06.05.07
Server on a stick
After encouragement from Herb and Scott, I jumped straight into embedded heaven with my first USB-drive Pow server. I found a 2 GB USB drive for $17 at Microcenter next to the AMC theater. There’s no bubble packaging, no shiny skin. You just pull them out of a candy jar at the register. It’s slower than my hard drive, but no matter, it costs only .85 cents per MB.
To assure a truly hard-drive independent server, I needed to load the Moz Profiles directory, the /pow root directory and the server app itself onto the USB drive. In the application.ini file, I changed the executable variable from “xulrunner” to “xulrunner -profile /Volumes/FIREBRAND/Profiles”. I loaded a Windows and Mac version of Pow for use anywhere. I copied my prefs.js file, because the Mac XULRunner appears unable to save to this file.
Now that all of this is done, I have a beautiful server app worthy of taking on any library or lab computer. The best part is when I run the server, I can unplug the USB stick, but the server still runs. Now that is pure hacking glory.
Dave
Kasey said,
June 12, 2007 at 7:30 pm
But you still have to modify the BIOS at the library to boot off he USB stick, if the BIOS even supports it.
David Kellogg said,
June 12, 2007 at 10:00 pm
The beauty is that it is a server, not an entire operating system.
Why would you ever boot from USB when a perfectly good operating system is already on your computer? Linux, Windows, Mac, it still works.
Caleb said,
June 14, 2007 at 11:06 am
Forgive my stupidity, but how does it help to have a USB server?
David Kellogg said,
June 15, 2007 at 9:09 am
Everyone has his own reason.
One professor at a community college put my server on a USB drive for students to take tests in a computer lab. He needed no access to CGI or PHP on a centralized server. At the end of the day, he unplugs the USB stick with the student data and leaves.
People like the privacy of running a server at work that does not reside on their work computer.
One business owner that sells computers has to prove that the network is at fault, not the computer he sold them. POW is the perfect server to prove that IE and the new computer work just fine.
There are other uses, such as quick demos of AJAX apps on any computer (Mac, PC, Linux), and sharing a powerpoint presentation at the end of a meeting.
Dave
smartboyathome said,
July 15, 2007 at 7:48 am
I can see this as an easy way to use WebOSes that are coming out. I may look into it to see if it can be done