Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!uwm.edu!uwvax!poona.cs.wisc.edu!hollings From: hollings@poona.cs.wisc.edu (Jeff Hollingsworth) Newsgroups: comp.protocols.tcp-ip Subject: Re: finger weather (really Coke machines) Message-ID: <1991Apr5.192823.400@spool.cs.wisc.edu> Date: 5 Apr 91 19:28:23 GMT References: <1991Apr4.031506.6778@athena.mit.edu> <1991Apr4.182115.3531@watson.ibm.com> <40493@netnews.upenn.edu> Sender: news@spool.cs.wisc.edu (The News) Organization: U of Wisconsin CS Dept Lines: 22 |> |> As far as I know nothing similar has been done elsewhere, so CMU can |> legitimately boast of having the only Coke machine on the Internet. |> Here at the University of Wisconsin we were *FORCED* to computerize our Coke machine a year ago (or they would take it away). The University had given an exclusive vending contract to a local vending company. That company didn't like the fact we were under cutting their prices. But they did permit "coffee clubs" to continue. The idea was people would pay into a club and then only people who payed in could take coffee from the pot. We decided to do the same thing with our Coke machine. A small bit of hardware was built to activiate the Coke machine via a computer, and a program was written to track coke accounts and keep their balances. The coke machine was also modified so that it would NOT take money and could only be activated from the computer. So I guess Wisconsin can claim the only Coke machine that can be controlled via the Internet. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jeff Hollingsworth Work: (608) 262-6617 Internet: hollings@cs.wisc.edu Home: (608) 256-4839 X.400: