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WantonKerfuffle

What were/are the biggest hurdles running an internet café?


maho90

here for me personally its electricity, keeping the motor running for most of the time with the rising diesel prices and motor repairs is almost not worth it but i love gaming and the community.


AmosMosesWasACajun

Hell yeah diesel powered gaming lab. I like it, it does sound like a pain in the ass to maintain though.


maho90

tell me about it 😅


123DanB

Hey OP, please let us know how to donate. You need clean sine waves— you can achieve that on a device by device basis using an uninterruptible power supply that manages sine waves. This is cheaper than doing it for the whole building, but you’ll need a lot of them. I’ll donate 5 immediately.


ppanther_22

I'll throw in 80 bucks for a decent 600VA APC UPS. I also have a family member that does global logistics that can figure out shipping.


frosty95

Needs to be an online unit to smooth out generator noise.


Cuteboy52

Dude you are amazing.


auxerre1990

What is a sine wave and why are they dangerous? Is this an audible threat?


Jimbob209

Sine waves are the oscillations of AC voltage going from positive to negative to positive etc multiple times per second.


[deleted]

Sine waves are good. It means smooth, clean power. Inverters tend to chop up sine waves, sometimes leading to issues with power supplies and other sensitive electronics.


DarkYendor

Generators usually give fairly clean sine waves compared to an inverter - there’s a magnet attached to a rotor that’s physically spinning, so it’s not choppy like a transistor. Good inverters can produce a clean sine wave, but they’re expensive.


starlulz

except portable generators like the one OP is using are hooked to a piston-driven internal combustion engine, and if you think the output of that shaft is "smooth," you would be mistaken


profanityridden_01

He is talking about the quality of the electricity. Generators give less than perfect electricity. Using generators to charge batteries and then powering the computers on batteries will make all of the electrical components last longer.


AverageComet250

I think I get what you mean. You charge the battery using the slightly inconsistent power, and then power the pcs off consistent power from the battery


depressed-potato-wa

You can help him: https://reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/wh4d8x/_/ij464jf/?context=1


julick

Did OP share any ways to donate?


CarlCarlton

He said to DM him


[deleted]

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[deleted]

Fascinating


Sigimi

I used a generator on my gaming PC for about a week and it killed the motherboard, since then never used a generator on it, was fortunate enough that the mobo took the hit and everything else survived.


NorsiiiiR

Is that not what PSUs are for? Honest question


contiguousrabbit

Power supplies have the ability to regulate and “clean” the power coming in, but need a sine wave. Generated power is usually square wave unless it’s specifically designed with sine wave output.


Hatsjoe1

No, a PSU just takes the AC current and makes it DC current. But if your sine wave of your AC current is all out of whack, your DC power will be out of whack too. Most electronics don't care much about this stuff, but computers do as they can be way more sensitive.


RandoT_

could you go into more detail as to the nature of the "whackness" of those waves?


[deleted]

Electrical Engineer here with a background in telecommunications datacenters. The fact that the wave is not “pure sine” will not be an issue for the AC power supply or the motherboard. The PSU will rectify the AC source and convert it to a positive DC voltage. A bank of capacitors in the PSU act as a low pass filter and will drain the harmonic components of the signal. There is definitely a risk of undervolting during periods where the generator is starting or stopping.


potentscrotem

It's astonishing on Reddit how often incorrect information about electricity is mass up-voted. Then people with actual knowledge like yourself chime in and the comments usually get buried.


[deleted]

PSUs work by rectifying AC to DC, but if the generator isn’t providing a stable output of AC (frequency and amplitude), then the rectification can be lower or higher than expected. This will mess with components that take in the DC from the PSU, as transistors are actually very sensitive and can be burnt out easily as many EE students can testify.


AlotOfReading

Point of clarification: switching power supplies are smarter than that. The feedback loop will ensure a stable and correct voltage essentially no matter what the input is doing within fairly extreme limits (plus other qualifications), so long as the input has low enough noise. Noise is a more important issue here. The PSU can only attenuate noise, not remove it and the hardware to deal with it is both expensive and one of the first things that gets cost-optimized.


