About AMP

AMP -- The first (so I thought) Linux server that hangs from the ceiling, was created by Christopher Chin, who is notorious for suspending other odd things from the ceiling and on the wall, including mangled hangers, destroyed CDRs, Ethernet hubs, pictures, stuffed animals, nooses, light fixtures with foil paper, duct tape, speakers, 8-inch floppy disks, silicon wafers, and plastic mirrors.

Seek the up-to-date wisdom of the MOTD!

More about the server: I originally envisioned AMP during Winter Break, when I learned that my friend SpooNz had a P133 motherboard collecting dust on his shelf. Why a hanging server? It was both a practical and aesthetic issue. Aside from its being opportunity to further decorate my wall, I just didn't have room for another computer (and Brown provides free steel cables to hang stuff). After finally getting all the components together, AMP was actually assembled, Linux-ified, and hung on Tuesday, April 20 around midnight, at which time it was sentenced to crunch data for SETI@Home. On Wednesday, I started the web page, which one of my friends submitted to slashdot.org, and by Thursday I'd had a lot of hits. Why AMP? The name has no significance to dangling servers: merely a short version of a handle that I've often used, Ampersand (the de-dereferencing operator in C). Though, I like that it can also stand for Ampere. What's with the heat-sink BLOWER? I'm a student organist, and at the heart of every pipe organ is a blower - they're just cool (no pun intended), and for some reason Radio Shack sells them. They're also more efficient with heat sinks than fans are, since they provide more air pressure, though it's overkill for a P133.

Had I the ability to control when my site was publicized, you'd probably see the following things here. But you can look for them in the future. Note: you probably were given an IP address for this site, which will change after the semester is over. You should use hanging-server.dhs.org instead.

  • Macro fly-through of the components as an MPEG video
  • Message Boards to discuss things like submerged-in-a-fishtank Linux server
  • A Guestbook
  • CGI scripts interfaced with motors and solenoids that move things here
  • A webcam so you can view your changes to my side of the universe
  • Other stuff I can't think of at the moment

    • Components:

    Donated by co-admin, SPooNz

    Purchased from various Tech House members

    Purchased from ECSC

    Purchased at MIT Swapfest

    Purchased from Radio Shack

    © 1999, Christopher Chin - cchin@techhouse.brown.edu

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