[tech] Snack, lpr, webcams... (was a particularly unuseful subject, Re: [hwc] hwc Digest, Vol 83, Issue 1)

[David Adam]

On Thu, 1 Nov 2007, Nick Bannon wrote:
> Things to fix:
>  * Snack machine reliability

OK, I think I've fixed this.

There was a hypothesis that Xen couldn't handle high-volume serial
traffic, so I used the serial line on Mermaid (Xen Dom0) for a while and
sent large amounts of data through (strings /dev/urandom > /dev/ttyS1
&c.) but couldn't see any problems.

In any case, I switched the vending machine from a serial connection to
LAT (on port 6 on centipede, the DECserver in the machine room rack).

It's not perfect - the keypress-display reaction is now noticeably slower
- and I only waited about 20 minutes to see if it stopped working: needs
probably 24 hours or so for a definitive "it works".

([DAG]: I had to bump LAT_VERSION in LATClient.py.)

This should at least mean door group can stop rapelling into the clubroom.

David Adam
UCC Wheel Member
zanchey@