I’d love seeing how quickly a base Linux From Scratch boots on this system.

One thing that caught my eye in your write up was your DASD access speeds, transfer speeds and the temptation to go to 10G. Upgrading to 10G was too much for me to justify and I really didn’t want to go through all the setup so I went with a LACP/LAG setup. My DASD server (Linux, 4 eth cards, 8 drive raid5) I’ve bonded all the NICS together to get a 4GB pipe. I also have 4 eth in the desktop and my VM servers both have 4, all the other miscellaneous laptops, computers just have 1. I get pretty good transfers without jumbo frames in the 150MB/s to 250MB/s range. On the DASD server directly I can do ~350MB/s reads. Note that for Windows you have to get a 3rd party add-ons for nic bonding.

I just use software iSCSI for targets out to the individual Linux VMs and then another target for the ESXi servers (for windows VM etc) and various generic NFS and CIFS mount points.

I keep contemplating going to jumbo frames but last time I dealt with jumbo frames it was a hassle to maintain, but you’ve inspired me to add back on the list.

In either case I appreciate the writeup.

Complete transparency here: I’m getting in touch on behalf of Ergotech (http://www.ergotechgroup.com). They are the primary competitor against ErgoTron, whose LCD arms and stands you are using. Ergotech believe they have a better product and are looking for bloggers / community members who would be willing to use their products and then provide a public-forum writeup. The review can be good or bad — they care most about the feedback and getting to know their end-users.

Stefan- You’re a trusted authority, and your feedback would be valuable. Are you interested? If not, any ideas on someone who might be? For others reading this, please get in touch if you’d like to volunteer: aaron AT digitalmarketingworks DOT com.

Thanks, all, for your time. If you’re impressed with Stefan’s work, you might want to also check out http://www.workstationsetups.com (no affiliation – just a cool site).
-Aaron

Just want to know if it’s possible and yes, howto ?

Thanks

What version of 2008 Server – Regular,Enterprise,DataCenter,Etc ?

Vmware Server – ? I Have Esx Server v3.50 and Workstation 6.5.1

Thank you for taking time out of your scedule to help. Now I just need to goto Salvation Army Computer Recycle Center where the city drops off all of its used equiptment and start with getting used versions of your cabnits (Sorry about cabnits )

If this question has been asked before could you point me to that entry. I am only asking about the new office setup as even though I do not have the $$$ for your system, I am a collector and able to get refurbished parts and any type of os. This is so I can gain knowledge for my resume for the next job.

(and p.s. Office Swag would be amazing! Can you export? )

I would like to say, that this site of yours is extremely nice. Looking at the pictures, and the enterprise hardware makes me somewhat jealous. I have not had a chance to settle down, so, I don’t invest in systems like these, much too top heavy. But, I’m just curious, what is an approximate cost for all this hardware you have? It must be in the ten’s of thousands of dollars. Anyhow, I’m sorry to hear that people are cut/copying your pictures and pasting them as their own. It’s a terrible shame!

All in all, nice system(s)

But before that, you’re my hero. Yours is the only blog in the whole web I’ve ever enjoyed reading, for both the nerdy stuff and the idiotic Andre Alves stuff, haha.

I have a dual monitor display on a desktop and a laptop, and I used to think I was cool before seeing your site! I was very glad to find lots of positive feedback on Windows 7, because I’m a 7 lover.

Hopefully I’ll be like you when I grow up,
-Joey

Michael

What impressed me the most was not the visual effect of the set up (which is *quite* impressive) nor the uses you have for it, but the work you did to get all this up and running smoothly. It must take a lot of dedication, patience, study, knowledge and plain ol’ perseverance to get this rig working like you describe it.

Really, hats off to your skill and love for work!

other notes,

Your chair… Herman Miller?

