flypig.co.uk

Today is very exciting. I hear you ask: is it because of the Liverpool Derby? The Day of the Doctor? The Xbox One release? 1D Day?*

No. Today is when I get to try out my new server, which will be replacing Constantia and which will basically be running my entire life. For the last five years this has been very ably managed by a Koolu box (actually an FIC built Ion A603 with an AMD Geode LX processor) running Ubuntu 8.04. It's served beautifully all this time and never let me down. Sadly, Ubuntu 8.04 drifted out of its LTS support cycle earlier this year and the hardware combination isn't usable with newer versions of Ubuntu. It's taken me ages to choose a worthy successor given my demanding requirements (very small, passively cooled, low power, silent, good Linux and software compatibility, etc.). Finally I settled on an Aleutia T1 Fanless PC.

Hence my excitement. It's not the highest specced device in the world, but it runs at 10 Watts, is fanless, with supported chipsets. It arrived yesterday and I've not yet even turned it on. Actually getting it to the stage where it can replace my existing server wholesale is going to take a lot of configuration and data transfer between the two, but that'll all be part of the fun challenge.

In my small world, this is a big event, which could very well end in disaster. If this is my last ever post, you'll know why.

* (The Liverpool what? A little. Waiting for SteamBoxen. Please save me!)