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Web Server On a Business Card

Posted by kdawson on from the at-your-service dept.

mollyhackit writes "We've seen tiny Web servers in the past, but rarely ones that are home-built. Here's a guide to building your own tiny web server with a footprint no larger than a business card. The design uses two major chips. One handles the SPI to MAC/PHY translation for the ethernet jack. The other chip is a PIC24F, which hosts a simple web server and reads files stored on a microSD card. All components run at a low 3.3 volts. Part of the compactness of the design comes from the PIC24F having programmable pins; only four jumper wires were needed. The single-sided SMD design is easy to manufacture at home. Part 1 covered many of the 24F's features and both posts have full code available."

29 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. If every a server was going to be slashdotted.... by JohnHegarty · · Score: 4, Funny

    If every a server was going to be slashdotted....

    --
    Cruise TT
  2. As big as a business card eh? by bestinshow · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm glad I don't have any 1cm thick business cards in my wallet.

    1. Re:As big as a business card eh? by BadAnalogyGuy · · Score: 4, Funny

      I don't have any 1cm thick business cards

      Loser. I have hundreds!

    2. Re:As big as a business card eh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is that a web server in your pocket sir, or are you just happy to see me?

    3. Re:As big as a business card eh? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm glad I don't have any 1cm thick business cards in my wallet.

      In fairness, he did say in the footprint of a business card.

      Yes, it's not the overall dimensions of a business card, but it's a pretty damned tiny thing for a web server.

      Cheers

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    4. Re:As big as a business card eh? by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Which makes one wonder - what would I ever need a web server the size of a business card? I appreciate efficiency and all, but honestly...

      --
      "But this one goes to 11!"
    5. Re:As big as a business card eh? by KGIII · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You know... I realize we're a bunch of geeks here but, really...

      This is the reason that I enjoy being geeky and, well, is why I am considered geeky. I hadn't seen that before and when I just read about it I was pretty much smiling like a little kid on Christmas morning. I have absolutely no need for something like that at this time. I probably don't have the patience to build it unless I had a need.

      That doesn't matter to me.

      It still made me smile, read the article, and imagine a small email gateway or something trivial for home use.

      I suppose it is like that for most of us here on /. though so anything more and I'd be preaching to the choir which would be even sillier considering the percentage of people here who are even geekier than I and probably will build one.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
    6. Re:As big as a business card eh? by Profane+MuthaFucka · · Score: 5, Funny

      When I see a really good looking woman, I might want her. But, if the woman is really really good looking, I might say to myself "that's some really expensive pussy. Can I afford it?"

      Having a web server built right into my wallet is very convenient. I can check the balance without taking my wallet out of my pants. Smoothness counts in such situations.

      --
      Fascism trolls keeping me up every night. When I starts a preachin', he HITS ME WITH HIS REICH!
    7. Re:As big as a business card eh? by gstoddart · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Which makes one wonder - what would I ever need a web server the size of a business card? I appreciate efficiency and all, but honestly...

      Why? Because he could, obviously. He really needs no better reason than that.

      Projects like this don't get done because the world is clamoring for a web server that has a foot print which is comparable to a business card. They get done because someone with the necessary skillset (or, who is developing the skillset) did it for practice/experience/fun. This is no different that the vast majority of open source projects -- someone did it because they wanted to.

      Sure, it's not something which is likely sale-able. But, if you were interviewing someone to do work in a related area, and their "resume" included a little wee web server like this, you'd have no doubt but that he knows what the hell he's doing. In some ways (likely that you and I can't quite imagine) he likely has advanced the state of the art.

      I know for a fact that I (and likely 90% or more of all Slashdotters) couldn't ever hope to do this. This isn't cool because of its utility, it's cool because it's novel, and, well, it's just plain old cool. That's the point.

      Cheers

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    8. Re:As big as a business card eh? by Smidge204 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      My car was exactly 0 processors in it. It has an AM-only radio which doesn't work, making the fuel gauge the most advanced piece of functional electronic equipment in the entire vehicle.

      For minimal impact, I would want it as small as possible with no moving parts. Using very little power is also a plus, since it would have to endure some pretty extreme environments (High humidity, High/Low temperatures) so it would go into a weatherproof enclosure - and heat becomes a concern.

      Something like this project would cost me under $50 to build, be small enough to mount inside the engine compartment (shortens and simplifies sensor wiring, no modification to the interior) and use very little power (no dead battery).

      I don't need a full PC to do the job, and such a thing would cost me at least $250 or so.
      =Smidge=

    9. Re:As big as a business card eh? by ToadMan8 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I can't understand why I'd want a daily-driver that can go 225 mph, but I value the technological pursuits of Formula 1 teams to come up with things that make normal cars lighter, faster, more efficient in a scale I can actually appreciate on a day-to-day basis.

      Ah! A car metaphor! I didn't even plan that.

