Zaphod
From TermiSoc: A WikiHistory
Zaphod was installed on the 2nd of May 2006, replacing Arthur until it is re-instated as the mail and projects server.
Zaphod is the main login server, providing shell and web access. It also hosts non-excessive projects and probably a few excessive ones too (* cough * CamCrew * cough *).
It sports PHP5 with CGI-PHP4 backwards compatibility, MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, Ruby, Perl, Python, and so on. It will also run Mono (with ASP.NET support) sometime soon.
Hopefully in September, we'll also have our swanky new password and server management software tSNIPS.
It also self-claims how much cooler it is than any other server on PlymNet. In fact, so cool, you could keep a side of meat in it for a month. So hip, it has difficulty seeing over its own pelvis. It should be with all those fans we put in it. ;)
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Zaphod Mk. 1
Specification
- CPU: AMD Duron 1.2Ghz (welded onto board)
- Hard Disk(s): 1 x Seagate 200GB, 1 x Seagate 20GB)
- RAM: 768MB DIMM (1 x 512MB, 1 x 256MB)
This server was actually built into an old black 3U rack-mounted cabinet with 7 fans (including 4 just to cool the hard drives!) and glowy blueness... sadly no dual-heads though. Plans to build two motherboards into this case were greatly exaggerated.
Elements of it were the mythical server Kumquat, which was done for UPSU:Radio but they took so long to finalise the details (to put it this way, it was built nearly 2 years ago and the radio station is *still* not up, despite the radio station test being preformed with NOFX's track "dinosaurs will die".).
However, something dawned on us a couple of days before we were to install it: Zaphod wasn't much better than Arthur specs-wise. When you're installing a new server, it's always nice to upgrade a machine rather than just replace it for no reason - plus we realised that the cooling would suck due to the monitor having to go on top. So.....
Zaphod Mk. 2
Specification
- CPU: AMD Sempron 2400+
- Hard Disks: 1x Seagate 200GB, 1 x Seagate 20GB, 1 x Western Digital 40GB)
- RAM: 1GB DIMM (2 x 512MB)
Our shiny black server, with a new reformed sense of cool. It's like 'none more black'.
Luckily, we were (nearly) able to just install the hard drives from Mk. 1 and turn it on, except the drivers weren't loaded properly (initrd problem) so a quick play using Knoppix fixed it.
It doesn't sport a blue glow, it has one less fan (there isn't a fan pointed over the RAM like Mk. 1), and it ain't rackmountable, but it's still 1.5x faster and that's what counts to you, the discerning user.
Zaphod, much like all TermiSoc machinen, runs Debian GNU/Linux (the "Testing" distribution, currently named Etch).
