Human Clock (Complete with Hands!) 327
soulsteal writes: "Some people with too much time on their hands have decided to make a clock of, for, and by the people! Humanclock allows for anyone anywhere to set their time zone and view over 1100 pictures of people posing with one of the 1440 minutes available each day. On the geek side, their server is a Radio Shack 2.4mhz TRS-80 Model 100 portable running a port of Aache and PHP." Something seems extremely suspicious about that server ...
aache (Score:1, Offtopic)
Netcraft says.... (Score:1, Redundant)
AuthMySQL/2.20 on FreeBSD
So it looks like they ported BSD to the TRS-80 now...
Re:Netcraft says.... (Score:2)
That's what the internet is all about! (Score:5, Insightful)
Reminds me of the good old days, when people had way too much time on their hands and creativity was rampant.
A nice break from the current spam infested and x10.com peddling (oops, I mean, "business friendly") Internet.
Re:That's what the internet is all about! (Score:3, Funny)
Well, when everyone's been fired... :)
Notes From a Clock Human (Score:2)
I think my favorite pic of the three of us that did the photo-taking is the one at 1:59 AM, because I'be been told I ended up looking like Gary Oldman in that one.
.. (Score:1)
Source Code Joker (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Source Code Joker (Score:2)
Re:Source Code Joker (Score:2)
Well, it's good, but could be better... (Score:1)
It seems that this page uses a meta refresh, which in web circles has it's own considerations. But this could be improved by using php to change the refresh time based on when you load the page and the server clock. Also there could be some improvement, if they would precache the pictures, but as it seems they run them through md5 to keep you from stealing them, I doubt that precaching is possible.
I do like the nice saying (like at 1:11) and the pictures of Oregon. I come from the Beaver State and love to see pics of downtown. Overall, a good waste of time. Now if only I could make that window stay on top.
Re:Well, it's good, but could be better... (Score:2)
Re:Well, it's good, but could be better... (Score:1)
Re:Well, it's good, but could be better... (Score:2)
or you could just take the pictures yourself. that would be my best option.
('while true; do wget -r -l0 http://thesite/; sleep 60; done' for 24 hours would also work, with some awk/perl goodness to rename the files, but who really cares that much?)
Apache ported to Tandy BASIC? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Apache ported to Tandy BASIC? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Apache ported to Tandy BASIC? (Score:5, Funny)
down time (Score:1)
Not only Apache and PHP... (Score:2)
Getting MySQL to fit on a TRS-80 is even more impressive, I think.
looks like... (Score:3, Funny)
doubting thomases (Score:2)
First, there is a Zilog Z80 variant that is marketed as a web server on a chip [zilog.com]. Of course, the ez80190 runs at 50MHz and can address up to 16MB of memory, a far cry from the old Z80-A or 8080. (the chip itself only appears to have 8KB of SRAM, however, which is pretty similar to a TRS-80 or yore)
Second, the storage capacity of audio cassette tapes should not be underestimated. We can reasonably espect that the maximum storage density of an audio cassette is similar to the maximum bandwidth of vioce telephone lines (audio cassettes probably have a higher storage density, in fact, because the vioce telephone line bandwith is artificially limited in order to filter out varous kinds of noise). If we could record at 32Kbaud we would be able to store 10MB (that's Mega BYTES) on one side of a 90 minute tape.
Looked at another way, a cassette tape can store about the same amount of information as your average CD (they store about the same amount of music, and cassette tapes are actually better fidelity that audio CDs, they just degrade faster and don't reproduce well on consumer grade equipment), which means that we could actually expect to get something more like 600MB-800MB if we had really good recording and playback equipment. Not too shaby.
Of course, with a normal tape player we would have an average seek time of over 20 minutes, but you have to make some compromises for this level of geekiness. I can think of a few ways to decrease the seek time, but we are still talking about something on the order of minutes rather than a reasonable value in the range of seconds.
Re:Seek times Re:doubting thomases (Score:2)
To see the site use Google's web-cache at: (Score:4, Informative)
They are leasing the rights to 4:20!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:They are leasing the rights to 4:20!!! (Score:2)
I love the first bid on that auction.
