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I note from 2009 http://logs.nslu2-linux.org/li...
'Some brief numbers indicate that 60GHz - power over wifi may not be insane ...
Jun 07 02:22:58 And at that scale, you can do beamforming antennas on a platform the size of a microSD card'

Or from 2009, " 60GHz or so steered beams are 'easy' - given good 60GHz tech that makes 128 or so channel transmitters cheap."

It's depressing patents like this get granted.

http://uselessd.darknedgy.net/ProSystemdAntiSystemd/

This comes from an "anti-systemd" source, but tries to cut through a lot of the controversy and hostility shown on both sides. Bear in mind, you only see the anti-systemd view on Slashdot, but you get just as much idiocy on the other side as well. For example, the Poettering "death threats" were actually a "joke" made by a bunch of people in an IRC channel. Here, read the log (ctrl-F "hitman"): http://logs.nslu2-linux.org/li...

FTFY. Sorry, there are some things which just are not funny, and if we're gonna condemn idiots like Sam Biddle who tweet "bring back bullying" and other such nonsense (hint: the backlash was rather large), we should also condemn people "jokingly" saying they're gonna put a hitman on anyone.

A wok is intended to be heated beyond the temperature at which some non-stick coatings flake off.
Stir fry cooking is intended to use small pieces of food flash fried so they retain their texture and nutrients.
People who care about their diet recognise that woks are a healthy way to prepare food and use them regularly.

The RasPi has got too much publicity for all the wrong reasons. Everyone here who is talking about media centres and file servers is kind of missing the point that these things are made by a charity for kids, so they can get into computers rather than websites. If you want something to run Android, buy an Android phone/tablet, or look at Android x86, if you want a file server get a SLUG and if you're after a microcontroller by all means, have at a large pile of Arduinos with a soldering iron. This device isn't for everyone and was never intended to be.
I for one welcome the flood of Model Bs hitting eBay so that kids can get their hands on them, or being able to break dad's RasPi without getting into trouble. That's why they are so cheap, so they can be replaced after they have been busted by inquisitive, experimenting kids.

Curiously, my RasPi is working fine with the "poorly documented, incomplete" Arch Linux distro I have on it. I find that the features I need all seem to be present and correct.
A lot of people can't be bothered to trawl GOOG for answers to "how do I make this Linux thing work" and so your point is correct, for those people. But if the media hadn't been all over this like a rash maybe these people wouldn't have thought "I must have one of those ... Ooh Shiny".

TOR. http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/cross/tor_0.2.2.32-1_armeb.ipk

DD-WRT uses ipkg :)

http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/cross/

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.

Works out-of-the-box with Linux, too.

No, they don't. Brother offers drivers for Linux on i386. Much as I love my Brother multifunction laser, I couldn't switch my print server to an NSLUG because of Brother's proprietary closed source i386 only drivers.

And yes, Brother explicitly offers drivers for Linux.

No, they don't. They offer drivers for Linux on i386. Much as I love my Brother multifunction laser, I couldn't switch my print server to an NSLUG because of Brother's proprietary closed source i386 only drivers.

(OK, I did this for another drive that would have similar problems, I did this about 18 months ago IIRC)

Link talking about this with FreeAgent drives spinning down and giving I/O errors and remounting the drive read only. (Sounds very familiar doesn't it?) (I have a OneTouch drive which also suffered from the problem). This is how they got the drives working:
NSLU2 FAQ on FreeAgents spin down

(They do seem to make a mention that what they are writing to in the "/proc" tree might not have been there until sometime around 2.6.19)

Second this.

I picked up a 500GB Worldbook off of e-bay for $70 USD. I installed Debian on it, and yes, it's a pain. I had to disassemble the device, remove the hard drive & plug it in to another computer.

But your requirements are pretty modest. You could get what you want without doing a full OS reinstall.There is a small hacking community centered around this device
http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/ssh-enable

Getting an ssh server up and running is pretty easy. Getting nfs up and running is marked as 'difficult' but I didn't find it that hard. You can get a webserver up and running pretty easy (but it's lighthttpd instead of apache). imap isn't a stock install, but you can get it after enabling some repositories for gumstix (which are compatible)
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/Optware/Gumstix

You could do all of this without overwriting any of the stock western digital software. No disassembly. No soldering. No repartitioning. No messing around with the bootloader. All software hacking. Everything over the ethernet port. This is the approach I'd recommend.

