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We are now Solar Powered

andrewjvpowell.com

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Re: We are now Solar Powered

#51

Post by truculent »

jhgb wrote: post #38
truculent wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It reminded me of the images on https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com For example https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/dithers/Garthsnaid_-_SLV_H...

This photo kind of looks like a halftone printing scan to me. In case that it actually isn't, maybe that was just the intention.

The main site (https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/ as opposed to https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/) has normal images (for example https://krisdedecker.typepad.com/.a/6a00e0099229e888330282e1...), so I assume it's a deliberate choice to go with the low-tech aesthetic (while having practical benefits around bandwidth and so on).

Re: We are now Solar Powered

#52

Post by deathanatos »

amanzi wrote: post #48
xupybd wrote: post #43

It's really crappy that US ISPs block ports. I'm in little New Zealand and have a static IP that allows me to host anything I want.

The "port blocking" may just be a symptom of how the modem connects to the internet, rather than being a malicious act by the ISP. CGNAT is becoming a common way for ISPs to connect consumers to the internet, even here in NZ many ISPs use this. It basically puts a bunch of consumers behind the same NAT interface meaning that port-forwarding no longer works.

Even with normal NAT, you have to set up the port-forwarding, and you have to know how to do that.

Also, some routers have a bug¹ whereby even a properly port-forwarded service won't be accessible from within the network. E.g., the port-forwarded service "works", except for you, on your own network. Really frustrating since it means how you connect depends on where you are, and it's a lot of special crap needed to determine "oh, okay, I'm on the home network so use the internal IP"; almost ended up setting up a split-horizon DNS to deal with it².

¹ISPs will tell you that they "lack a feature". Yeah, okay.

²but then we moved and now we have a different monopoly for an ISP.

Re: We are now Solar Powered

#53

Post by henrygrew »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #33

Not directly related to solar-powered-servers, but rather power-involved-in-computing ... I have a solar powered van (not the engine, alas), and it has been amazing to understand how a day of my kind of computing (edit/compile/debug cycle with C++) uses more power than the 12VDC refridgerator in the van. The computer is a small custom built direct-to-12VDC miniITX with an i5 processor. The refridgerator literally has…

Interested in the custom computer build, care to share some details?

Re: We are now Solar Powered

#54

Post by AdamJacobMuller »

deathanatos wrote: post #52
amanzi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "port blocking" may just be a symptom of how the modem connects to the internet, rather than being a malicious act by the ISP. CGNAT is becoming a common way for ISPs to connect consumers to the internet, even here in NZ many ISPs use this. It basically puts a bunch of consumers behind the same NAT interface meaning that port-forwarding no longer works.

Even with normal NAT, you have to set up the port-forwarding, and you have to know how to do that. Also, some routers have a bug¹ whereby even a properly port-forwarded service won't be accessible from within the network. E.g., the port-forwarded service "works", except for you, on your own network. Really frustrating since it means how you connect depends on where you are, and it's a lot of special crap needed to de…

1) isn't a bug, it is a lack of a feature.

In order to accomplish that you need to double-NAT things because otherwise the internal service will send the reply directly to your computer instead of sending it back to the NAT gateway to reverse the NAT. The router needs to NAT the destination IP for the client and NAT the source IP for the server.

The thing is, 99.9999% of these devices never even have the port forwarding feature touched and an even smaller % of the devices where people enable port forwarding care about this.

Re: We are now Solar Powered

#55

Post by mercora »

deathanatos wrote: post #52
amanzi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "port blocking" may just be a symptom of how the modem connects to the internet, rather than being a malicious act by the ISP. CGNAT is becoming a common way for ISPs to connect consumers to the internet, even here in NZ many ISPs use this. It basically puts a bunch of consumers behind the same NAT interface meaning that port-forwarding no longer works.

