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Web Server On a Business Card
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."
If every a server was going to be slashdotted....
Cruise TT
I don't have any 1cm thick business cards
Loser. I have hundreds!
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.
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I think he accidentally the whole server....
This webserver would fit inside a medium sized LAMP...
SURELY NOT!!!!!
That's the thing isn't it.... what's the point of so much portability if you still need to plug wires into it.
Is that a web server in your pocket sir, or are you just happy to see me?
So what does this one make it so special?
You can etch the board yourself and make it at home from parts.
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.
"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?
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.
best first every!
"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"
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!
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.
Would that make them Cray-fish?
-- "Other than that, how was the play Mrs. Lincoln?"