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15 years, one server, 8GB RAM and 500k users – how Webminal refuses to die

by giis on 3/30/2026, 6:08:53 AM

https://community.webminal.org/t/15-years-one-server-8gb-ram-and-500k-users-how-webminal-refuses-to-die/8803

Comments

by: arjie

That&#x27;s wonderful and I know why it&#x27;s an Indian founder. Was so hard to get a remote shell back then. Indian debit cards didn&#x27;t work online reliably and so on. So what&#x27;s the hardware underneath? Cloud server or on-prem?<p>These days the world is amazing. Oracle Cloud gives you a ton for free. But perhaps there&#x27;s some niche where this is useful. I have to say that this shared screen comms system is outrageously crazy, hahaha.

3/30/2026, 7:57:12 AM


by: caijia

UML is a smart call, and reminds me when I built an inventory and shift scheduling system on wordpress in 2017.<p>somtimes the &quot;wrong&quot; &#x2F; &quot;old&quot; tool for some job is exactly right for you if you really understand it. UML is old but fits here.<p>15 years is long enough to call memory about a lot of things.

3/30/2026, 8:31:13 AM


by: andai

This is so fascinating, I&#x27;ve never heard of UML!<p>How many users can this support simultaneously? It says 256MB RAM per user, 8GB total on server? But it&#x27;s probably more than 32 simultaneous users?

3/30/2026, 8:12:12 AM


by: heyethan

Feels like the real value here is zero setup.<p>Even spinning up a VM can be enough friction for beginners. A browser shell is kind of “good enough” for that.<p>Probably why tools like this keep sticking around. Wanna try.

3/30/2026, 7:17:21 AM


by: harias

It&#x27;s been a while since I&#x27;ve used it but Google cloud shell is a good free platform for learning Linux commands as well<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;shell.cloud.google.com" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;shell.cloud.google.com</a>

3/30/2026, 6:53:23 AM


by: Fire-Dragon-DoL

Well that server is worth 1M due to the 8GB RAM now!

3/30/2026, 6:46:41 AM


by: actionfromafar

User mode linux is so cool.

3/30/2026, 7:33:35 AM


by: sudo_cowsay

I&#x27;ve never tried Webminal (only used Linode for it&#x27;s simplicity). But, it seems great. I&#x27;ll probably try it out.

3/30/2026, 6:38:18 AM


by: kevinbaiv

This is a good reminder that good enough + zero setup often beats more powerful solutions.

3/30/2026, 7:24:31 AM


by: tuananh

iximuiz also give you 1 hour per day free i think.<p>very easy to use. almost instant.

3/30/2026, 7:10:13 AM


by: treysu

[dead]

3/30/2026, 6:33:37 AM


by: ramon156

blegh, the content is interesting but i&#x27;ve grown numb towards AI speak. It&#x27;s so generic that I lose interest halfway through.

3/30/2026, 7:17:21 AM