Thanks,
Jesus

c’mon Stefan – release WiLMa to Codeplex. Let the community take control of it, eventually you’ll get other peoples contributions back

can u upload a/some screenshot(s) from the hole wallpaper u use or send it via mail? Must be a nice resolution ;]

Thanks

Greetz from germany

Best regards,
Envious Person

M

The noise is definitely there but my hearing isn’t all that great so a lot of the white noise is something I don’t hear. And I usually work with headphones on anyway.

The heat is the only real problem I haven’t been able to solve properly. But it’s only a problem during hot summers. During the winter it is actually very nice to not have to turn on any heaters. I’ve been solving the heat problem by not being around in hot summers because that’s when I usually leave for 2 months or so. Worst case scenario I could use a laptop elsewhere.

was surfing at flickr.com for more setups, and im happy to found your photos! really great! i love your setup!

Thanks.

I work out of my hayloft flat, office at one end, lounge at the other, i was thinking the other day i might move the office to a kind of sofa-based setup, have you or anyone else ever seen anyone do this kind of thing?

Happy tapping

Rog

My frist thought: That’s the place where SKYNET was born.

Second thought: WOW

Third thought: Double WOW

4th thought: I want an office like you! – Bigger Boys – Bigger Toys

Lars

or, in my native language… carajo!!!

you can only intellectualy understand how envious I feel now…

hey, congratulations!

un saludo.

Just to let you know I am very impresed with your setup, far more than I need at this moment but would love a big bunch of monitors, not too do work on, just to hug

I am currently running 3 seperate systems, each with a different OS, Mac, Win & Lin.

I try and develop software that works on all 3 platforms a surprisingly hard task. My next experement will be trying to modify Synergy with extra functions and to clean up the code a little as well as improving performance, escpecially with regards to sub-Gbit networks.

Keep up the good work and cant wait till I see Office 7.0

What kind of desks are those? I’m interested in something simple and sturdy like that, not those cheap gimmicky particle board “computer desks” that have all sorts of little compartments that are too small to be useful but take up space anyway.

I share your enthusiasm for computers, I’m a digital artist who learned how to build computers at 15. Recently I began using a laptop as my primary work environment since I often have to visit clients whose projects I work on. Major props to you sir! I’m sure your system has been compared to the one in Swordfish, huh? I know when I was first introduced to the multi-monitor setup I quickly decided I wanted the same but I never found a solution for splitting the monitors the way you have. What hardware do you use to split your screen like that? I imagine it’s a powered external device that hooks into the DVI coming from your video card but any guidance would be appreciated as I couldn’t easily locate the information on your site.

Currently I’m working on a Dell M2010 (Dell’s only 20.1 inch laptop which they’ve since removed from the market) and a Wacom Cintiq 12WX LCD Interactive Display which works as my portable second monitor as well as it’s primary function as a Pen Tablet. Like you I get a lot of compliments on my system, though mine are sometimes from Starbucks patrons.

tasso!
myspace.com/tassoart

Maybe you can record a few video’s of you working on that office, scripted or actual work scenario that will be an amazing sight to behold!

More power to you, your hardware and your fiancee!

What impesses me most ist your chair!

Have fun!

Carola

MaxiVista supports 4 monitors over the network so the maximum I can extend from any single system is a total of 5 monitors (one dual monitor directly connected on any system and 3 MaxiVista clients on any other systems connected to any of the other monitors).

But since I went from the old setup to the new 6 x 24″ setup I’m using MaxiVista less than before. Now various systems are all dual-monitor and switching inputs on the screens and sticking to dual-screens per system provides me more space than I had before when I was running smaller and lower resolution screens.

The desktop background makes it look like a single system was driving all the screens but that’s never been the case. It’s been 5 monitors at the most on any single system using MaxiVista. Using Synergy I can control all systems and screens as if it was all one single surface but the processing power behind the screens are different systems that perform different tasks.

In the current setup all systems (except a few) use two monitors and each of the monitors can switch between 2 or more inputs (the HP’s do 2 x DVI, HDMI, etc.) so the top left two are one system, the top right two are another system, the center two are another system, and which system is being displayed depends on how I switch the inputs on the screens.