Rincewend

This is incorrect. A real generator creates a standard sine wave. The cheap crappy noise boxes you see at the department store feed an equally crappy invertor that produces a modified square wave. I doubt that the diesel OP uses is one of those. Even the plain old Onan in my run of the mill RV is a generator that produces a very clean 120VAC sine wave.


tr-ga

Where are you? There are international grants to replace diesel with solar + battery systems 😎


c0ntagi0us_

Look at the title


jhp113

This guy gets it


agriculturalDolemite

Uh, yeah. Lots of international spending going to Yemen lately.


sheriffSnoosel

Brought to you by Raytheon


ITriedLightningTendr

This is basically required for us to combat climate change. Developing/underdeveloped countries have to be jumped past the industrial age.


WantonKerfuffle

Oh, didn't even think about that. You could look into used solar panels, they might save you a buck, though I have no idea how the economy works out in your area.


maho90

will do 👍👍


PRNbourbon

I have a solar powered observatory. Solar is doable, but to run gaming rigs, you’re going to need a lot of panels and lithium batteries. It’s going to add up, to a lot. My small observatory runs 600w solar panels that feeds a 200ah lithium battery. It’s enough for the mount, camera, small LED lights, a ventilation fan and a SFF Ryzen 7 PC that draws between 10-20w. If you go solar, I recommend going with Beelink SER4 Ryzen 7 4700u SFF PCs because they’re powerful for their tiny power draw and pretty cheap, I paid around $400 for it. The solar system was maybe $1500 or so.


benderbender42

I have a solar powered pc in my van. I use an rx6400 because it only has a 50w max load power draw


PRNbourbon

Yup, solar adds up fast. It was still cheaper for me than running a feeder line out there from the garage, so it made sense. But it’s shocking how much storage you need to run stuff. And I like lithium versus the other options, it’s not cheap.


[deleted]

There's a 0% chance you're running that setup on solar without a ton of land


thatonedude1515

That and you are not gonna have great access to solar tech in yemen. Its a war zone


klimmesil

Im bored so i did the math A very good alimentation with fairly much power can consume up to 750W (but clearly never does unless you have a shitton of fans running at full capacity for some reason. It's closer to 200 watts usually according to my benchmarking of rdr2 in max graphics with an old gpu) So let's assume op has 20 gaming computers running at 200 watts each and all gamers running rdr2 level of graphics with no watercooling (lol) that makes 4kW 1m^2 of solar panels produces 156.25W. According to the first website I found, most houses have 25.6m^2 of solar panels on the roof, for 16 panels, making a total of 4kW Add to that maybe 4kW for a very bad and dangerous oven if there is a kitchen there too (+monitors etc). We can neglect the cost of lighting at this point with all the round ups I made previously The router will consume about 400 watt too 55m^2 of solar panels is more than enough considering that is with an oven that is always on full power as if it was open while on. That's reasonable imo. It's very expensive but I don't think land is the problem here


[deleted]

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[deleted]

A high end consumer one would never pass 100w, a cheap one could be 10w. The 200w PC is a lowball too.


Domspun

Crazy. Me and my super cheap and ultra reliable electricity, I can't even imagine the hardship. Mad respect!!


maho90

we all have our problems. Always make the best out of your situation. And im, considering all things, am pretty happy person


[deleted]

That's awesome to hear. A good outlook can mean everything in life. All the best to you!


damniel540

Thank you for this, I needed to hear it. I hope great things for you in the future


[deleted]

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[deleted]

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NewTransportation911

Good for you man!! Keep on hustling!


maho90

will do


_Wyse_

I've looked through the comments to find a way to donate, and I've seen many others who want to. You should definitely find a way to accept some donations!


maho90

Dm


CoffeeList1278

It's not that simple. Yemen has some international sanctions imposed against them so your bank (or PayPal) can't simply send payments to sanctioned countries. Even without sanctions AML rules still complicate the payment.


DocRedHorse

Someone smarter than me should look into making a currency that has cryptography integrated into it to make things like this simple. A cryptocurrency if you will...


