FAQ: About §
What is §?
It's been many things over the years. At first, § was a start-up company between three UC grads who wanted nothing more than to work for one year, then get bought by Google for ~$1 Billion and retire. Apparently, that's too much to ask for. After the company fell apart (although to be honest, it was never really together), § was in a state of limbo.
Sadly, there were a couple of customers from §'s early days, and although no formal agreemants had been signed guaranteeing them any level of service and/or support (Ha! Those poor bastards!), the then-owner of the machine hosting their stuff felt obliged to keep things going for them for a while (because he's secretly a good guy).
In early '06 the customers left (one without even so much as a "Goodbye, and thanks for nothing!"... the nerve!?!?), and § was dormant for a few years.
Now, § is a Dell PowerEdge 2900 (dmesg) sitting in a spare bedroom, whose primary purpose is a space heater. It also serves nicely as a server, and it's what you're connected to and viewing stuff on right now.
Who is §?
The root-user-administrator-ninja-badass is ryan. Other notable users include neal. Actually, that's it at the moment.
Can I get an account on §?
You will not know until you ask. :)
The main point of § now is for the *nix inclined, who just want a place to hack. Those looking to learn the ways of the *nix are welcome.
What's available on §?
We run OpenBSD, which is a sweet UNIX-like operating system. § has a great development environment for just about language you want (C / C++ / Java / Fortran / Python / Ruby / lisp / ML / Haskell / Scheme / Prolog / Smodels).
We also have an Apache setup for hosting, PHP, MySQL + PostgreSQL + SQLite installed and available for database needs, and OpenSMTPD setup for mail.
In addition to the above, a few game servers are running on § (quake & teeworlds).
Reporting Problems
No FAQ is complete without such a section, which is the only reason I'm adding this to the list.
If you have a problem with §, contact ryan.
If you have a problem with something other than §, pray to the deity of your choice. I recommend either Moloch or Marduk, as they're both kind of badass.