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Everyone Needs a Personal Server

Posted by michael on from the chicken-in-every-pot dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Intel Labs is prototyping a potentially revolutionary new 'personal server'. The tiny device -- smaller than a PDA -- comprises a hard disk, BlueTooth, a Web-DAV enabled HTTP daemon, and other technologies enabling the user to access and modify their files from any enabled PC within their "Personal Area Network." In theory, this would allow the worker to access their own data -- essentially to have their own PC -- at any suitable workstation as long as the personal server were nearby. This article at LinuxDevices.com provides background on the personal server concept, explains how the device will enable a truly mobile experience, discusses the basic technologies involved, and provides an architectural block diagram of the prototype, which is based on an XScale Processor running at 400MHz running an embedded Linux OS."

6 of 220 comments (clear)

  1. boot failure by turkeyphant · · Score: 3, Informative
    Smaller than PDA-class devices and without traditional input/output (I/O) capabilities such as a keyboard or display
    Even though it's not running Windows, surely some sort of display would be semi-necessary? I'd hate being stuck with a useless paperweight after getting haxored or whatever...
    --
    Turkeyphant
    1. Re:boot failure by zakezuke · · Score: 5, Informative

      Even though it's not running Windows, surely some sort of display would be semi-necessary? I'd hate being stuck with a useless paperweight after getting haxored or whatever...

      Not really... routers do quite well with aux ports and or web management, true *nix boxes do perfectly well with remote access / console ports. Dedicated devices often don't need displays. Though if you zap the roms on any device, it's going to be a paperwight unless you can get replacements.

      --
      There is no sanctuary. There is no sanctuary. SHUT UP! There is no shut up. There is no shut up.
  2. Network Harddrive by zwoelfk · · Score: 4, Informative

    What I really need is are smaller portable harddrives with bigger capacities (200GB to start would be nice) that are network-aware. Just plug in an ethernet cable and mount it.

    The Snap Appliance Server 1100 is pretty close. It's a little large, but not too bad. It's something that's much more useful to me than this "personal server". But the cost is outrageous. About 800USD for a 120GB networked drive? Considering I can get a 160GB USB drive in Japan for under 200USD now, the extra 600USD does not justify the cost of adding ethernet.

    I guess I'll just have to wait, someone's bound to come out with something. For now I'm just thinking of picking up one of those brick-PCs and mounting my drives to that (especially as I need more) and just connecting that to the network wherever I am.

  3. That's it? by CausticWindow · · Score: 3, Informative

    Gotta admit being a little disappointed by this.

    For those of you who didn't RTFA: This is essentially a little hard drive which rides around in your backpack (note: I don't carry a backpack all the time; do you?) and can connect, wirelessly, to any machine you access which recognizes wireless devices. Basically, as far as I can tell, this has the same net effect as having a home directory on an NFS server someplace and using it to save your settings as you move from machine to machine.

    Again: Bo-ring.

    When I saw "personal server, no IO", I was hoping this would be a manifestation of the keystone portion of my idea for a personal wireless network Your devices would all notice one another, and the width of functionality of any given device would be dependant on what you were carrying. If you we out taking pictures with your digicam and were carrying a server, the images would be transfered to the (presumably very expansive) drive in the server. If you had your cell phone, the images would be sent off to your home computer, as well.

    Repeat en masse. PDAs display and do I/O, headphones play music and the real work is taken care of automagically behind the scenes in some secure fashion. You'd effectively allow the elimination of multi-use devices which don't do any job very well by allowing your devices to play their strong points, and you could customize your loadout just in what you grab in the morning when you're loading your pockets.

    Anyhow, this ain't it, and that's disappointing -- somebody must have hit my verbosity flag today, and I'm sincerely sorry for the pain that I've caused you all...

    --
    How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
  4. Re:Instead of laptop. by LetterJ · · Score: 3, Informative

    Have you looked at the Cappuccino PC's? They don't all have "desktop" processors, but are closer to what you're looking for than most laptops.

    http://www.cappuccinopc.com/espressopc.asp

    --

    The Glass is Too Big: My Take on Things
  5. Not revolutionary, see Sony's Portable File Server by CoachOta · · Score: 3, Informative
    Intel's research seems to be more of an evolutionary refinement than a new revolution in computing.

    Sony's had a wireless file server PGX1 out in Japan for several months now. It's not really pocket size but doesn't take much space or add much weight in a bag at only 390g. It stores 20GB and supports CIFS, NFS and FTP connections over 802.11b. It's also dockable with a wired ethernet connection when direct access is desired. Configuration is via LCD display or web browser.

    See the FSV-PGX1 at Sony's Portable File Server page for details (in Japanese of course).