AI Builds Virtual Ethernet Hub For Browser-Based Windows 3.11 LAN · Digg

/Tech8h ago

AI Builds Virtual Ethernet Hub For Browser-Based Windows 3.11 LAN

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@levelsio@levelsio#627inTech

And it works! 😊

I've now been able to make all these DOS games work in their original DOS versions in multiplayer with my own local area network (LAN) emulator: - Quake 1 - Duke Nukem 3D - Doom 1 - Doom 2

If you go to http://pieter.com and start a game, you get auto matched with another player if available, and a little LAN is created between you two over the internet and via my server (over Websockets)

It works remarkably well if you think about all the steps involved

@levelsio@levelsio

🛜 Remember LAN parties? I do

LAN means "local area network" and it was essentially the internet but locally only in your home or company in the late 90s and early 2000s

So you could connect to other computers to play games or share files, kinda like Airdrop but via a cable and 30 years ago, people would even meet up at some person's house and bring their entire computer (back then a big PC tower, CRT monitor, keyboard and mouse) and everyone would connect to each other

Which is were you'd get all the WaReZ games, MP3 music, etc. cause nobody had internet yet, or if you did it was super slow, so LAN was much faster to transfer files

I know Windows 3.11 did have support for LAN networking via NetBEUI and it "should" work, but of course on http://pieter.com I don't have a network cable that goes to an Ethernet network hub to other computers

But...we could just act like we do?

I asked AI to build a virtual Ethernet hub (a hub routes traffic) that acts like a local LAN, but instead of connecting physical computers in a home, it connects other browser sessions on the internet that have http://pieter.com running Windows 3.11 open at any time, and with DHCP it can assign an IP to every browser session dynamically, so they literally all become part of a local LAN on the internet!

It runs on a virtual NE2000 network card that sends its network data not to a network cable but via Websockets to wss://pieter.com

And it works, well kinda, I just started and its' not perfect, but I'm able to PING in MS-DOS from one tab to the other!

Next is setting it up inside Windows 3.11!

2:17 PM · Jun 25, 2026 · 55.5K Views

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Users praise the AI-built virtual Ethernet hub enabling browser-based Windows 3.11 LAN gaming because it cleverly revives peak nostalgia through modern engineering like websocket matchmaking.

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Windows 3.11 Emulator - retro computer with dial-up internet by Pieter™

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Windows 3.11 Emulator - retro computer with dial-up internet by Pieter™

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VIEWS6KBOOKMARKS1LIKES10REPLIES8

@levelsio@levelsio

Also made PietSpy.exe a game browser that shows live multiplayer games with one-click [ Join Game ] to enter!

@levelsio@levelsio

And it works! 😊

I've now been able to make all these DOS games work in their original DOS versions in multiplayer with my own local area network (LAN) emulator: - Quake 1 - Duke Nukem 3D - Doom 1 - Doom 2

If you go to http://pieter.com and start a game, you get auto matched with another player if available, and a little LAN is created between you two over the internet and via my server (over Websockets)

It works remarkably well if you think about all the steps involved

2h6K101

@levelsio@levelsio

Just ended up in a game via 🕵️‍♀️PietSpy

@levelsio@levelsio

Also made PietSpy.exe a game browser that shows live multiplayer games with one-click [ Join Game ] to enter!

35m2.1K30

braai engineer@BraaiEngineer

.@levelsio this week I went through the process of getting Quake 1 & Quake 2 (incl. expansions) to run on my Mac Studio, and it was...difficult, but doable.

I had to buy the assets from GoG. I don't understand why the studios gave up on these games, when they could have continued improving them and releasing more campaigns, which I would be happy to pay for.

I guess they treated it like a movie, instead of a long-term game with DLC?

I don't want to buy modern games, because they all suck. I just want to play Q1 & Q2 with cool new levels while I wait for my agents to thing.

There is a business model here.

7h14231

Codey@Codey4Vibes

@levelsio I'm trying out Quake 1 and I can't seem to rotate camera up/down, only sideways?

5h751

Bogdan@loadcpu

@levelsio still running claude code?

7h1611

ErikNyberg@ENY66n

@levelsio Beautiful!!! Think this was my first frag in something like 20 years.. :D

7h1211

Prem@btrmasaladosa

@levelsio the ui looks really cool. don't you run into copyright or trademark issues while building these?

8h1181

TownRanker@townranker

@levelsio Can you get OG battlefront on there?

8h97

Alejandro@alejandro_elbaz

@levelsio Cool

8h84

DomainDan@DomainDanHQ

@levelsio Amazing work !! Rott . Rise of the triads . That would be so cool.

6h82

Traian@Traianmercato

@levelsio The curve in the monitor 🤝

8h72

Magnus Malm ⚔️@malm_magnus

@levelsio Love this so much. Might actually let some agents lose on the q1/q2/q3 source and throw some wild ideas at them... 😊

6h62

John Cartwright°͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌͌ 🐈 🐈 🐈@bejiitas_wrath

@levelsio Runs fine on Firefox, if a little slow, but this is very playable. Good work.

4h61

knewter 🇺🇲/acc@knewter

@levelsio descent plz

7h60

Colonel Panic@domdunc

@levelsio Command and conquer would go hard

3h161

Thiago Monteiro@thiagotm

@levelsio the websocket-as-LAN-bridge is the real magic here. matchmaking two strangers into a fake 90s LAN is so good

6h48

Code Ape@Code_Ape_

@levelsio this is greatest thing I have experienced in a long time on a computer

4h40

James@Darpinian

@levelsio Switch to WebRTC DataChannel for true peer-to-peer and UDP support. Example here: https://thelongestyard.link/

3h31

Codey@Codey4Vibes

@levelsio Also I'm having some sound lagg issues, frame rate or something is stuttering, I don't recall Quake sounding like that

4h91

(っ◔◡◔)っ 🐾@boobdex

@levelsio Please do the original Warcraft!

5h28