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The “Only” Coke Machine on the Internet (1998)

cs.cmu.edu

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Re: The “Only” Coke Machine on the Internet (1998)

#11

Post by DanBC »

See also the Trojan Room Coffee Pot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Room_coffee_pot

> The Trojan Room coffee pot was the inspiration for the world's first webcam. The coffee pot was located in the corridor just outside the so-called Trojan Room within the old Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. The webcam was created to help people working in other parts of the building avoid pointless trips to the coffee pot by providing, on the user's desktop computer, a live 128×128 greyscale picture of the state of the coffee pot.[1][2]

This was from 1991.

This is briefly mentioned in the list of other machines on the Internet.

Re: The “Only” Coke Machine on the Internet (1998)

#12

Post by Vexs »

DanBC wrote: post #11

See also the Trojan Room Coffee Pot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Room_coffee_pot > The Trojan Room coffee pot was the inspiration for the world's first webcam. The coffee pot was located in the corridor just outside the so-called Trojan Room within the old Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. The webcam was created to help people working in other parts of the building avoid pointless trips to…

I love how many great innovations and inventions have come about by people being slightly inconvenienced.

Re: The “Only” Coke Machine on the Internet (1998)

#13

Post by kozukumi »

Vexs wrote: post #12
DanBC wrote: post #11

See also the Trojan Room Coffee Pot. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trojan_Room_coffee_pot > The Trojan Room coffee pot was the inspiration for the world's first webcam. The coffee pot was located in the corridor just outside the so-called Trojan Room within the old Computer Laboratory of the University of Cambridge. The webcam was created to help people working in other parts of the building avoid pointless trips to…

I love how many great innovations and inventions have come about by people being slightly inconvenienced.

Pretty much the reason I first learnt to code :)

Re: The “Only” Coke Machine on the Internet (1998)

#15

Post by Qworg »

kbar13 wrote: post #14

uiuc's acm soda machine: http://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/s...

Caffeine! That was the SIGBOT project for 2001 Engineering Open House - it has had a lot of extra work and upgrades since then. =)

I barely avoided having some sort of terrible lung problems after sanding off the baked on paint from the 1970's Dr. Pepper machine it once was.

Re: The “Only” Coke Machine on the Internet (1998)

#16

Post by lyinsteve »

threeio wrote: post #8

I remember RIT having one.. That was the mid 90s and it had been around for a while.. https://www.rit.edu/news/umag/spring2009/03_computer_soda_ma...

I'm a Computer Science House member -- Drink is still a staple of our organization! Where else can you get Jolt on campus?

Also we've since made an awesome web app and iOS app for dropping drinks.

Re: The “Only” Coke Machine on the Internet (1998)

#17

Post by avuserow »

Qworg wrote: post #15
kbar13 wrote: post #14

uiuc's acm soda machine: http://www.iana.org/assignments/service-names-port-numbers/s...

Caffeine! That was the SIGBOT project for 2001 Engineering Open House - it has had a lot of extra work and upgrades since then. =) I barely avoided having some sort of terrible lung problems after sanding off the baked on paint from the 1970's Dr. Pepper machine it once was.

Sadly, the old Dr. Pepper machine bit the dust around Spring 2010. It decided to freeze sodas more often than we liked, so we replaced it with a Coke machine in Fall 2010. It was a pain in the ass to get into Siebel, but it provided a nice capacity upgrade, and we no longer needed to do any tricks when loading to prevent the first few cans from exploding. The story I heard was that the original machine was meant for steel cans, so aluminum ones could explode when being loaded if not loaded gently.

Re: The “Only” Coke Machine on the Internet (1998)

#18

Post by yebyen »

lyinsteve wrote: post #16
threeio wrote: post #8

I remember RIT having one.. That was the mid 90s and it had been around for a while.. https://www.rit.edu/news/umag/spring2009/03_computer_soda_ma...

I'm a Computer Science House member -- Drink is still a staple of our organization! Where else can you get Jolt on campus? Also we've since made an awesome web app and iOS app for dropping drinks.

I clicked this post to say that. I am a CSH alum and the Drink machine steve describes here has been around for hundreds of years, easily.

Re: The “Only” Coke Machine on the Internet (1998)

#19

Post by Qworg »

avuserow wrote: post #17
Qworg wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Caffeine! That was the SIGBOT project for 2001 Engineering Open House - it has had a lot of extra work and upgrades since then. =) I barely avoided having some sort of terrible lung problems after sanding off the baked on paint from the 1970's Dr. Pepper machine it once was.

Sadly, the old Dr. Pepper machine bit the dust around Spring 2010. It decided to freeze sodas more often than we liked, so we replaced it with a Coke machine in Fall 2010. It was a pain in the ass to get into Siebel, but it provided a nice capacity upgrade, and we no longer needed to do any tricks when loading to prevent the first few cans from exploding. The story I heard was that the original machine was meant for…

Ah, damn. A decade long run isn't bad.

Yeah, we had to load gently, and the thermocouple probably needed to be replaced (if you were exploding cans). The coldest soda in the university though. =)

Yes - it was meant for steel cans. The mechanism at the bottom to output cans was literally an open pair of scissors driven by a giant 120V solenoid.

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