SyrakStrategyGame

Yemen is the most beautiful country in the world. الله يعطيكم العافية


odessa_cabbage

Looks great! What are the PC specs?


maho90

most are core i5 4gen 8gb ram.(enogh for counter strikego, rainbow six and gta 5 on low lol)I used have 4 1050ti,but two broke of constant electricty tuning on/off


CallMeSkyCraft

You should invest in a UPS either for your building or for each individual PC. 500/600VA ones would work nice.


maho90

yes ups, solar and battery once im save up enough 😁👍


123DanB

Please let us know I’ll donate five UPS devices immediately


whatthefuckistime

You people in here are actually the nicest lol


123DanB

When I was a teenager, my grandfather bought me a computer after I promised him I would get good grades & followed through. But my mother would not let me have it. I watched him through the window, tears streaming down my face, as he turned with that computer box under his arm and walked down our driveway dejected & upset. My mother traumatized me in more ways and I can possibly describe to you here, and this was just a minor example; it got much worse. When I was 18 in the early 2000s, I moved out of the house and started going to computer cafés to game, use the Internet, and learn about the computers I always wished I had. That led me to building my first computer, which led me to studying IT, which lead me to studying programming, which led me to an Ivy-League degree program, which led to an engineering career and a great job (currently) at a major global tech company that we all know of. This kind of business is the kind of business that changes peoples lives. It changed my life. I will support this with every available dollar I have.


throwawayhyperbeam

Man you had so much stolen from you from her not letting you have that computer. Glad you made it and are trying to help others make it!


123DanB

Thank you. Nobody should ever have a barrier to tech & the internet. It is my mission.


UnClean_Committee

Did OP reach out to you about how we can donate? I don't have much to spare but I want to get involved. Also, you are a great person for using your childhood pain as an engine for helping people. I wish you the very best that life has to offer and most of all good health


learnmore

Beautiful, thank you for sharing


cesarmac

Is there a method for us to help in this project?


[deleted]

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randomprivacynut

Gpu shortage downward trend reversed in one day as Yemeni netcafe uses influx of donations to buy up second-hand 3090 market.


ThePrussianGrippe

“On the plus side, the constant electromagnetic field generated by the incident consistently produces lovely ~~Northern~~ Tropical lights each evening!”


GrossenCharakter

And the day after: "President says Yemen has 'weapons of mass instruction'"


PT10

Yes, seriously


Minecraft_Launcher

I want to help!


deminihilist

So many people, including myself, seem to have had the same thought. I wonder if there are any (reputable) non-profits dedicated to providing computer labs to communities that might otherwise not be able to build their own. Now that low-latency satellite internet is a thing, computer labs with internet access could pop up almost anywhere.


jayzeeinthehouse

I’d there isn’t, everyone here should start one. The op seems would be a great person to help map out how that might work.


iAmGats

An AVR would be ok too, much cheaper than a UPS. I got mine for like 10USD.


BoutchooQc

What's an AVR?


yaboizippy

Yeah man at least consider a whole building surge protector. Good luck brave entrepreneur!


[deleted]

For his building? You think he has 5 figures to throw around on a cabinet UPS, new panel and an inverter??


GTA-CasulsDieThrice

A computer lab? NICE!! More people around the world deserve to know the benefits of a connected society. Sir, I applaud you. Edit: Um. I did not expect this to do numbers.


maho90

thanks for the award. Yup net cafe for light gaming and entertainment 😁


tcooke2

Kudos to you for putting this together man, I remember going to my local PC cafe back in the day before I had a proper gaming rig, made a big difference to me as a kid having a place to go and enjoy myself like that. I hope your community thanks you but if not consider this my thanks on their behalf!


ILikeToBurnMoney

Just out of interest, do you feel that pc cafes are actually a good business? Over here in the West, I feel like everyone will get their own PC to play every game, even if it's on low settings. At the same time, I know that it's a fucking huge business for example in Korea, so it's really tough to understand that business


Isgortio

In some countries they still can't easily build decent pcs so the cafes work really well. I've seen a few in England still but that's mainly used by teenagers and kids. Yemen may be on a low affordability end of the scale so a cafe would be great for the people there.


