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Random Hall (a dorm at MIT) has/had a `bathroom server' that did exactly that and also a `laundry server' that tells you whether the laundry machines are busy.
by robryk 12y ago
Random Hall (a dorm at MIT) has/had a `bathroom server' that did exactly that and also a `laundry server' that tells you whether the laundry machines are busy. The bathroom server used to be at http://bathroom.mit.edu http://bathroom.mit.edu (seemingly offline now) and the laundry server is at http://laundry.mit.edu http://laundry.mit.edu
- ballpoint 12y agoWe desperately need the laundry one in my dorm at Oxford! I have invested way too many brain cycles in thinking about unobtrusive ways of achieving that.
- ziedaniel1 12y agoThe bathroom server was up until just a few weeks ago. I'll have to ask someone here what happened. (We've had the system for over ten years, I think, so some of the equipment is getting old. )
- mrdmnd 12y agoErons and I (you'll probably not recognize me?) worked on the bathroom server about a year ago - I think the infrastructure is still in place, it might just need to be reconnected.
- jaynos 12y agoLaundry server sounds interesting. We just reprogrammed the logic board with a few switches on our laundry to make it free for those in the know and twice as much as the other floors for everyone else (keep the riff raff away). It was a small floor (suites) so all 24 of us on the floor (and a few friends from other floors) had access.
- boristhespider 12y agoA commercial laundry server product: http://www.laundryview.com/lvs.php http://www.laundryview.com/lvs.php
- clarkm 12y agoWhich is used in a couple other MIT dorms.
- jmharvey 12y agoI don't know the current status of the bathroom server, but when I was living in Random, certain bathrooms would be taken offline on Jewish days of rest (since activating the door switch could be considered prohibited work). So it's possible that the server is offline today for Passover.
- coldpie 12y ago> activating the door switch could be considered prohibited work Unless the operators meant it as a joke, this is absolutely ludicrous.
- colanderman 12y agoIANJ, but electronic switch = spark = fire = work, as I understand it. This is pretty common (along with removing light bulbs from refrigerators, which to me makes no sense unless you also disable the temperature sensor).
- robryk 12y agoDoes it also apply to solid state switches actuated by a capacitative touch sensor? I wonder why this or something of a similar nature isn't a solution to most of these issues.
- devcpp 12y agoWell, the decision to make electricity forbidden was a mix of building (by closing a circuit, not relevant to 100% capacitive systems), spark (ditto), heating and adding power consumption. There is some debate as to whether those last two still always apply to 100% capacitive devices (as this is important to Israeli soldiers and hospital workers). But ultimately, most Rabbis know that these reasons have mainly been brought up to avoid making those "holy days" look like other days by allowing the use of computers, microwaves and so on, so it's not just going to go. Every practicing Jew has thought about it. Many hope our Rabbis change their mind one day, seeing how hard life without electricity has/will become and how plausible solutions may exist.
- RRRA 12y agoIt was even more practical before the web server when you could just do: finger @bathroom.mit.edu (it was still active a few months ago, what's going on! :)