It's nice and compact and it runs at about 15W.

ps. Note that there is a performance boost to be had in wiping the disk and installing Debian. The software that western digital puts in there is pretty crappy. There are some MioNet java and perl processes that usually eat up about 30% of your system resources. A clean Debian install runs much faster. But hey, it's only got 32MB of Ram, so it's never going to run that fast anyway

Also, lots more info here: http://www.nslu2-linux.org/

Another option is the Linksys NSLU2, if you can find one used. Lots of community support for this device available here: http://www.nslu2-linux.org/ I've been running one since 2005 with the Unslung firmware, but I recently upgraded it to a standard Debian 5 install and it's working better than ever. It's not as fast as the newer NAS devices, but then again it draws less power because of it.

The Linksys NSLU2 is a home file server which uses USB disks and can be easily flashed with a couple different linux versions. I ran mine with 4 disks in RAID5 and SAMBA, but I'm pretty sure Apache was available as well. It's not very fast and I think the ethernet is 10 base, but it was really easy to set up and I found it reliable.
http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Storage-Link-Drives-NSLU2/dp/B0001FSCZO/
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/

The O!Play is going for ~$100US right now (cheaper if you shop around. It has linux on it with full root access (telnet deamon, root w/no password). It has a MIPS CPU and there's already a large number of ipkgs that will install on it. Attach a hard drive of your choice and you can install packages share files/stream content all you want. Not sure you'd be able to install a full X on it. And I'm not sure about the optical drive although being linux I assume ISOs can be mounted anyway. And it has convenient HDMI output you could hook it to a TV if you needed to (for non-video stream I'm not sure why you would need to).

http://www.nslu2-linux.org/

New device: ~$110
New 320 GB 2.5" HardDrive: ~$90
New 2.5" HD Carrier: ~$25

Total: ~$225, AND good binary support

should have added,

package list

http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/oleg/cross/stable/Packages

it all runs from an external USB.

Most things actually.

a) Run a typical distro only recompiled or is a lot of software x86-specific?
Debian has an ARM version of their distro. From personal experience, I found everything to run an nslu2 server without exception. http://www.nslu2-linux.org/ Very, very efficient platform. The nslu2 had no crypto coprocessor, so ssl stuff was slow, but still, the nslu2 was one of the most useful devices ever.
b) Run wine?
No. Wine isn't an emulator, so all of those x86 Windows compiled apps won't work.
c) Run virtualbox w/windows?
Depends. If virtualbox is an emulator, then you will be good to go. If it isn't, then you run into the wine problem.
d) Be able to use w32codecs so everything plays?
Probably not. Again, the whole x86 thing gets in the way.

What's more important to keep in mind are the binary blobs buried in some Linux drivers/applications. Epson's Linux driver is the perfect example. Not only is it a bear to build because it needs an ancient tool chain, but there are x86 blobs in the sources as provided by Epson. So, Epson printers are a total waste of money on arm.

HP's drivers build perfectly on ARM though. So, not only do you get an easily networked printer, but an easily networked scanner too.

I have one running one an NSLU2. There's a tutorial on this site somewhere to install linux and configure dnsmasq.

That is an irritation with the NSLU2, though there was an always-on hardmod.
You don't even techically have to mod the NSLU2, you can just make up a cable that will do when is required externally.

http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/ForcePowerAlwaysOn#method8 (I would do the wiring slightly less hackishly but the principle of what needs to be connected is what matters).

Since this is basically an NSLU2 with roughly an order of magnitude faster CPU, RAM and ethernet, the capabilities should be a superset of the NSLU2. Here is a pretty comprehensive list of what the NSLU2 has been used for:

http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/Info/WhatPeopleAreReallyUsingTheirSlugsFor

The more interesting question for me is, since the NSLU2 was ~$100 and used ~5W of power, what would this allow me to do that the NSLU2 wouldn't? The first things that come to mind are streaming HD content, a more load tolerant webserver, and running a less stripped down version of Linux. Am I missing any other major applications?

I don't have any OSX clients, sorry, or much experience with OSX in general. But the NAS itself is basically just a Linux box (it runs BusyBox), and uses ext3 filesystems and Samba/NFS. So I presume that OSX clients would work just as well (or badly, if that is the case) as they would with any similar Linux setup.