If you want a single system to connect physically to 8 screens it would require 4 graphics cards with 2 outputs each but I haven’t run a setup like that myself and I know that not all graphics card drivers can handle it (or most systems since you’d need 4 slots for 4 cards and you’d want them all to run at full speed with acceleration, etc.)

I am still only a student, but have had multiple monitors for a while now. However, I have only had up to 3.

I am still wondering how you do this? Using maxiview, as far as I can read from their product page, it only supports 4 monitors? So I was hoping you would share, how to achieve a setup such as this, with the amount of monitors.

Even using a system such as DigitalTigers, with 8 screens, it uses a brute-force approach by simple adding more graphics cards, but I am under the impression that this has not been your solution? And if it has I must have missed it.

I’ve been attempting to research how to get a setup with 8 monitors, since I saw the DigitalTiger product, but I have been unable to come up with an effective solution without simple adding more hardware to support the other screens, and then I have run into the problem of sharing the monitors, with the control system, such as you describe.

In short, if using maxiview, how did you get it to support more than 4 monitors? Or have you combined them in a way that simply eludes me?

Regards
Tommy

once again, you have build a great system.
It’s incredible how much processing power you have got in that office. And all those great monitors!
I startet using multiple monitors some time ago. I first used two 19″ tft monitors. That was probably the best thing I could do to make my computer experience more productive. You really get used to using multiple monitors and miss it if you have to work on a computer that has just got one monitor.
Recently I bought an apple cinema 30″ display. That display is really impressive. I have now got three monitors. At first I was kind of overwhelmed. It really took some time to actually use all that desktop space. But now that I got used to it, I could even imagine adding more monitors.
Your system has always kind of been an inspiration. It somewhat show what is possible.

It is really a great system, though not perfect yet.
There is one more thing you could do: Water cool all those systems and make the room quite

I’ve visited your site the first time about 9 months ago and I was shocked (in a positive way) about your setup. With the time I read every article on your site and understand for what you need that. I appreciate your detailed kind of describing, especially your “case studies”.

But at least I’ve a question about your work with the monitors. I ask this, because I also sit in front of 4 TFTs and need a solution. How do you change the inputs of your TFTs? “Normally” like I do by pressing the Source key on your TFT or do you have a tool that enables this. Maybe it’s a stupid question, but you use some software products I never knew before (like PowerPro).

Tot ziens

Ciao
Dennis

thnx in advance

I am just curious, were you the only one who set-up all these things? Well, If I have the money, who wouldn’t want a system like that… I just hope you could share some technical details about the setup… I love it! and it’s nit. Regards! Rodel

Ross

Well done for achieving a home setup that most people could only imagine.

I just came across your website this morning. I must admit that I’m very envious of your Home Office!

But I must ask the following question: have you ever measured the amount of electromagnetic radiation being emitted when ALL of your equipment is running? I don’t think that I’d want to be too close to all of your stuff!

Please tell me that I’m wrong!

Thanks,
James

I saw the pictures of your setup, and at first thought it was overboard.

Than I read through your FAQ and completely understood your reasoning behind it all.

I normally don’t post comments on blogs at all, but in this case, I had to throw in a positive comment for all the negative ones you get.

Most people don’t realize the speed at which your mind processes stimulus (visual/audio/tactile) and would become overwhelmed by a setup like yours. Hence, they don’t understand you and end up trying to knock you down to their level.

As a former IT/SW QA guy, I understand and pay respect to every HW/SW configuration choice you made down to the minuscule; like your decision to a two layer approach for Inter and Intra NET. And I gotta give double props for your work on 3DS Max, now that I’ve switched careers to 3D Animation.

Keep up the great work!

-Sid

looks really nice congratulations with it

“Today two monitors, tomorrow the world! hehehe”

One day… One day Gadget. … Like hell you dont feel like a villan sitting behind all those monitors….
-J

Yes I work for IBM and that is what i work with.

