It has been quite some time since the last update on the Ethos Lab’s experiments with a solar server! Since its presentation in NordiCHI, the server has been through many lives. First as a host for a very unreliable and quick to drain the battery small language model, then as a host of different tools for reducing one’s footprints online, and up to recently as a Guard/middle relay for the Tor network.
Starting around mid February, I was approached by the folks at the CCIT to help with the set up of “Within Limits – an exhibition on computation and constraint” alongside Jacob Remin and with the help and equipment of Sebastian Büttrich of DASYA Lab. The exhibition hosts a solar server much like the one at the lab, except it is located in a much better position on the roof at ITU, has much more capable energy generating capabilities and has a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB of RAM as the computer.
The server currently hosts a static landing page available at https://solar.itu.dk as well as a Hedgedoc Pad. In conversations with Jacob and Sebastian, we agreed that the server has the potential to now extend as a pedagogical experiment for students interested in developing/deploying apps in an energy-limited computing environment.
I am currently writing the documentation for the server, which you can find here and we expect to make an open call for students and other researchers to begin to use it and experiment with it in the coming weeks.
If you are interested in the server, would like to have access to it, or in general would like to help in any way, you can reach to me at luil@itu.dk
PS: In case you are wondering, the OG solar server has moved from the lab to my balcony where it enjoys quite a bit more sun than before :)
