History of the Server on the Wall

A brief hisory of this once framed masterpiece

At its most ridiculous,
it was a ginormous twin Xeon, scsi-drives space heater

Eventually, it was pared down to this tiny Orange Pi

orange pi

Some particulars regarding this computer: It's a regular 'desktop' computer like one might have at home although this one usually does not have a mouse, monitor or keyboard plugged into it, as it can be administered remotely. A most unusual feature of this computer is that it is not contained in a case or tower like most computers, but the components are arranged on a board and attached to the wall. While this may not be art, it is unusual and fun. There is now just one small SATA hard drive used by the computer, which contains the operating system, web pages and other saved files. Several web sites, or domains are hosted here. It was built on the cheap! Let's go back in time...
Details: (Oct '01) AMD 500MHz processor (eBay - $22). Gigabyte GA5AX Motherboard (eBay - $14). 256MB RAM ($44) 4MB video card (donated :-) 8x CD-ROM drive (donated :-) Fedora Core 3 operating system (free download :-) Apache/2.0.53 (Unix) PHP/4.3.10 Server (free download :-) Configuration assistance provided by InfoStructure's Systems Administration and Technical Support departments
MAJOR UPGRADE ! (Sep '03) FreeBSD Unix version 5.4 replaces Fedora Linux AMD K6 500MHz Processor has been replaced with an AMD Athlon 750MHz Processor. The Gigabyte motherboard is now a GA7ZX In addition to switching to FreeBSD, a primary motivator for the upgrade is a serendipitously obtained stick of RAM, which brings the total to 768MB Apache/2.0.55 (FreeBSD) PHP/5.0.5 Server
Yet another UPGRADE ! (Jun '07) Ubuntu GNU/Linux 6.06 LTS Pentium 4, 2.8GHz Processor 1 GB RAM Apache/2.0.55 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.1.2 Server I had a desire to revert back to Linux as I was no longer chummy with the BSD admins I once knew and had more familiarity with Linux. I'd been installing Ubuntu on our charitable distributed computers since the New Orleans Project (computerdropoff.org) so it was our distro of choice for the wall server. We tried it on SparcUltra1s and an Ultra5, a dual-Pentium III but settled on this P4. Check out that stack of SCSI drives and the Obligitory case-mod florescent !
Here's the GiNormous Twin XEON, SCSI Dirves Space heater ! Dual Xeon (Apr '08) Ubuntu 8.04 server edition LTS (free d download) 2 Intel Xeon 2.0GHz Processors SL5Z9 ($21.49) Dell Precision 650 Motherboard 2x-Xeon Socket 603 ($34.91) Dell proprietary 460w power supply ($37.45) 1 GB RAM (donated) A Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu (free download) The 64bit setup was buggy as heck. Linux and FreeBSD both gave nothing but trouble. I wondered what might be more reliable and then I found the Xeon procs, next I went hunting for something to put them on, which led me to the Dell Precision 650 parts. Ubuntu works (as in 'everything just works') best for me. Even though I really like to fiddle, this system has potential to last years and years. (we'll see ; - )
(It didn't last years - ha ) (Apr '13) Intel Atom 330 - 6x6inches, 15watts Intel 945GC Mini ITX Motherboard w/ Atom 330 Dual Core Processor Ubuntu 12.04 server edition LTS (free download) Apache/2.2.8 (Ubuntu) PHP/5.2.4-2ubuntu (free download) Upgraded the OS to Unbutu version 12.04 LTS and took down the server hosting the rogueimc.org. That site may have been hacked or its aging CMS was just too old to keep running without wild and killing the performance. Besides, no one seemed interested enough to assist in upgrading it, so off it goes while the other sites hosted here get to run in the 21st century. All hail the Atom 330 - What a miraculous little workhorse!
Update Jan. 2017 Dell Vostro Mobo / Atom 220 Processor /1TB HDD 2GB RAM Ubuntu Server 16.04 LTS LAMP (not pictured) ========================================================= Update October 2021 Intel D410PT motherboard/Atom® D410 Processor New 1TB SSD drive and fresh OS, this time... good old Debian. Debian v11 (Bullseye). Despite Deb and Ian divorcing and later, Ian passing away, Debian remains the basis for many other distributions, most notably Ubuntu. =========================================================March 2024 update - CERTBOT has been employed to enable https for all domains now, so here's an opportunity to bring this update. Most domains hosted here have fallen by the wayside leaving only jonldowd.com and serveronthewall.com. Owners of other domains may chose to comeback but for new it's just those two. This machine remains attached to the wall in my home-motorcycle shop. It is runnnig on a small Intel Atom D410PT motherboard which has a 1.66GHz fan-free CPU. There are still 2GB RAM installed but the 1TB SATA hard drive was repurposed and now all of this is on a 256GB SATA drive. The operating system has been upgraded to Debian GNU/Linux 12 (bookworm). ========================================================= August 2026 update - Now Something completely different! Single Board Computers !!! All the computing power needed to run these websites on a magical thing the size of a business card. The most common SBC is the Raspberry Pi, but I'm late to the game and with prices skyrocketing (due to AI gobbling up resources?) they've become too costly. Enter Orange Pi -A very powerful upstart. Despite their tiny size, they are being used in many applications. Mine is a command-line based Linux, but they can be used for a full desktop, home security, robotics, display kiosks and a million other applications. This one serves these clumsy web pages using the Apache web server. For what it's worth, the software Apache's name has nothing to do with a Native America tribe, but as the project was being built, it required one after another fix, update or 'patch'. It contained so many patches, it became named 'Apache'. =========================================================