Even with normal NAT, you have to set up the port-forwarding, and you have to know how to do that. Also, some routers have a bug¹ whereby even a properly port-forwarded service won't be accessible from within the network. E.g., the port-forwarded service "works", except for you, on your own network. Really frustrating since it means how you connect depends on where you are, and it's a lot of special crap needed to de…

> Also, some routers have a bug¹ whereby even a properly port-forwarded service won't be accessible from within the network.

i think the missing feature is called hairpinning[0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hairpinning

Re: We are now Solar Powered

#56

Post by lucb1e »

jkilpatr wrote: post #47
jandrese wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Though the Starlink phased arrays apparently consume a fairly consistent 100W Ouch. I hope that's something they can work on with the next version of the ground terminal. Do they at least start up quickly when powered down?

The power consumption is a fundamental part of how phased array antennas work. You have hundreds of tiny antennas using constructive and destructive interference to steer the signal in software. This digital aiming is awesome for targeting fast moving objects in low earth orbit. But you lose the huge amplification factor possible with a simple metal dish. Combine this with the the desire to use higher attenuation fre…

Wait, but it already physically moves to track the satellite. Sorry for the stupid question but what is this digital tracking still for? Sending it to within a degree or so is not close enough?

Re: We are now Solar Powered

#57

Post by rstuart4133 »

amanzi wrote: post #48
xupybd wrote: post #43

It's really crappy that US ISPs block ports. I'm in little New Zealand and have a static IP that allows me to host anything I want.

The "port blocking" may just be a symptom of how the modem connects to the internet, rather than being a malicious act by the ISP. CGNAT is becoming a common way for ISPs to connect consumers to the internet, even here in NZ many ISPs use this. It basically puts a bunch of consumers behind the same NAT interface meaning that port-forwarding no longer works.

He's an Australian, and so am I. His ISP (Optus) doesn't go out their way to block ports.

However, he says he's using a AC800s 4G/LTE modem and backs that up by saying is using mobile data. The default mobile data service from all telco's will use CGNAT and will hand him some 10.0.0.0 address. I presume that's because mobile phones don't run servers as a rule, so no one notices and it saves them a bit of money. They don't deliberately block any particular port, but CGNAT effectively blocks all of them.

He could pay a extra and get mobile data with a static IP Address if he wished. Not from Optus - they discontinued that service (which gives an indication of popular it is), but other virtual carriers based on Optus still offer it. I guess it's not worth the money to him.

Everything supports IPv6 now, and IPv6 happily carries IPv4. Why the telco's are still dicking around with CGNAT and IPv4 is a bit of a mystery.

Re: We are now Solar Powered

#59

Post by Johnythree »

lucb1e wrote: post #56
jkilpatr wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The power consumption is a fundamental part of how phased array antennas work. You have hundreds of tiny antennas using constructive and destructive interference to steer the signal in software. This digital aiming is awesome for targeting fast moving objects in low earth orbit. But you lose the huge amplification factor possible with a simple metal dish. Combine this with the the desire to use higher attenuation fre…

Wait, but it already physically moves to track the satellite. Sorry for the stupid question but what is this digital tracking still for? Sending it to within a degree or so is not close enough?

> Wait, but it already physically moves to track the satellite

It doesn't. It moves to be in the same plane as the satellite, but it doesn't actually track the satellite.

The phased array can only track a single line across the sky. The dish moves so that line is parallel with the satellites orbit.

Re: We are now Solar Powered

#60

Post by Scoundreller »

PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #50
nostrademons wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've got a PowerWall and the Tesla app (which shows up-to-the-second readouts of your home's production & consumption), and it was shocking how little energy refrigerators and freezers use. Apparently it's because they're extremely well insulated; the compressor only needs to go on to adjust to changes in temperature, and if you don't open the door the temperature won't change much. There were a bunch of other surpri…

> If there's one thing you can do to save energy, it's probably to dry your clothes on a rack outside Here in NM, you can take a load of athletic gear laundry outside to hang up and by the time you're done hanging it, the first items are already dry :) In winter, it takes about twice as long, indoors. So .. yeah.

Dry it inside in summer for the free cooling.
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