Re:What's the deal with 4:20? (Score:3, Informative)
There are tons of stories about why, because it's the police call sign for a marijuana bust or because it's Bob Marley's birthday. But you're supposed to smoke at 4:20... and don't even get me started about 4/20 @ 4:20... that's a national holiday for tokers
This should win an award. (Score:2)
Does anybody remember some story on here about some PCI card that turned out to be a hoax?
Web Server Description (Score:2)
Ah yes, and it is a joke for everyone who did not get it the first time
I think my human clock is broken... (Score:5, Funny)
Bill's Last Fling (Score:2, Funny)
Martianclock.com coming REAL SOON (Score:5, Funny)
We are inspired by this human clock thing, and will implement a clone ourselves.
Look for martianclock.com, featuring pictures for all 24 hours and 37 minutes using photographs of live martians.
Unlike humanclock.com, and due to the long distances involved, we'll be using a cluster of Commodore 64 and Atari 800XL machines to handle the web server(s).
Re:Martianclock.com coming REAL SOON (Score:2, Funny)
Too bad; I know where you can get a Beowulf cluster of Timex Sinclairs dirt cheap ...
Do I want to see this? (Score:3, Funny)
What about a slashbox? (Score:5, Interesting)
god bless the rts-80 m100!!! (Score:2, Funny)
OK, I'll bite... (Score:2, Funny)
Cool, we could set up a Beowulf cluster...
My god.... (Score:3, Insightful)
...what have I done?
"I have become death - destroyer of worlds" -Oppenheimer
That brave little TRS-80 never had a chance....
Re:My god.... (Score:1)
It thinks It can (Score:1)
Re:My god.... (Score:1)
I have become death - destroyer of worlds" -Oppenheimer
it is actually from the bhagavad gita, a indian poem that is dialogue between arjuna, a prince, and the god, krishna
and if you wanted to get real picky, it's actually 'I am become death' but who's counting?
Re:My god.... (Score:2)
I know it's from the Bhagavad Gita but I felt more like Oppenheimer after the release of the nukes against Japan. Except in this case, it was a froth of geeks congealed into the "Slashdot Effect" sent against a poor PHP clock.
Re:congealed geek froth (Score:4, Funny)
Isn't this ironic... (Score:2)
TRS-80 (Slightly OT) (Score:2, Interesting)
Is just me or does anyone else here read "TRS-80" as "Trash Eighty?" It's just automatic for me now.
Re:TRS-80 (Slightly OT) (Score:1)
From the horses mouth (Score:5, Interesting)
There are some interesting photos on the site. Jimi Hendrix's grave is at 8:15pm, Richard Buckner is at 8:14pm, and there is an entire hours worth of pictures from 1am - 2am that were taken at a Goth party in Pittsburgh. (thanks D33!)
Now I gotta go downtown and reboot the server... (on -> off -> on)
Re:From the horses mouth (Score:1)
If you remember the days of Atari and Vectrex, be sure and check out 2:12pm-2:18pm.
I'll try and get a FAQ written tomorrow, but in short:
- the webserver is in fact real, if you want it to be. (isn't this from a movie or something?)
- the girl at 11:11am is in fact single (and knows what interrupt vector table is).
- humanclock.com isn't some website with a mega-corporation lurking behind it, it is just created/ran by me.
- the analog clock should be done this weekend
- 7:39am is the best / most creative clock photo I've received so far.
DCG
humanclock.com slashbox (Score:3, Interesting)
-Jeff
Now we just need the naked clock... (Score:4, Funny)
It'd be almost like the Naked News [nakednews.com]
Re:Now we just need the naked clock... (Score:2)
As the old adage goes, be careful what you wish for -- you just might get it [fda.gov]...
Funny source (Score:3, Interesting)
ok dammit (Score:2)
Re:ok dammit (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:ok dammit (Score:2, Insightful)
* Havokmon slaps smack_attack with a tuna.
If it's really true.... (Score:4, Funny)
Down already.... (Score:1)
MG
Re:If it's really true.... (Score:4, Funny)
I don't believe it!!! (Score:2, Funny)
I gotta make myself one of those!
Wonder if anybody has any links about incredible web servers like this one?!?
Re:I don't believe it!!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Uhm, are there really poop and puke commands in BASIC?