I don't run a great deal of the out-of-the-box software on mine, as I already have a couple of Linux servers for those sorts of duties. I mainly use mine for backups, music/video storage for an HTPC, and iSCSI targets for a bunch of VMware machines. But you can run pretty much whatever you want on it - there's a package management system built in which makes it easy to install a whole truckload of third-party prepackaged software (check out http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/optware/ts509/cross/stable/), or you can just use that to install gcc and then compile anything else yourself.

And, the largest NAS-hacking community providing alternative firmware and package feeds: http://www.nslu2-linux.org/

I run Linux on my ARM-based slug, which I use as a music player. I'm happy with the result (a cheap, always-on, low-energy music server), but it was kind of a pain to do the install, and the resulting system is broken in enough ways that I wouldn't want to use it very often as a general-purpose computer. Ubuntu is known as an easy-to-install, easy-to-use, full-featured desktop system that Just Works. If they can extend that to ARM-based subnotebooks, etc., then IMO it really is a big deal. Most people who own an x86 or x64 desktop machine really don't need one. All they need is a computer for word-processing, web browsing, and email. A lot of people really are finding out that they're just as happy with a cheap eeePC or whatever. If I could have Linux on an ARM-based notebook computer, and the battery would last for weeks in sleep mode, that would really be something I'd consider buying. But no way would I consider it if I didn't get the same freedom from hassles that I get with Ubuntu.

I know this may not be what you're looking for but I use:
dmesg |grep [shf]d
usually just the 'grep sd', though.

Also useful:
from http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/FAQ/SpinDownUSBHarddisks
'sg_start -S /dev/sda' will spin down /dev/sda, savin gpower and noise.
It even works on (most) USB disks!

I'm not sure that a PIC could handle that(most critically, I don't think that PICs with USB host controllers are all that common). Somewhat more expensive, but a lot more practical for your proposed purpose, would be an NSLU2:

http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddUsbWebcam

If you need your solution to be cheap and customizable, you might think about picking up an NSLU2 and a few 1TB HDDs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSLU2 http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/

It's basically a usb-to-ethernet bridge which you can flash with customized firmware or a trimmed-down debian install. Plenty of people use it as a lightweight server for FTP, NTP, DAAP, etc.

The specs on this thing is suspiciously similar to the good old WRT54GL. Unless the price is lower, I really don't see what this thing brings to the table.

If it had just included a couple USB ports and upped the ram/flash a little bit, it would have improved the hackability considerably. Look at what people have been able to do with the NSLU2. With these fairly minor changes the WGR614L could supersede both the 54GL and NSLU2.

this suggests using solar to power a battery to power the ARM-based NSLU2. It would be cool if buglabs had a solar power module. IT would also be cool if they weren't so overpriced.

A lot of people, including me, are using an NSLU2 for that. Cisco officially says it's OK with them if people modify the firmware, install Debian on it, etc. The price is under $100, and it only draws 4 watts, so it's a much better choice than a general-purpose computer for an always-on machine.

The Linksys NSLU2 is a little slow & not very intuitive but I just replaced my home file server (Athlong 1.4Ghz, 512MB, yaddahaddah) with one of these. There is a big fanbase for this little device and 3rd party firmware.

Looks like there's a fairly good solution at NSLU2-Linux. Sounds like it might handle the reattachment better.

That said, while I initially liked USB attached disks, I've later found the issues with lack of SMART and other features over USB to be a showstopper for any serious use (ie, anything beyond a replacement for burning DVD's for sneakernet transmission). I'm no longer particularly surprised when the level of 'working' of such devices is found to be relative.

Seagate Utility for Windows

Here is a link to a utility by Seagate that, among other things, will allow you to adjust the spindown time of FreeAgent drives. Windows only.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=freeagent-downloads&vgnextoid=3723b5b59b7d5110VgnVCM100000f5ee0a0aRCRD

there are a variety of methods, the easiest is to link the incoming 5V to the USB 5V.

Various possible methods are listed at http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/ForcePowerAlwaysOn

My NSLU2 will happily max out (3 MiB / sec) my 802.11g network when talking to my Mac. Writing to an HFS+ disk image over NFS is about half that speed, but as pure NFS is much faster I'm not sure that's entirely the NSLU2's fault. Over a 100 Mbps LAN it gets about 6 MiB /sec, which is still not very fast, but is fine for unattended backups.

