Just because of the games. 😉