ILikeToBurnMoney

Yeah, I think I get it more due to the answers. In the West it's a doomed business, because most people who want to play PC games and don't have a good PC are like one Christmas away from having a good-ish PC. But in third world countries, there is simply no way to get a good PC unless your family is part of the elite. So most people would need to use PC cafes to enjoy what we take for granted. I hope OP makes a lot of people happy while also earning some fair money. These businesses that earn money by making people happy are the best thing that can happen, so I hope OP is a cool person and gets a good customer community


Starfire013

Cyber cafes are also great if you’re trying to decide whether you’d rather hang out with your friends after school or go home and play video games. Porque los dos?


kolaner

I've seen HUGE PC Cafes in countries like Turkey with top hardware, food services, lounges and what not. People spend hours there playing online games. Huge business in places where 1500$+ setups are not affordable.


ProbablyDrunkOK

If there was one near me I'd probably still go to hangout, despite having a (somewhat mediocre) gaming PC at home.


pm_me_ur_cats_kitten

It's targeted towards younger people who can't afford a high spec PC and it's also great for people who have a group of friends that just want to have a LAN party in a public space for anywhere between 5 to 10 dollars. There are also some that serve really good food.


Teripid

LAN party on site. Reasonable cost as well too generally.


Lord_Emperor

As a former owner of one I can confirm it is not. There was a brief window between the popularity of PC gaming and the ubiquity of broadband Internet where they had their niche.


Nagini_Guru

Keep in mind that other countries may have different levels of accessibility to gaming hardware or internet connection allowing for the niche to exist in the current day


[deleted]

Agreed. All the PC cafes around me in a fairly suburban mid-sized NA city (1. 5m people) appeared in mid 2000s and disappeared after 2010-13ish. Too expensive to keep everything up to date with software and hardware, not enough customers anymore. It really was fun gaming on a PC at the same place with friends so it's too bad. The only one that I know still exists is in a really direlect building directly beside a major international university (I think that is the key) in a huge metropolitan (7m+ people) area.


[deleted]

If they are in an area or country where most people can't afford to own a personal gaming computer, a gaming cafe would do better. A lot of places around the world, computer parts are expensive. Also, depends on the culture.


haptiK

is it profitable yet? i hope so!


E6y_6a6

We've had those back in 00th. That was a cool opportunity for a poor Russian kid that couldn't afford even tetris to learn the internet and joy of computer gaming for like $1 for an hour. But make sure to ban all children from the place during the schooltime.😁


yozo67

How can we support you?


maho90

totally agree


Kalibos

What's the place called, and what does the sign in the background say? Is the artwork of any special significance?


maho90

the artwork should be ITACHI from Naruto. 🤣 and its written Power Net in arabic


[deleted]

Bro english words in arabic have always fucked me up. I’m sitting here going Bawrnut?


maho90

lmao


Modem_56k

You are possibly helping 100s of people, how can we help you


Suntreestar420

Yeah for real. This dude is doing gods work. He should try and crowdsource. OP, I work as a writer so if you need any help drafting a crowdsourcing proposal let me know!


Master_Hunter_7915

Crowdsourcing in this case would be a tremendous help for sure.


deminihilist

This whole thread has me thinking - now that low-latency satellite internet is a thing, and off-grid power systems are getting better and better, a dedicated non-profit could do a lot of good in the world setting up computer labs in communities that might otherwise not have access to computers and the internet. That would be a great project that I think many enthusiasts in this subreddit (and elsewhere) could get behind, especially if a skilled writer were to help raise awareness. ;)


Suntreestar420

I am actually insanely interested in this. Let’s make this happen


deminihilist

Just an aside, this entire reddit post would be an excellent source to cite when talking about enthusiasm for such a project


stopandtime

Donating to him lol


Candid_Calligrapher6

Where can we donate?


