3 ms·
I hosted a server, in my bedroom back in the late 90s. By server, I mean a desktop running Slack, connected to the internet and allowing me to SSH into it. It c
by cik 4y ago
I hosted a server, in my bedroom back in the late 90s. By server, I mean a desktop running Slack, connected to the internet and allowing me to SSH into it. It could recover just fine from a power outage, but unfortunately due to a RAM issue it would just randomly die - and RAM just wasn't something the local computer store was ready to bring in.
Enter my Lego Mindstorm. I effectively built a box, on wheels with a big thick stick pointing out I loaded that guy up with NQC - built a small application for my Palm Pilot. The modem on the palm pilot would pick up, accept a certain DTMF code, and fire via the infrared port a signal to the Mindstorm. The Mindstorm rolled forward X revolutions of the wheels so that the long arm hit the reboot button, rolled back.
Yes, eventually I bought RAM, but that eliminated all the fun.
- ISL 4y agoFor the confused: Slack isn't just the modern messaging platform.
- stonecharioteer 4y agoSeriously i was wondering what sort of time traveler OP was
- cik 4y agoSlack == slackware.
- wvenable 4y agoThis reminds me of a story that isn't mine; one of my coworkers working a university and had a similar problem. They glued a stick to the CD-ROM drive of one server pointing at the restart button of another server. When they needed to force reboot that second server, they issued a command to the first server to open its CD-ROM drive.