If you have an early NSLU2, you may need to de-underclock it to get the best performance. Newer ones don't need the surgery.

I run a slug with a 500GB WD essential drive attached to it. There is one more 250GB WD essential drive (my old one). The two combined together is more than enough to backup all the machines and laptops. It runs OpenslugOS/SlugOS 3.10. It's reliable and a cheap solution. You can implement software RAID if you want.

I'm the proud owner of a slug (ARM + 32M ram + ethernet + 2 USB ports for $100). I love it, but the memory limits my options. This looks like what I've been dreaming of (excluding NSFW stuff).

These devices have very limited RAM and CPU, so anything that can comfortably run there usually are non-bloat. See optware for example. You can also look for packages in openembedded feeds and various wrt feeds.

Don't understand why so many people are complaining about this, I doubt it will make any difference to the majority of people complaining.

If you want to connect your old IDE drive to a new computer, just buy a converter, if you can afford the computer, I'm sure you can find the extra $20 somewhere.

If your old IDE drive breaks and you need a new one, get a SATA card, it costs less than $30, so if you can afford the new drive, I doubt you will have a problem paying the extra $30.

If you want to add storage space to your existing computer and all your PCI slots are gone or you don't know how to open a computer, get a USB drive. Since you don't have a SATA connection, I doubt speed is your main concern.

Finally, if you don't have USB connections, get something like the NSLU2, you can even run Linux on it (I'm running two of those at home with Debian Etch, works really well).

I'm sure you could come up with some scenario where the IDE drive would be useful and there really isn't any other option, but for the vast majority of people complaining, there are solutions already out there that will solve the problem.

I'm using a linksys NSLU2 and a 120GB USB 2.5" laptop hardrive running debain.
5v 2amp PSU.
It runs a apache, bittorrent etc.
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/

I use a "hacked" Linksys NSLU2 to run:

1. Network-attached storage for back-up/file sharing (its intended purpose) (samba)
2. DHCP/DNS service for my local network (dnsmasq)
3. IMAP mailbox/mail gateway (CYRUS/Fetchmail/postfix)
4. local iTunes server (mt-daapd)
5. VPN access to home from work/mobile - "properly" through openvpn, or using ssh port forwarding (often easier).
6. Long downloads with ctorrent, wget etc.

I'm using it with an external USB hard-drive, but its quite possible to use a USB key (in which case it would be totally silent).

One hint - there are several alternative "firmware" packages that you can choose from: I went for "openSlug" which completely replaces the original firmware with a mini linux distro. I'd probably advise going with the superficially more kludgey-sounding "unslung" that keeps the original Linksys (linux-based) NAS system but lets you add packages. It seems to have a better range of packages and keeps the web interface.

If you want something that "just works" rather than a several days of cracking nerdy fun, an increasing number of network-attached hard drives have bittorrent clients, FTP servers etc. out-of-the-box e.g. this (Not a recommendation, just an example).

It uses only about 5w and you can attach flash or USB disks if you need more memory.

http://www.nslu2-linux.org/ will tell you everything you need to know to set up the applications you need.

The Linksys NSLU2 is a nice little device, it's a little ARM based linux box that you're supposed to plug USB disks into and use as a NAS. But of course you can run linux on it (even normal Debain), and hence you could get the setup that you're looking for going I imagine. And super low power usage. Only £55 as well: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSLU2 http://www.nslu2-linux.org/

If you don't have a requirement for high-speed NAS, have you considered a Linksys NSLU2? There's even a thriving Linux community around it http://www.nslu2-linux.org/. Less than $100.00, add your own external USB 2.0 storage. Data rate is around 4-5 MB/sec. from either Windows (CIFS) or Linux (NFS). Fanless, consumes about 9 watts (without a drive, or with a flash drive), and about the size of a paperback novel. I'm a satisfied owner...

I for one don't care how slick the case is.
You are right in that for just sharing some hard drives the apple solution isn't bad but I can get a WiFi Access point for less than $80.
With the NSLU you have the option to.
Use it as a web server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SimpleHomeWe bsite
Mail server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpAnEmail Server
VPN http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpOpenVPN Server
FTP http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetupFtpd
Act as a Bluetooth access point http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/NetworkSlugO verBluetooth
WebCam server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddUsbWebcam

I think you get the point.
The NSLU is a more flexible solution. The Apple solution is very limited. It can only do what Apple wants it to do.
An NSLU and a Wireless router will be two boxes that cost less than the Airport but do the same thing.