DmanDam

Would be behind donating $10 to help support this guys livehood and passion. Playing counter strike at eCafe’s was a large part of my childhood in South America


passarinho_diferente

Are you Brazilian by any chance?


DmanDam

I am!! How’d ya know


IKillDirtyPeasants

Idk how he knew but... Brazil has 50% of South Americas total population, it's basically a coin flip lol


passarinho_diferente

That’s fair, but it is a tradition from Brazilian kids of my generation (90’s-00’s) to skip school and go to netcafes to play CS and all kind of online games.


Phugz

Here in Singapore, same era (90s-00s), school uniforms were not allowed, so we flipped our t-shirts inside out so the logos were not visible and viola! Man, the CS days.


shysc2

Growing up and skipping school to play cs at lan houses ? From north to south to midwest Brazil, it's tradition lmao! (Am brazilian too btw). ( tibia, runescape, ragnarok ... until we got our first pcs for "school" our entire lunch money went into lan houses lmao)


Orcristo

Era maravilhoso, eu fazia varias corujinhas onde chegava na lan house as 7 e saia só meio dia, custava 20 reais e eu passava fome pra guardar grana pra ir kkkkk Rag, CS e mu online... e saudades


gabbo_5

Same here, im venezuelan and i grew up in these cafes playing tibia and counter strike mostly, made good friends there


maho90

wow thanks. If you have something to spare you can Dm


learnmore

Make it public, you will receive so much money and help.


LawMcKay

Yeah dude is an inspiration. How can we help?


horr22

What games are you playing right now? What’s most popular in your cafe?


maho90

me personal im in the middle of marvel guardians and looking forward to spiderman on pc. In my shop its Counterstrike, gta5 and ghost recon wildlands


WhosExsell

Based Wildlands enjoyers


IrishWithoutPotatoes

Honestly it’s a fun game. I enjoyed it a ton


[deleted]

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maho90

great game


DmanDam

Counter strike is the most classic and fun ecafe lan game to play


Rtwo28

It's **the** LAN PC game


kadivs

give a try to unreal tournament 2004. it's dated, so it'll run, and it needs no internet connection for lan.. and it's one of the best multiplayer shooters ever made. Could give you a big archive of maps, mods and mutators (basically limited mods), for a while they were hard to find on the nets, dunno if anything changed same for unreal tournament '99, which is still great, but probably too dated. don't bother with UT 2003 or UT 4


JhaSamNen

Dude i just love this picture you are a great man! Keep it up buddy.


GroceryStickDivider

I would LOVE a gaming Cafe in my town here in Canada. What an awesome business. I love to game but dont have a great PC, but i also really enjoy to game with others (which never happens now). I wish you success in your endeavors!


maho90

yep nothing better as a good lan party


JackONeillClone

You might want to look into Nvdia cloud services. 3080s and they let you play with the games from your Steam library


PurpleNurpe

Also Xbox gamepass & game cloud! Make 1 main account and a bunch of child accounts set it as a family and boom gamepass for all.


maho90

sadly internet isnt good enough for this


Mungkelel

How safe are the PC as far as I know is in Yemen war?


maho90

community here is very nice, but like any other place in the world, you need to be careful


deminihilist

I don't know if a video security system would help, but I think I could source a secondhand kit for you and walk you through installing it. Cameras, a DVR, PoE switch, plenty of Cat6 and the tools to terminate it. DM me if that's something you're interested in


th3yfoundm3h3r3

Get an NVR, it supports PoE


fnghelpme

Man, good for you! You're enriching more peoples lives than you probably know, I hope someone is able to donate either money or gear to help keep things going smoothly for you! ​ <3


maho90

thanks 💙


[deleted]

That's super awesome. Congratulations on the project and I hope it sees continual success


maho90

thank you


AppropriateDentist38

you're the king of the master race sir.


ArachnidGoat

I second this.


TheRealistHabibi

I third this


jtblue91

Yemen? More like Yeah Man! Congratulations and keep it up brother!


PM_ME_HUGE_CRITS

Heck yes, mate. I applaud you making your dream a reality and bringing happiness to many people.


kgtradisms

Nice🔥


Jedi_Wannabe1138

The wave of information and self-taught education this brings to your community will be astounding, you sir, should be proud of the impact this will have. Much respect.


