Puppy webserver - LOW POWER CONSUMPTION

[Ted Dog]

been looking at the jt thingy and found out you cant charge big batteries with such a thing however a buck/boost type IC are getting cheaper than shunt controllers and soon it will be economically a option for mid sized solar setups like ours. It will step up usable amps from as low as 3V to as high as nearly open current voltage of 30v. there is a program able model for gearheads auto computers. but only support 10amps for 80$.

[greengeek]

Do you know what it is about the Mele that allows it to automatically boot itself back up after power fail? Thats a real handy feature.

[greengeek]

Probably the best thing would be debian stable. You could make nearly any mainstream distro work, after hardening it some,

Sickgut was quite focused on the server side of things. His first post regarding Pussy Linux mentions headless server use. Given my relative lack of experience with Linux outside of the puppy forums I would appreciate any comments you might have regarding sickgut's projects as a possible starting point:
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=69475

[Ted Dog]

Do you know what it is about the Mele that allows it to automatically boot itself back up after power fail? Thats a real handy feature.

more like the power is hardwired as the on when power applied. There is a button to turn it OFF but it is really still running as a remote button press turns it back on..... and It does not have to be its own remote. The TV and cable remotes also trigger it back alive!!! it is a handy way to tell if power loss occured while away from RV when its plugged into 120v.

[p310don]

This:
http://208.109.22.214/puppy/viewtopic. ... ede234d88d

Running on a netbook.

Webserver already done. Netbook, low power usage, especially with an SSD. If sunlight is low, netbooks will often go for up to 10 hours, needed for overnight.

[Volhout]

Replacing the netbook harddisk with an ssd won't save you that much power. The stack would be relatively small so the rest of the 1Gbyte of RAM can be used as a largefile system. Harddisk access would be hardly needed.

It saves far more if you can disable the video chip in the netbook (bios?). Backlight off is also a nice, but minor contributer.

If you want something in the "sub 3 watt" class, go for the RP. Netbooks won't get you there easy. And hacking up the motherboard of a netbook is far too risky.

You may want to look for single board computers with an atom N270, and NO graphics chip. Then you are in the 5 watt class, with reasonable performance (slacko will run fine).

Volhout.

[greengeek]

http://208.109.22.214/puppy/viewtopic.p ... ede234d88d

Thanks, I will add that link trail to my first post for reference. Towards the end of the webserver puppy thread Atle makes a comment about webserverpuppy being a bit old now. Is he correct? Is it unsafe now? (can puppy ever be safe as a webserver...)
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... &start=128
Do people agree with his comment that Hiawatha is a valuable base for a webserver?
Would Hiawatha still be valuable if I decide a non-puppy solution is best?

You may want to look for single board computers with an atom N270, and NO graphics chip. Then you are in the 5 watt class, with reasonable performance

Would that be a commonly available mini-itx type of board or more of an industrial build for embedded applications? (Just trying to think where I would look for such a thing...). How would such a board drive a gui based OS? Would they have to have HDMI video output or would they be driven via network interface remote desktop somehow? (or just network based cli??)

[Moose On The Loose]

mixed battery / mix solar cell systems. I just read that your can charge batteries that are strung in series ACROSS individual batteries with solar and its better for the batteries since series run batterys will always be unbalanced when charged across full string.

Doing it cell by cell is the absolute best. With lead acid, at least, you can do it with a string of Schottky diodes and capacitors and do it from a common AC source.

I've build the version with 2 12V batteries making 24V and one controller in the distant past.

[Q5sys]

greengeek...
If you've got an RPi lying around...
Take this and just build on top of it.
http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=90788

Its a debian wheezy puppy + nginx + php-fpm

I'm planning an x86 version when Im sure its stable.
So a basic x86 Puppy/Server is in the pipeline

[greengeek]

Interesting. Thanks Q5. I don't have a Pi yet - I was going to get one last year then I saw all the power problems people were having so I shelved the idea. It does look like a suitable piece of hardware for this sort of low power application though, assuming I can get one of the later versions.

Have you measured the current draw while your Pi is running the server image?

[Q5sys]

Interesting. Thanks Q5. I don't have a Pi yet - I was going to get one last year then I saw all the power problems people were having so I shelved the idea. It does look like a suitable piece of hardware for this sort of low power application though, assuming I can get one of the later versions.

Have you measured the current draw while your Pi is running the server image?

Power to the Pi works over USB. Power specs are 300 mA for the Model A, and 700 mA for the Model B. The Model B maxes out at 1A, so you're looking at a peak draw of 5w.

[greengeek]

Thanks. I've now updated my first post to reflect Raspberry Model B as my current hware preference. (open to change of course, but we'll see what comes on the market...)

[greengeek]

Just throwing another idea into the mix for longer term consideration - I wonder if an ARM based tablet might one day be possible to use as a portable webserver?

Ted Dog - how capable is that Mele you mentioned? Does it have both wired and wireless network capability?

Are there any reasons why an ARM based server would be a bad solution?
.

[greengeek]

Added Odroid to my first post as another hardware possibility:
http://hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php

[Ted Dog]

missed reply sorry yes both wired and wireless. three different video out rca vga and hdmi if needed. the new one you added is the one version3 when available without paypal only option.

[greengeek]

Added note to page 1 first post to highlight server risks from openssl (heartbleed) and bash (shellshock) issues.

[starhawk]

Avoid the (now somewhat rarer, thankfully) CX-01 "cloud stick" -- you can't Linux it, it just bricks. Had one a while ago, found out I couldn't Linux it (thankfully not firsthand) and sold it to someone else as a direct result.

Those are the older ones with ~4gb ROM and no MicroSD slot... looks like this --> http://i.imgur.com/wfqXjhi.jpg

[Q5sys]

Just throwing another idea into the mix for longer term consideration - I wonder if an ARM based tablet might one day be possible to use as a portable webserver?

Ted Dog - how capable is that Mele you mentioned? Does it have both wired and wireless network capability?

Are there any reasons why an ARM based server would be a bad solution?
.

Until ARM gets it act together... they simply cant handle the load as well. Maybe in another 5~10 years they'll be better, but right now they dont work as well. I'm curious what the ARM 64bit chips will do once they work out the kinks.

[scsijon]

Yes, thats the type of power adapter I've got. Cost me $50 in NZ a couple of years ago - just couldn't find a mini itx mobo for less than $100 and it seemed rather steep at that price so I went no further at the time.

[EDIT :] Just dragged out my previous attempt at a standalone solar powered PC. I seem to recall the main problems (other than the 4Amp draw of the screen...) were the mobo needed too much current and I couldn't find an easy way to make it self-boot after power loss.

Ted Dog - do you think all Mele's do what yours was doing with the auto reboot or did you have a special setup?

Self booting after power loss for most is usually a link (there but not pinned and linked) on the motherboard if it's not available in the bios. Check your bios for a revision upgrade from it's suppliers website before playing with the mb first though.

Most switching supplies can be 'set' to slowstart internally, stops that nasty drag when starting up, have a hunt on the web in the swiching supplies repair threads, or pm me and i'll see if i can find the change to do as it's only a capacitor added across a resistor (or vice versa) somewhere in the startup circuit. Also a lot of AC switching supplies can be run from down to 72V DC so if your solar system is 48v, a voltage doubler circuit is all you need to add in most cases.

As far as backlit screens are concerned, if you carefully open the screen, the backlit unit is athin tube usually at the bottom. If you don't need full bright and you have one that needs button control and not a potentiometer, you can add that.

Had something else to add, but forgotten what so ending here.

have fun.

[greengeek]

Interesting pupserver thread started up by forum member evil20071 here