Plat’Home picks winners for 'Will it work?' contest

by Steve Ragan - Oct 22 2008, 21:21

In August, The Tech Herald reported about a contest designed for geeks to come up with ways to punish Plat’Home hardware. The contest centered on the OpenMicroServer (OMS) from Plat’Home, and the idea was to place it in a punishing environment and see if it would work.

Plat'Home says that its OpenMicroServers are known for being tough. However, just saying that is not enough, so Tokyo-based server manufacturer Plat'Home wanted to prove it.

As mentioned before, yes the contest was 100 percent marketing, but Plat'Home claims the OMS is heat resistant and focused on taking abuse found in most environments that would kill normal servers. The idea was one of a put up or shut up, and after talking to the winners, it appears the company has made good on its claims.

Using Power-over-Ethernet, and SSD/Linux, the small boxes will withstand maximum ambient operating temperatures of 50°C/122°F. The little server is designed for several uses; fifteen of them are listed on the company site.

“Last month, Plat’Home announced the OMS would be awarded to Steve Castellotti to test the server as a GPS and monitoring device aboard his trimaran, Martin Ewing to test the server as a home utility automation system, Colin Duplantis to test the server as an irrigation control system and Gordon Smith to test the server as monitoring door controller for his chicken coop,” the company said in a statement.

Castellotti wanted a brain for his boat. So what he did was connect to Plat'Home’s software package repository and downloaded all that he would need to smarten up his trimaran. In addition, he connected both a 1 TB external hard drive and an iPod as additional USB Storage devices.

"Even during the preliminary stages…I have already noticed benefits," said Castellotti. "The OpenMicroServer's processing power and memory capabilities far out perform devices of similar size and structure."

Ewing wanted to build a Home Utility Support System, and stick it in his basement. In a quick chat with The Tech Herald, we asked Martin if he felt like going to Disneyland after he won.

“Well I like Disneyland as much as the next person, but I like working with smart gadgets and Linux even more,” he said. “As a retired physicist/astronomer/systems engineer (and most recently Director of Information Technology for Engineering at Yale Univ.), I have an affinity for Open Software Systems, and I was tickled to have the chance to apply this device to some real-world problems.”

Software utilized during Ewing’s project included gcc, Python, vim, gnuplot, ssh, and Apache. Ewing says that software developed for the project will be made under the GPLv3.

“Because of the increasing cost of home heating and cooling systems, there is an urgent need for intelligent monitoring, control, and analysis tools allowing homeowners to know how well their system is working, so they can improve efficiency and reduce costs,” Ewing said in his interview, describing his project.

“My initial objective is to connect the device to monitor operation of a “hydronic" heating and domestic hot water system. The OMS can collect data autonomously for web display and download to a local PC or through an Internet connection. High-level programming tools (hopefully, Python) should allow tailoring the system for specific installations with minimal programming skills. Longer term, the system can be enhanced to support intelligent control strategies for utility systems, including electric power usage.”

Colin Duplantis, of Rough and Ready, CA, told The Tech Herald, “I intend to use the [OMS] as an irrigation controller. Paired with the Rainbird Rain8Net controlled by the server's built-in RS232 interface and my purpose-built software, the controller will manage the irrigation needs of my 5-acre mini-ranch. The server controls activating the irrigation pump as well as up to 16 valves simultaneously.”

“Currently, the software works on a set schedule, but, with the addition of inputs like a rain sensor, a wind sensor, and ground conductivity moisture sensors, the software can actually decide what needs water and when the appropriate time is to water. Additionally, the server calculates the most efficient combination of valves to turn on at once to match the performance curve of the irrigation pump. This prevents pump cycling, which uses excess electricity and increases wear and tear on the equipment.”

“While the irrigation control system with the OpenMicroServer is still a work in process, the preliminary trials have been quite successful,” added Duplantis in a Plat’Home statement. “I anticipate this new irrigation system will reduce my electricity bill and overall maintenance costs, not to mention the small size of the server frees up a lot of needed space in the irrigation house.”

Gordon Smith needed someone to guard his chickens. He needed someone reliable enough to stay up all night, and smart enough to tell the difference between a chicken and a raccoon. If that wasn’t enough, he also needed someone to close the door at the right time.

His project utilizes an inexpensive webcam with IR capability to see in the dark, along with a computer vision library to count the chickens. To determine when dusk occurs, the OMS will run simple network time protocol (SNTP) and query another server to determine when sundown occurs each day. A stepper motor controller and power supply from a document scanner are used to open and close the coop door.

“Plat’Home’s OpenMicroServer has been an ideal fit to accomplish my needs for a ‘chicken sitter’,” said Smith. “The whole system fits unobtrusively in a corner of the coop and has the hardware and software capability to accomplish the required tasks. My four spring chickens are very fortunate to have such a capable attendant!”

The contest centered on taking the OMS and placing it in an environment or project that would simply kill normal production servers. Wether it's weathering the high seas, holding its own in a basement, or guarding the chickens, each of these conditions tests not only the functionality, but the durability of the OMS. The projects were unique enough to earn them a spot in the winner's circle, even if they do appear to be a little forgiving in some aspects of punishment. Check out the OMS specs and tell us in the comment sections what you would use one for that would tax its limits.

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