Ken
Re:I don't believe it!!! (Score:2)
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:If it's really true.... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:If it's really true.... (Score:5, Funny)
Yegods, the poor thing never had a chance...
I call bullshit (Score:5, Informative)
Hoax. Right up there with the potato server.
It's a JOKE! Yeesh... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:It's a JOKE! Yeesh... (Score:2)
Re:It's a JOKE! Yeesh... (Score:2)
Umm... the fact that they claim the webserver is running off a TRS-80 is a total sidebar to the story. The original story, if you notice by the title of the posting, and most of the content, was about the Human Clock they're hosting. Try to read things a little closer next time, m'kay?
Re:It's a JOKE! Yeesh... (Score:1)
Re:It's a JOKE! Yeesh... (Score:2)
Re:I call bullshit (Score:2, Interesting)
(And is the plural of "walkman" walkmans or walkmen?)
truth is stranger than fiction! (Score:2)
See, they really knew what they were doing but those spoilsports in Redmond, M$, took over the world with their inferior version of BASIC that they bundled with the OS. It has caused untold missery across the world. Millions of Dollars have been lost, hundreds of millions of man hours wasted trying to fix things. It would all be OK if only they had POOP and PUKE.
Timex Sinclair also had superior IT, and my site uses a 1600, much expanded. It takes a licking and keeps on ticking.
Re:I call bullshit (Score:2, Informative)
you obvously didn't have a trs-80... I had one, and I used a audio tape to save my basic programs. Yeah, its a joke, you can't save 4GB on an audio cassette, but using a cassette tape for a TRS-80 is quite real.
Re:I call bullshit (Score:2)
I think the point is that without a record head, a walkman would be pretty useless for a TRS-80 (unless you already had the data on tape and just wanted read-only).
Yeah, this is obviously a joke. Part of me was momentarily hopeful that someone had actually hacked a TRS-80 into a http server, though.
Re:I call bullshit (Score:2)
I was talking about using tapes on trs80 in general, not using z80 assembler on a model 100
Re:I call bullshit (Score:2)
You mean the Spud Server [totl.net] wasn't real!?
Next you're going to tell me that computers can't really date [totl.net] and that it really isn't this easy to hack [totl.net] a computer!
Now I'm beginning to wonder if even Project E.U.N.U.C.H. [totl.net] is true.
"Port of Apache" (Score:2)
That site is great -- funny as hell.
-Puk
p.s. Sorry if my BASIC is rusty -- it has been like 15 years.
My port of Linux for older machines (Score:3, Funny)
20 PRINT "LOGIN: "
30 INPUT LOGIN$
40 PRINT "PASSWORD: "
50 INPUT PASSWORD$
60 GOTO 10
You don't notice this until you actually try: after a few years of Perl programming, it's hard to put those dollar signs at the end, and even harder to leave off the semi-colons. :-(
Mike
Re:My port of Linux for older machines (Score:1)
$PASSWORD
$LOGIN
At least it did in 1977.
Re:My port of Linux for older machines (Score:2)
...and it's even harder to use two-letter variable names.
I assume you meat U$ and PW$ (or DIM PW$,7 - see getpwnam(3) man page!)... not lame long names like LOGIN$ and PASSWORD$, those weren't there until DOS and QBasic.
Well, I suppose I will use cc64 [cc65.org] and raw 6502 assembler for my microcomputing needs. Commodore basic was one of the most hideous programming environments Microsoft has ever produced =)
Re:My port of Linux for older machines (Score:2)
And as that other guy pointed out, I'm a dumbass. That program really does (again, assuming it works) perform the function of a httpd server, so I shouldn't make fun of that. But it's no more a port of apache than linux is a port of MS-DOS. Still very cool, though.
-Puk
Oh come on, use Netcraft - its FreeBSD not a TSR-8 (Score:5, Informative)
http://uptime.netcraft.com/up/graph/?mode_u=off
Besides, the webserver page claims all the data for the images is stored on a TDK cassette tape. They say "we estimate we can get 4gb on the tape before we have to turn it over".
Its a joke guys. A funny one, but a joke
Re:Oh come on, use Netcraft - its FreeBSD not a TS (Score:2)
Putting the "BS" in "BSD" (Score:2)
But still...there's one born every minute...
