How Does CGHMN Work?

CompuGlobalHyperMegaNet (hereby shortened to CGHMN) is currently hosted via the Hackerspace known as /dev/hack in Seattle, Washington. They have graciously allowed me to install a series of servers and other equipment for this project to operate. The goal of this project is to provide a core network for retro computing enthusiasts to be able to connect their devices to for the purposes of simulating an "era appropriate" approximation of the internet at large.

The current "core server" for CGHMN is an HP DL360pG8 with dual Xeon 2697v2's and a ZFS RAID of 8x 240GB SATA SSD's running Proxmox. While not itself "retro" it provides an extremely powerful host for operating core network services such as Wireguard, DHCP, DNS and other functions, as well as allowing us to host servers and services for members who for practical or convenience reasons either don't wish to or are unable to run the equivalent services on their own hardware.

Access to the network for both users and volunteers is offered via Wireguard. We provide an OpenWRT script that can automatically configure a target device (or VM) to access the network. Once configured a user simply needs to plug their devices in via ethernet and request an IPv4 address via DHCP.

While we do have a Cisco AS5300 physically located at /dev/hack it is not currently in service. This will eventually allow local users within the Gelb Building to access the network via authentic V.90 Dial-Up service. Plans have also been made to potentially provision external access for users who want authentic dial-up service.

During testing we've enabled access from within the "retro network" to the regular internet. However once the service launches publicly we will be disabling this access. This choice is done primarily for security but also legal liability reasons. Users can opt to host their own services that connect to the internet but do so with the understanding that they are responsible for securing that access against unauthorized usage.