Servers with Personality

• Up: Links

By which, I mean: a server I can point to. Not just an anonymous virtual machine but a physical device that somebody cares for.

My homes have hosted a few. An old NSLU2 running Debian, Raspberry Pis with interesting cases.

• NSLU2: A NAS device you could run Linux on
• My old Raspberry Pi MPD server (now retired)

I remember at IBM the retired desktop of an old employee serving a Lotus Notes app from under a desk. In fact, I can think of several desktops over the years squirrelled away in offices working late. We gave them names to reflect their idiosyncrasies.

These oddball machines are rare on the public internet. But I occasionally bump into them. Like the little servers below that convert sunshine to HTML or squeeze a website from a conference badge.

I'd love to expand this list. Please send me a link if you know a server that fits the bill. It should host something on the public internet (not necessarily on the web) and you get bonus points for a photograph.

• Add a server

Meet the servers

When you visit the links below, you really are talking to these machines! Sometimes they might go offline. Just be patient and try again later.

Thank you for your suggestions!

• solar.lowtechmagazine.com

  

  This was the first solar-powered website I'd heard of. A mini-computer running on a "small, off-grid solar PV system on the balcony of the author’s home".

• kaimac.org

  

  A website served from a conference badge (ESP32 microcontroller).

• only.sometimes.digital

  

  Another ESP32 microcontroller running off a small solar charger.

• sometimes.digital

  

  Complementary server to the one above. A Raspberry Pi in the author's living room which serves sometimes.digital.

• compost.party

  

  Web server running off a Xiaomi Poco F1 phone and a solar panel for charging.

• mandclu.com

  

• blog.infected.systems

  

  A blog hosted by a Nintendo Wii running NetBSD.

• wilderland.ie

  

  A website hosted by a Samsung A40 Android smartphone running off solar power.

• solar.stfn.pl

  

  A website hosted by a solar powered Raspberry Pi Zero W in a shed connected via a Mikrotik LTE AP outdoor router.

• ewaste.fka.wtf

  

  A website hosted on a disposable vape. A write up of the project is also available on Bogdan's blog.

• solar.dri.es

  

  A solar-powered Raspberry Pi serving web requests from a rooftop in Boston.

• scot.ee

  

  A solar-powered Raspberry Pi Zero in Sweden.

• siliconforag.ing

  

  A webpage served by a cluster of IoT smart plugs.

• solarcene.community

  

  Solar powered Mastodon instance running from from various SBCs. Diagram of the setup (slightly out of date).

• Unconfirmed: A website hosted by a Lisa 2 using MacHTTP (Server header reports Apache, however)