Re:Putting the "BS" in "BSD" (Score:2, Funny)
-Somebody
hey .... (Score:2, Funny)
Nice (Score:2)
Re:Nice (Score:5, Funny)
Spoken like an unmarried man.
Re:Nice (Score:2, Interesting)
Do not go straight home from work for the first week of marriage. Hang out, go to a park for an hour, park and read a book, do anything, but do not go straight home to your new wife. If you go straight home, she will expect it to be that way for the rest of the marriage.
Trust me on this one.
Yes, this may seem sexist, but I don't know any guys who flip when their spouse shows up at 6:05 instead of 6.
That Poor Poor Box (Score:5, Funny)
From the site:
On Tuesday the server went down for about 12 hours because the AA batteries in it died and I had to go out and buy new ones.
And you think this thing can stand up to the usual slashdot-gangbang? Novel idea but you'd better invest in some real hardware if you're gonna put up Geeky cool content like this!
Re:That Poor Poor Box (Score:2, Offtopic)
The term "Slashdot Effect" is so passe, so...nineties.
Now "Slashdot-Gangbang"...much better!
All in favor??
Re:That Poor Poor Box (Score:2)
Re:That Poor Poor Box (Score:1)
How they made it... (Score:4, Funny)
With names like Western Family, Realistic, Tandy and TDK; humanclock.com's middle-management attempts to cut every corner possible when it comes to industrial-strength webhosting. Many web hosting companies use expensive servers with complex software for their web operations. Our engineering staff rewrote the popular Apache webserver software to run on an 18 year-old portable computer with 32k of memory.
Humanclock.com runs on a Radio Shack 2.4mhz TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer, using a stripped-down version of the Apache webserver software (version 100-BASIC.12 beta). The graphic files are stored on magnetic tape accessed via a modified Radio Shack personal cassette player (CAT NO. 14-1215). The webserver is powered by a 6 volt TRS-80 AC Adaptor (CAT NO. 26-3804). We take our web hosting very seriously at humanclock.com, therefore we have installed 4 "AA" batteries in the webserver in case of power failure. Whereas some battery backup systems last for only 20 minutes and cost hundreds of dollars, our power backup solution lasts for 20 hours and costs $2.49, (due to it being double coupon Tuesday). In the case of power outage however, it takes our webserver about one second to come back online, something that would take a common UNIX/NT system over two minutes.
Apache software in action We hired a crack team of crafty crack monkeys that were able to modify the Apache source code and reduce it down to a 25k text file that runs under the BASIC interpreter native to the Tandy TRS-80 Model 100. Those were some smart monkeys. Our engineering department was able to rewire this ordinary personal cassette player (not to be confused with a "walkman"), to handle the vast storage needs that humanclock.com requires.
All I/O is performed through the headphone jack. The storage media consists of a single TDK type I cassette tape. The "Rigid-Construction cassette mechanism" gave our IT deparment an overwhelming sense that it was 65 cents well spent. We estimate that roughtly 4 gigabytes of data can be stored before we have to turn over the cassette and record over the side labeled "Kick ass Toto mix tape".
TRS-80 Model 100 (Score:2)
If anyone's wondering, the TRS-80 Model 100 really does look like that, it really does run 24 hours on 4 AA batteries, it really does have 32K of RAM, and it really is 2.4MHz. The reason it takes one second to reboot is because there are no drives; everything is stored in 32 of RAM (including the operating system, all programs, and all files).
The port on the left side that these guys have an Ethernet cable plugged into is a DB-9 port labeled BDR (Bar Code Reader). I've never tried connecting anything to it; the manual says nothing about how to use it (it just says "special Bar Code Reader software is required" and has pinouts in the appendix). I'd imagine it's probably RS-232 serial...
My casette player is the CCR-81 Model 26-1208A, looks quite a bit different from theirs, and doesn't seem to have a catalog number printed on it. The TRS-80 itself is catalog number 26-3802.
Re:Your Cable Information (Score:1)
Re:Poor TRS-80 (Mirror) (Score:1)
Everyone else: that like was not a mirror.
Re:Poor TRS-80 (Mirror) (Score:2)
Re:Mods: (Score:1)
Re:The Tape Recorder is bogus (Score:2, Informative)
Re:It has to be a TRS-80 (Score:2, Funny)