[HN Gopher] This website is solar powered and running on a Raspb...
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       This website is solar powered and running on a Raspberry Pi-like
       computer
        
       Author : zachlatta
       Score  : 43 points
       Date   : 2023-04-14 20:13 UTC (2 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (solar.leo32345.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (solar.leo32345.com)
        
       | pearjuice wrote:
       | I wonder if putting extensive load on the server could drain the
       | battery in enough time before the sun comes up?
        
         | jovial_cavalier wrote:
         | I think we will soon find out.
        
         | m4jor wrote:
         | The Stats page has a Battery metric on it. Currently sitting at
         | 82%.
         | 
         | It has a "144 watt-hour battery" which looks like thats about
         | 38,918.92mAh.
         | 
         | Certainly would take a lot it seems to drain it to 0% before
         | the sun came up.
        
           | satoshiiii wrote:
           | > Certainly would take a lot it seems to drain it to 0%
           | before the sun came up.
           | 
           | It depends.
           | 
           | Different types of batteries have different recommended
           | levels of discharge. Acid batteries should not be discharged
           | more than 50%, while lithium batteries can be discharged up
           | to 80-90%. The Blue Ion 2.0 lithium battery is the best one
           | available, as it can be discharged up to 100%.
        
         | tppiotrowski wrote:
         | The extreme power consumption of a RaspberryPI 4 is about 7W
         | [1]. The battery is 144Wh. If battery can discharge 100% that's
         | about 20 hours and about 10 hours for 50% discharge. This all
         | assumes the CPU is pegged at 100% and it's not an older model
         | which consumes less power.
         | 
         | I guess it could be possible.
         | 
         | [1] - https://www.pidramble.com/wiki/benchmarks/power-
         | consumption
        
       | username234 wrote:
       | is this website running on a little computer next to solar panels
       | or is it running in a neiborhood powered with solar panels how is
       | this all set up?
        
       | amistad732 wrote:
       | aaaaand it's down
        
       | bwestergard wrote:
       | Love this aesthetic.
       | 
       | I suppose this dithering would decrease PNG file size somewhat,
       | because it would increase the number of repeated pixel
       | subsequences, improving the efficacy of the Huffman coding. But
       | has anyone actually done an analysis of how much?
        
         | alacritas0 wrote:
         | dithering improves efficiency because it reduces the bit depth
        
       | themodelplumber wrote:
       | I enjoy looking at dithered images like they are using. It's too
       | bad the lovely dithering turns into periodic-looking patterns
       | when scaled down per the 60vh-width directive in the css.
        
         | Waterluvian wrote:
         | Like a moire effect?
        
       | readthenotes1 wrote:
       | Potato computer was cooler
       | 
       | Heh
        
       | schemescape wrote:
       | I love the concept, but I'm extremely skeptical that the dithered
       | PNG images are smaller than a (much nicer looking, but lossy)
       | JPEG. It's fine if that's the aesthetic they're going for, but it
       | doesn't seem like it would reduce the server load...
       | 
       | For the record, one of the 640x480 PNGs is 41 KB, and I just
       | saved an elaborate, full-color (and higher resolution) JPEG at a
       | smaller file size (quality was around 50, I think). The JPEG
       | looks completely fine on my (normal DPI) screen.
       | 
       | Edit: It _does_ look like they scale up the PNGs (at least when I
       | view their site), and lossless images definitely scale better.
       | Maybe that was the motivation.
        
       | pengaru wrote:
       | > While we are in the process of adding more content to this
       | site, we are proud to be home to the world's first
       | environmentally friendly rickroll.
       | 
       | Imagine thinking your pile of consumer electronics dedicated to
       | serving a single frivolous web site is something environmentally
       | friendly...
        
         | deadbunny wrote:
         | Imagine being this fun at parties.
        
           | pengaru wrote:
           | > Imagine being this fun at parties.
           | 
           | It's pretty unusual for a party to fly an environmentally-
           | friendly banner overhead, though it's not something I'd put
           | past the Burning Man crowd.
           | 
           | I do like that you went there however, because partying and
           | consumerism overlap substantially. And TFA amounts to green-
           | washed consumerism.
           | 
           | This is coming from someone who has spent entire days working
           | from beaches powered by a portable solar panel. It was
           | certainly a celebration of how far solar panels had
           | progressed that the ting could power my thinkpad all day. But
           | it would have been asinine and dishonest for me to portray it
           | as environmentally-friendly. I just added more e-waste to the
           | existing plentiful powered outlets everywhere situation,
           | because I wanted to be at the beach and play with a solar
           | panel.
        
       | username234 wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
       | username234 wrote:
       | floating io has a point i agree with him
        
       | batmansmom1 wrote:
       | Wonder how its connected to internet
        
       | username234 wrote:
       | i wonder where this is hosted
        
         | wang_li wrote:
         | Somewhere in Arizona or on an Indian reservation as they are in
         | Mountain time but they don't observe daylight savings.
        
       | username234 wrote:
       | imagine the computer is abouta die
        
       | [deleted]
        
       | floating-io wrote:
       | Things like this actually bother me. They make it seem like the
       | only way to be energy efficient is to give up all amenities,
       | including aesthetics.
       | 
       | This is not the way to promote energy efficiency IMO.
        
         | dgoodell wrote:
         | I don't thinks this page is ugly at all.
         | 
         | What more important to me is that it loads quickly.
        
       | thejarren wrote:
       | Seems deeply inspired by https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/
       | 
       | - Yes they mention it on their website. Love LowTechMagazine.
       | 
       | I've been meaning to try this out sometime. It'd be a fun side
       | project.
        
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       (page generated 2023-04-14 23:00 UTC)