Cobalt RAQ2 MIPS Cluster

Overview
There are 22 Cobalt RAQ2 servers. They are named for letters of the Greek alphabet. They run from beta to psi.

Function
They are currently being used only for display purposes. Jess Unger and Matt Green wrote scripts to display time (accurate to ten seconds) and weather on the LCD displays. RSS feeds are pending. Chris Reffett wrote the two scripts currently running on the Cobalts: one which cycles through the statuses of workstations and certain VMs and servers, and one which displays the overall status of the SysLab, in terms of "SysCon."

Usage
When the Cobalts are rebooted you MUST kill the process paneld on each machine before text can be written to the screens. Currently there is a script (/root/python/killer.sh) that will kill paneld on all the Cobalts. Then you can use the other scripts to add a message of your choice. The command to put something on the screen of a Cobalt (when logged in to the respective machine) is $ putlcd [line 1] [line 2]

If a Cobalt will not boot try net booting it. To net boot a Cobalt, press the left and right buttons on the D-Pad simultaneously when it turns on. It should then say "Net booting"

Tau is currently down at the moment and will not net boot.Please avoid shutting down any Cobalts until the problem is resolved since it might happen to another one if it is shut down.

There's an informal guideline in place to only access the Cobalts' displays from Alpha.

Rules
Only messages relating to the various scripts, welcome messages for visitors, holiday messages, and hostnames may be displayed on the screens. All other messages are not allowed.

Specifications

 * Processor: MIPS@250Mhz
 * Memory: 143MB
 * Hard Drive: 4GB IDE
 * Interface: Ethernet interface & serial