As you said it all depends on what you want to do.
For me since I already have a wireless router an NSLU or other NAS is a better choice than the Airport extreme.

I for one don't care how slick the case is.
You are right in that for just sharing some hard drives the apple solution isn't bad but I can get a WiFi Access point for less than $80.
With the NSLU you have the option to.
Use it as a web server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SimpleHomeWe bsite
Mail server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpAnEmail Server
VPN http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpOpenVPN Server
FTP http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetupFtpd
Act as a Bluetooth access point http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/NetworkSlugO verBluetooth
WebCam server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddUsbWebcam

I think you get the point.
The NSLU is a more flexible solution. The Apple solution is very limited. It can only do what Apple wants it to do.
An NSLU and a Wireless router will be two boxes that cost less than the Airport but do the same thing.

As you said it all depends on what you want to do.
For me since I already have a wireless router an NSLU or other NAS is a better choice than the Airport extreme.

I for one don't care how slick the case is.
You are right in that for just sharing some hard drives the apple solution isn't bad but I can get a WiFi Access point for less than $80.
With the NSLU you have the option to.
Use it as a web server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SimpleHomeWe bsite
Mail server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpAnEmail Server
VPN http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpOpenVPN Server
FTP http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetupFtpd
Act as a Bluetooth access point http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/NetworkSlugO verBluetooth
WebCam server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddUsbWebcam

I think you get the point.
The NSLU is a more flexible solution. The Apple solution is very limited. It can only do what Apple wants it to do.
An NSLU and a Wireless router will be two boxes that cost less than the Airport but do the same thing.

As you said it all depends on what you want to do.
For me since I already have a wireless router an NSLU or other NAS is a better choice than the Airport extreme.

I for one don't care how slick the case is.
You are right in that for just sharing some hard drives the apple solution isn't bad but I can get a WiFi Access point for less than $80.
With the NSLU you have the option to.
Use it as a web server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SimpleHomeWe bsite
Mail server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpAnEmail Server
VPN http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpOpenVPN Server
FTP http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetupFtpd
Act as a Bluetooth access point http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/NetworkSlugO verBluetooth
WebCam server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddUsbWebcam

I think you get the point.
The NSLU is a more flexible solution. The Apple solution is very limited. It can only do what Apple wants it to do.
An NSLU and a Wireless router will be two boxes that cost less than the Airport but do the same thing.

As you said it all depends on what you want to do.
For me since I already have a wireless router an NSLU or other NAS is a better choice than the Airport extreme.

I for one don't care how slick the case is.
You are right in that for just sharing some hard drives the apple solution isn't bad but I can get a WiFi Access point for less than $80.
With the NSLU you have the option to.
Use it as a web server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SimpleHomeWe bsite
Mail server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpAnEmail Server
VPN http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpOpenVPN Server
FTP http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetupFtpd
Act as a Bluetooth access point http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/NetworkSlugO verBluetooth
WebCam server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddUsbWebcam

I think you get the point.
The NSLU is a more flexible solution. The Apple solution is very limited. It can only do what Apple wants it to do.
An NSLU and a Wireless router will be two boxes that cost less than the Airport but do the same thing.

As you said it all depends on what you want to do.
For me since I already have a wireless router an NSLU or other NAS is a better choice than the Airport extreme.

I for one don't care how slick the case is.
You are right in that for just sharing some hard drives the apple solution isn't bad but I can get a WiFi Access point for less than $80.
With the NSLU you have the option to.
Use it as a web server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SimpleHomeWe bsite
Mail server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpAnEmail Server
VPN http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetUpOpenVPN Server
FTP http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/SetupFtpd
Act as a Bluetooth access point http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/NetworkSlugO verBluetooth
WebCam server http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddUsbWebcam

I think you get the point.
The NSLU is a more flexible solution. The Apple solution is very limited. It can only do what Apple wants it to do.
An NSLU and a Wireless router will be two boxes that cost less than the Airport but do the same thing.

As you said it all depends on what you want to do.
For me since I already have a wireless router an NSLU or other NAS is a better choice than the Airport extreme.

The Linksys NSLU2 network storage link is a handy little unit (less than $100) that will share USB drives and serve web pages. It's open source so of course it runs Linux http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/Main/HomePage and an amazing number of applications have been ported to it.