Three computers, one team
The three computers in the shelf share the work, keep copies of each other's things, and cover for each other. The fourth, the tower, is the desk PC and stays out of it. Step two of three. As of 2026-09-20.
They share the work
No program here belongs to one computer. Each program lives in its own box: its files, its settings, its own small operating system. Almost every box can run on any of the three computers, so the work is spread across them.
A normal evening
- Computer 1
- Password vault
- Wi-Fi control
- Websites (stays here)
- Monitoring (stays here)
- Firewall A (stays here)
- Computer 2
- Smart home
- Films
- Battery watch
- Change workers
- Firewall B (stays here)
- Computer 3
- Backups (stays here)
- Camera watcher (stays here)
They cover for each other
The three check in with each other all the time. If one goes quiet, the other two pick up its boxes and carry on. Nobody has to be home, and nobody has to do anything.
Computer 1 is out
- Computer 1 (out)
- Websites (stopped)
- Monitoring (stopped)
- Firewall A (stopped)
- Computer 2
- Smart home
- Films
- Battery watch
- Change workers
- Password vault (moved here)
- Wi-Fi control (moved here)
- Firewall B (stays here)
- Computer 3
- Backups (stays here)
- Camera watcher (stays here)
Who takes what is settled in advance: the twin first, and the third computer only if the twin is gone too. Firewall B carries the whole flat alone meanwhile. When computer 1 is back, its boxes go home again.
Two boxes are not there yet. The websites and the monitoring still live in an older box that is tied to computer 1; their replacements can travel and already run beside them, but the switch-over has not happened. Until it has, the websites are down while computer 1 is out.
On 1 September 2026 this was tried for real, when the team still had two members: one computer was crashed without warning, with everything running. About two minutes later every box that can travel was running again on the other.
They keep each other’s things
A teammate can only pick up a box if the box’s files are already within reach. So the computers keep fresh copies of each other’s boxes, every five minutes for the most important one, and the websites and the smart home keep their files on the storage box, where all three can get at them.
Three, so two can always agree
Why not two? Because two can disagree. If the cable between them fails, each one thinks the other is gone, and both would start the same box. With three there is always a majority: the two that still see each other carry on together, and the one on its own waits until it is back in touch.
The specialists
A few boxes have a home. The camera watcher uses the graphics chip in computer 3 and the backups use its disks, so those two stay there. The two firewalls are a team of their own: one on computer 1, one on computer 2, and each can carry the whole flat alone.
Small print: a pickup takes a few minutes, a copied box comes back as of its last copy, and the boxes on the storage box need the storage box.