Robert X. Cringely, the pseudonym of veteran technology columnist Mark Stephens—best known for his 1992 book *Accidental Empires* and the PBS documentary series *Triumph of the Nerds*—launched the Mineserver Kickstarter on September 29, 2015. Marketed as tiny, inexpensive ARM‑based computers ready to run a Minecraft server, the campaign attracted 388 backers who pledged $35,452, more than double its original funding goal.

Photo showing the Mineserver units that were promised to Kickstarter backers as tiny ARM-based computers for running Minecraft servers
The Mineserver hardware that backers funded but never receivedwww.jeremyreimer.com

This image shows the actual product that was marketed in the Kickstarter campaign as inexpensive ARM-based computers ready to run Minecraft servers

From the outset Cringely posted optimistic updates, claiming in October 2015 that development was 'almost finished before the Kickstarter campaign began.' By December 2015 he announced the units would ship 'this week,' only to delay by one week the next update. Subsequent months brought a familiar pattern: apologies for silence, declarations that 425 units were 'burned‑in and ready to go,' then new obstacles—first a solitary software bug in March 2016, then Arch Linux/Wi‑Fi adapter incompatibility in September 2016, and finally a promise on November 10, 2016 that shipping would begin 'the week after Thanksgiving,' a date that passed without any units being sent.

The story did not end with silence. In May 2017 Cringely admitted the project had spent $90,000 while receiving only $30,000 from Kickstarter after fees, blaming the shortfall on waiting for suppliers allegedly offering 90‑percent discounts. Later updates invoked personal setbacks—sudden blindness from cataracts and, in October 2017, the Tubbs fire that forced his Santa Rosa evacuation, during which he wrote that 'all the assembled Mineservers were left to burn as well.' Despite renewed promises tied to insurance payouts, new investors, and revised designs, no Mineservers ever reached the original backers, leaving the fate of the raised funds unexplained in the supplied source.

Scene of the Tubbs fire in October 2017 that affected Robert Cringely's Santa Rosa home
The Tubbs fire that Cringely cited as a personal setback affecting the Mineserver projectwww.jeremyreimer.com

This image depicts the house fire mentioned in the article that forced Cringely's evacuation and which he claimed left assembled Mineservers to burn