I enjoyed the read and the pics, nice work.

many thanks steven

I’ll be yet another instance of:
‘One of these days…’

Okay, having said that, let me ask you something: Any idea how long ’till you go blind?

(I bet if those UPSs ran on solar energy you would never have to worry about a power outage )

Why do stock traders need so many screens? You’d have to be a stock trader to understand the answer. Why do surgeons need so many tools in a tray? You’d have to understand anatomy and the specific surgery. Every form of work has its own set of answers but they aren’t always easy to provide since it depends on the reader.

Suffice it to say, I have yet to encounter a fellow developer who doesn’t already know the answer without having to provide one.

But why do you not answer the question in detail about what you really do/need all the equipment for? you skirt the issue with waffle and I don’t care statements of what others think . . . To be taken seriously you really need to explain in better detail the amount of processing that your work requires.

(ramble) Ahh… I remember working on the Amiga. I remember building a scene, setting it to render and saying “Ok… See you in a week!” to my office mate – because it would take *that* long to render a scene and there was no prayer of doing anything else while it was working. I remember when we got our first 1GB hard drive. A *gigabyte*! All on ONE drive!! Wow!

@Claudio: I don’t. I usually use the laptops as single systems, on location. Sometimes when I use both laptops (NW8710w and NW8240) I only use Synergy to control both from one or the other.

Congratulations for the great workflow. Can you tell us how you switch between the screens when you are using the notebook?

TIA,
Claudio

1) What type of keyboard layout do you use? I’m suspecting Dvorak, unless you use QWERTY.

2) What type of mouse is best for your job? Wheel, optical, laser, trackball, pointer. etc.

I miss my multihead setup from a few years ago, it was just 3 cheap monitors on a k6 though, not quite your level of hardware

It’s a much much better way of working than having lots of windows ontop of eachother, and using a few machines on a kvm is currently making me sad, oh well, flat panels are affordable by ordinary humans now so maybe I’ll get things setup the way it’s meant to be soon

I noticed that you have a sound mixer. I have 3 computers at home and only a pair of speakers. I have been looking on the Internet for a way to get all my computers to output their sound through that one pair of speakers, at the same time, so no matter which computer or computers are on they will use the same pair of speakers, and without using a ’switching’ box.

It seems to me that you accomplished this with a mixer.

Would please make a short comment on this?

Many thanks in advanced.

Anyway. Keep up.

Aaaaah…. 3D Studio in the days… that’s when my fascination for graphics all started… and monitors . I have several 3DS IPAS books, but can’t find your name among them. A shame.

The hardware is without words ! But the absolute best thing that seperates you ahead of all the others I’ve seen, are the 2 front panels placed in an angle ….. brilliant !! It breaths 1 word : “Control !” But that’s just me, of course.

Are the wallpapers that you use custom made or copyrighted? Would be superb to have them too

I don’t want to considered a spammer on your site, so if you think the next link isn’t appopriate, please feel free to delete it . It’ll be posted on http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon soon. What you see are 9 out of 30 monitors.

http://users.telenet.be/desinerixu/DSC02433.jpg

.. and that’s only for playing World of Warcraft. 1 advice Stefan : never play it !

It was a joy to go through your entire website. Awesome !!

i was having trouble to transfer data or workresult from my development laptop which use linux and my laptop server that use XP that connect to my external storage.

i used to use USB to transfer data but thanks to you.. i can

well i don’t use ethernet.. i use wi-fi instead.. less cable:) (of course i only tranfer small amount of bytes )

I live in New Zealand – do you know of any online sellers that carry faux brick like yours?

Thanks,
Nitrogen.

Bill Gates was quoted saying that more than one screen leads to greater productivity, a nice quote to tell anyone who is constantly wondering hehe. Your setup, being pictured in the dark definitely reminds me of swordfish! maybe more processing power though!

You were saying that it gets pretty hot – i can imagine, do u not hav the a/c on in the summer tho? thats the best thing about datacenters you can sit under a giant a/c tho ull need good headphones on!