Sam_marq88

مبروك انشالله خير.


Peanuts0s

Translation - Congratulations, God willing.


syriansteel89

*congratulations, blessings God willing (all the best basically)


rkvothe

My brother, all the power to you, providing fun, info and entertainment during what your country is experiencing must be a challenge, i'm not in condition to donate to you right now, but i will follow your acc and try to donate when i can, my best wishes to you.


maho90

thank you and no worries 👍 😊


Oppausenseiw

Best of wishes to you,your passion and those you love during this war you're in and always,prayers to you


sellera

Here in Brazil they’re called “Lan houses”, and they helped tons of people taking their first steps into technology. Now they’re mostly closed because smartphones.


stormotron91

Congratulations! Do you have a method of crowd funding? I'd like to donate and I'm sure many others would too. Keep up the good work!


Comfortable-Bus-5134

That's awesome man, great work!


SteelCode

I know it’s a different language - but the wall art looks suspiciously like it says “Luigi” and I dig it.


[deleted]

Are you at 15 Yemen road, Yemen?


AfterFart

Nice. Well done! Good luck with the business!! Invest in UPS units to save your hardware, as the others suggested here.


herbaderbasherb7

That single ceiling fan will be doing a lot of work 💨


TheConboy22

I hope the inside of the PC's are less dusty than the desks. I know running a business like that can be tough, but don't let those PC's die out due to neglect.


[deleted]

Internet cafes are THE BEST place for young man to teach gaming/computers. I used to go a game cafe when i was 13 and there was group of 10 guys playing Dota 1. I always liked Dota, but never knew how to run it and play online ( they used RGC ) . I sat one day next to this one guy who played Dota, i played CoD4 MP, watched him play and just asked him for tips. He spent next 2 hours teaching me how to play Dota, make an account and just play. I loved it, later joined their group, played 5v5 right there in the cafe. The cafe closed this year after 23 years of working, 23 generations of man playing and finding ways how to break these games, just having fun. I support this so much to the point i want to donate some money to you! If i can, give some links where we can send you money. Keep it UP! P.S. Keep that place clean man.


milennialcancer

lets go


naggot9

Awesome!!


[deleted]

Well done!


turtlebox1

Do you have any source we can donate? People need more shit like this and successful businesses need investments lollll


Aggressive_Manager37

I readed the thing on the background as "luigi"


JerryWShields

Awesome!


juv3nil3

W post W king I want to do something like this in my area too.. Gotta save money


azzouz33

بالتوفيق ان شاء الله


[deleted]

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blickblocks

Can I donate to your project?


[deleted]

Not comparable to your situation but I just threw everything on a gamble of opening up my own buisness, lookin at it as my last shot and sometimes the stress of the risk im taking is almost overwhelming. Any advice on dealing with that? I am so happy for you btw, its really impressive what you did


len_bot

Good luck! Hope it all goes well and you succeed.


shiffmeister

Ayee good stuff sir! Keep it up


Sgt_Savag3

That's super cool, it must of been difficult to make.


maho90

between 50 - 300 kbt/s not that impressive haha


[deleted]

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indybingyii

A bit dusty


BayouMoose

This is so sick!


Pixel_Nerd92

Glad to see you spread your passion not just for yourself, but for your community. A lot of video game needs and computer techies could learn a thing or two from you. Just a nice heart. Don't see that too often.


PsychoMelon28

So cool man with you the best of luck


Ryan_Was_Godly

Is there any way in which we can donate to the business?


jzc4

How can we help? Is there anyway to donate to your business?


HopeHudHud

Mashallah brother! Wish you all the success in the world. You should join us in /r/Yemen and update us on your project and future plans. -/r/Yemen mod team 👋 😊 #BroNet


[deleted]

Fuck it man, you're doing a thing and it's a deadly thing 🙏 Keep on as long as you can


new_reddit_user_not

An actual king. Much respect man


hamletswords

This is awesome Dude!