      --
      I haven't posted in so long, my sig is out of date.
  3. Sure it sounds cool.... by iamwhoiamtoday · · Score: 3, Insightful

    but what's the real point? Anyone with a website that has any real traffic to it is going to need a more powerful server then that... this device is more of a "hey look guys, this is so cool" instead of a "hey boss, I found a way to cut spending on our new web server"

    1. Re:Sure it sounds cool.... by Alioth · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The real point is an embedded webserver can be used to provide easy, simple access to some embedded device using software that is shipped as standard on any PC or any smart phone. There are other uses for things that can speak HTTP than serving huge content-rich web pages. This particular device might not be terribly useful on its own but that's not to say similar devices aren't. There are lots and lots of applications for embedded devices that can host a tiny server of some kind.

      --
      Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
    2. Re:Sure it sounds cool.... by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 4, Informative

      Add an RS-232 line or some Digital IO and you can now control your thermostat on your iPhone. Everything in your house could have a webserver. Setup a central polling computer using cURL and a MySQL database and track temperatures in every room of the house, or your refrigerator or ... anything in your house.

      Get a digital or serial water meter and monitor water usage from the road. Toss in a valve and be able to remotely shut off the water to your house if you know you're going to be out of town for business longer than expected.

      Smart Home devices are quite expensive and not very "open". A tinkerer could create their own smart home at the fraction of the cost.

      As a controls engineer I can just imagine tracking the temp in every room of my house with respect to outside temp and setting up a sweet PID controller on my thermostat to control temps much better than a single temp sensor in a central location in the house. Toss some flappers into the air ducts and you could probably set up a house to keep a temp +-5 degrees throughout the entire house.

    3. Re:Sure it sounds cool.... by Locutus · · Score: 3, Informative

      that's ~$200 bucks and unless you need it to be pretty small, there are other Linux capable boards which can do more/easier. Think Gumstix for small or even eBox for larger but x86 based.

      I think this /. thread is mostly about DIY, small, inexpensive, etc.

      LoB

      --
      "Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
  4. Re:If every a server was going to be slashdotted.. by Flipao · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think he accidentally the whole server....

  5. Re:Might be actually useful... by SkunkPussy · · Score: 4, Funny

    This webserver would fit inside a medium sized LAMP...

    --
    SURELY NOT!!!!!
  6. Re:Wireless Connectivity by Flipao · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's the thing isn't it.... what's the point of so much portability if you still need to plug wires into it.

  7. Re:And this is news why? by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 4, Informative

    So what does this one make it so special?

    You can etch the board yourself and make it at home from parts.

  8. Re:And this is news why? by basicio · · Score: 4, Funny

    "We've seen tiny Web servers in the past, but rarely ones that are home-built."

    You couldn't even bother to read the first sentence of the summary?

  9. best first every! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    best first every!

  10. Sure it sounds cool/hot. by Ostracus · · Score: 4, Funny

    "As a controls engineer I can just imagine tracking the temp in every room of my house with respect to outside temp and setting up a sweet PID controller on my thermostat to control temps much better than a single temp sensor in a central location in the house. Toss some flappers into the air ducts and you could probably set up a house to keep a temp +-5 degrees throughout the entire house."

    Or I could buy a programmable thermostat that does all that.

    --
    Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
  11. Re:If every a server was going to be slashdotted.. by Big+Nothing · · Score: 3, Funny

    I don't understand this obsession with making things smaller and smaller - I want my stuff to be bigger and bigger. For example, I have my web server inside an old Cray Y-MP shell (not with original hardware, mind you). Then again, I live in an old church and have plenty of room to spare...

    --
    SIG: TAKE OFF EVERY 'CAPTAIN'!!
  12. Re:And this is news why? by sryx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The web servers you linked to all require an intervening computer to actual connect them to a network (the first one seems to be WAMP on a USB drive, as it requires a copy of Windows to run). They are "web servers" in the same way that Apache is a "web server". This device is totally self contained, requiring only power and a Ethernet cable. And damn impressive. It might be clearer to refer to this as a really small "web serving computer", the Sun article would still take the cake as the smallest web server in my book, but then this one wins because of it's ease of implementation. As a side scary note, image a tiny bit more power and a second Ethernet jack on this thing. Yo cold set it up to sit as a proxy for a real production web server adding a few lines of malicious JavaScript to any outgoing HTML page. A device that small, with that purpose, would likely go undetected by most competent server administrators. Kinda makes those keyboard loggers seem tame.
    -Jason

  13. Re:If every a server was going to be slashdotted.. by Deagol · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did you take out the pews to make room for the garbage?

    --
    Method of processing duck feet
  14. Re:Wireless Connectivity by Fumus · · Score: 3, Funny

    You can use it as a ninja-camouflaged webserver hidden in your flower pot so that the police raiding your hideout will never find it?
    Dunno.

  15. Debate by Nerdposeur · · Score: 3, Funny

    Geek 1: "I won't be satisfied until I need an electron microscope to see my web server!"

    Geek 2: "I won't be satisfied until I need a crane to plug in my web server!"

  16. Re:If every a server was going to be slashdotted.. by Amarok.Org · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or a Cray-2 with little plastic fish

    Would that make them Cray-fish?

    --
    -- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"
  17. Could you imagine... by LaminatorX · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...a Rolidex Cluster of these?