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I've used ARM servers for years, but I'm probably just delusional, they clearly don't exist and don't make any business sense.

Plug computers are widely overrated. For the same price you can get a cheap home oriented NAS box like http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11384 with 1TB of storage that can be reflashed http://lacie.nas-central.org/wiki/Main_Page to do whatever you want.

If you don't need the storage as much as you need the always-on/low power processing, you can get a WRT54-based router that can be relfashed with Tomato or DD-WRT, then you can install optware. The Asus WL-500G has enough guts to run Asterisk while still doing its primary purpose. Or maybe a cvs, svn or other repository. All for maybe half the price of the Sheevaplug. And much more available. Of course, it doesn't have the wall wart form factor, for good or bad. And it's not quite as discreet, if that's a requirement.

Plug computers are widely overrated. For the same price you can get a cheap home oriented NAS box like http://www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?pid=11384 with 1TB of storage that can be reflashed http://lacie.nas-central.org/wiki/Main_Page to do whatever you want.

I've been using Freelink: http://buffalo.nas-central.org/index.php?title=Category:FreeLink on my LS Pro for a couple of years now with no hassle. I replaced the 500GB SATA with a 750GB, I get about 12MB/s throughput and unless it loses power, no issues. Then I just have to like, push the power button. I also have Webmin installed so it's easy to add services. The modification requires some technical skills, but there are step by step instructions for the process.

I'm doing just that with a Buffalo Linkstation Live. It's sold as a network drive, but it is a complete ARM server running Linux, at least after you install a proper distro. At 400 MHz and 128 MB, it's not as powerful as this wall wart, but on the other hand it has a proper SATA drive.

http://www.nas-central.org/index.php/Main_Page

In case you prefer something more than a preconfigured appliance: http://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/Main_Page

Debian is also available, in fact it officially supports devices like this.

Some examples:

Hammer MyShare NAS:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9301055710.html

DLink in 2006:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8564956607.html

Compliance reports are here:
http://gpl.nas-central.org/

I bought a NSLU2 for fun last year -- ARM based, 266 mhz, 32 meg ram, 2 usb ports -- and promptly installed debian. Those specs are better than my desktop from 10 years ago, but I would prefer more ram and spu cycles. I've been looking at the QNAP 209/II (500mhz arm, 128/256 meg ram, 3 usb, 2 sata) and the the Thecus 2100 (600mhz arm, 128 meg ram (upgradable to 512), 3 usb, 2 sata). I'm not sure how well debian currently supports the qnap 209 though.

Oops - meant to link to the information about hacking the device. Here you go

I've considered a Buffalo Linkstation with a custom Linux distro. http://buffalo.nas-central.org/index.php/Main_Page

these 3 links are the only three i found regarding hacking the WD mybook i linked all three here: http://nas-central.org/ALL_COMMUNITIES/Collection_of_NAS-Hacking_communities.html#http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/ take a look at http://nas-central.org/ALL_COMMUNITIES/Collection_of_NAS-Hacking_communities.html i tried to find all NAS-hacking communities that currently exist. i hope it helps you all. -- mindbender

these 3 links are the only three i found regarding hacking the WD mybook i linked all three here: http://nas-central.org/ALL_COMMUNITIES/Collection_of_NAS-Hacking_communities.html#http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/ take a look at http://nas-central.org/ALL_COMMUNITIES/Collection_of_NAS-Hacking_communities.html i tried to find all NAS-hacking communities that currently exist. i hope it helps you all. -- mindbender

I bought a Linkstation Live 250gig for about 150eur. The neat thing about it is that you can reinstall the firmware to be a full-blown debian system. Read more at NAS Central. The enclosed hard-drive is a normal SATA-drive and can be changed. Also the network interface is 1gig-ethernet for speedy copying in local network. Awesome price to feature and quality ratio.

but cheap. There are similar devices with faster specs, gigabit, sata etc, but they will cost typically 2-4x as much. nas-central have a page on the various linkstation/terastation models. Personally, one of the would be overkill for my needs, but it depends what you have got...

in case you think of getting an embedded NAS box which can be modded later look at this page:
http://nas-central.org/ALL_COMMUNITIES/Collection_of_NAS-Hacking_communities.html

i tried to gather all NAS-hacking communities on one page and i think i was quite successful.

-- mindbender
http://nas-central.org/
http://foonas.org/

in case you think of getting an embedded NAS box which can be modded later look at this page:
http://nas-central.org/ALL_COMMUNITIES/Collection_of_NAS-Hacking_communities.html

i tried to gather all NAS-hacking communities on one page and i think i was quite successful.

-- mindbender
http://nas-central.org/
http://foonas.org/

I love my TeraStation. It's running linux, and there are a few sites out there that have instructions and downloads that do everything from adding basic functionality to tweaking existing functionality to building your own development toolchain and letting you do whatever you choose. Check out Dave Walker's great work with the TeraStation and other Buffalo Products, and NAS Central a wiki site dedicated to the Buffalo NAS family.