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NSLU2 Now More Useful
NSLUG writes "The WRT54G's not the only hackable kid on the block. Linksys has a new device out. The NSLU2 is a tiny network storage device running Linux and it's been hacked to add SSH, NFS, an iTunes server, etc. Tom's Hardware is running a series of articles on how to hack the NSLU2. The first article is here
and the second is here. Check out this page for details on getting into the box."
...linux? Sorry :/
-- "I'm not a religious man, but if you're up there, save me Superman..."
This is another example of why linux is so damn cool. That little kernel can go anywhere.
It shouldn't be this easy to let hackers break into the system, and there really shouldn't be enough tools in the OS to allow more functionality than the designers spec'd out for the device.
Linux is a great thing, on the desktop. But in embedded systems, the kernel is too tangled to successfully create a small distribution that is at the same time useful and feature-limited.
This is where operating systems designed from the ground up with modularity in mind fit the bill. QNX, iTron, and VxWorks all get around this hacking problem by not providing the tools for hackers to change the system.
but you don't see us sane folks worshipping it, do you?
As we are approaching it, please remember this!
IntechHosting - Free domain, 2GB, PHP, £4.95/$8.95
The NSLU2 and the WRT54G are two completely different devices you know. If you bought the WRT54G I presume you wanted the capabilities to act as a router and access point for your network, while the NSLU2 just connects a USB disk drive to your network. If you just bought it to play with Linux then you're silly since you could pick up any number of old PCs on eBay that would be considerably cheaper and more useful than either of these devices.
Prepare to be modded down!
Don't worry about it, this machine has no wireless and no routing, which the wrt has. And oh, I killed my WAP54 (similar to the wrt) while flashing... talking about aaaagh.
The WRT54G is a superb router - it's product's like this which made Cisco by them out because they were starting to verge on their low end devices which cost 10x as much.
Of course, no-one got fired for buying Cisco but I'm sure we will see a hell of a lot more of these sorta devices at remote sites and for 'glue'.
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is sell Type R stickers, hood scoops, and big wings for the back!
A-Link has released two new ADSL-modems RoadRunner 64 and RoadRunner 64AP. Both have many advanced features, but the one that cought my eye was that they are Linux based. I bought the RoadRunner64 (without WLAN) and I've gathered some data about it.
You can find out more about the product either by looking at the RR64 feature sheet or by checking out the guides and firmware page.
The platformBoth versions use LSI Logic's HomeBASE platform with the AR901 network processor. The only difference is that the AP version has a WLAN module manufactured by Zydas.
The platform consists of AR901 processor (ARM922), the AR8203 analog-to-digital adsl chip and the AR229 USB/Ethernet chip. Note that the value of these parts is a measly $21 while I paid 80 EUR for the complete modem ;-)
SpecsProcessor: ARM922 @ 200MHz integrated in the AR901 chip
One can simply ssh to the box. It has tftp support and you can mount nfs partitions, so setting it up to distribute kernels for a ltsp setup would be possible. Cool little gadget, I must say. Unfortunately the software isn't 100% yet, at least not the firmware I have (first release). I got the source by asking politely by e-mail, and after it suddenly borked on me, they changed it for a new one without any hassle.Flash: 4MB
RAM: 16MB SDRAM
Ports: 4 RJ45, 1 RJ11, 1 power
Other: Zydas 802.11b WLAN (In RR64AP only)
Lucky for you, the NSLU2 stands for "LINKSYS Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives"
so you can have both the WRT54G and the NSLU2, unless you were looking for two items to hack.
I've just signed legislation that'll outlaw Russia forever. We'll begin bombing in five minutes.
Sorry, had to say it! :)
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
They have no reason to limit the potential of their hardware. Only when you have a poorly functioning market would it make sense to expend effort on not making your hardware more usefull to potential buyers.
Buy's got it for $71 if you use a $5 off coupon. Nobody /. 'em until I finish my order, though... thanks!
How about someone installing ClamAV on this puppy? Have it auto-scan the HD every so often and keep your NAS nice and virus-clean!
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Whilst this is interesting from a technical perspective, I have to ask the question of why bother ?
Surely the customers for this device just want a big disk they can plug into (i.e. no screwdrivers required) their network for extra storage and then ignore. Joe average doesn't care what else the hardware can do.
If you want ssh, telnet and all the other toys, plug a real linux box into your network !
... is the initial act of culture."
- Jose Ortega y Gasset
You are totally missing the point. There is a difference in hacking and cracking.
The thing is highly likely be secure enough although it is modifiable (read: hackable). `Secure' doesn't have to mean `unhackable' you know.
- Voice of Ambience -
Sadly, you fail it.
Hopefully the 10mil post will be on a story and not on journal!
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As neat as this is, I can't help to wish there was a little more security in devices like this. What about when someone adapts some worm code to install a custom, ddos-zombie installation on the thousands of Linux-powered Linksys/etc routers out there?
Repent! The Day of Reckoning is upon us!
Jeebus save us all!!!
-- "I'm not a religious man, but if you're up there, save me Superman..."
standard compliance?
It seems like there would be only a marginal intersection between the type of people that buy network attached storage devices and the type of people interested in hacking their network attached storage device. I mean, I would think most people who are able to hack their NSLU2 are also the type that have an extra computer around that they would use instead.
post ID formatting is fixed to 8 digits
Then I guess we're good until the 100,000,000th post. How many years do they have to fix the bug?
Could it be hacked to run software RAID 1 or RAID 10 on the attached hard drives? That would make it more useful for small office environments.
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what they need is ntfs or other filesystems, i have some usb harddrives that are full, but i dont want to have to reformat them! :P
"... the value of a commodity represents human labour in the abstract, the expenditure of human labour in general."
also,
"... This subsuming of individuals under definite classes cannot be abolished until a class has taken shape, which has no longer any particular class interest to assert against the ruling class."
viva la revolution!
down with the caplitalist bastards!
vive la frace!
vive la chine!
vive cuba!
mort a les etas-unis!
See here
So did I, but with a lil bit of luck you can save it... Either get the firmware from their website and try that, or use the instructions provided at www.sveasoft.com.
perl -e'print$_{$_} for sort%_=`lynx -dump svanstrom.com/t`'
test_user:scEPG0VnVyqmE:2000:501:::/dev/null
t
test3:sc5
But in order to use these accounts, I would need to have their passwords. I started down the path of cracking the passwords before I came out of my stupor and realized all I had to do was edit the passwd file and replace the encrypted password with a known encrypted password from one of my other accounts! I could also just add a valid shell to one of my accounts, but for starters, decided to just put a new password in for root and leave the rest of the accounts alone.
*nix n00b question, maybe, but why not just blank the password out?
root::0:0:root:/root:/bin/sh
??
Well, get a USB flatbed scanner with GPL drivers and you can have a network attached scanner. Come to think of it, there are probably lots of USB devices that one could share with this box. It could even do wiring closet security monitoring with a USB webcam and a remote machine which analyzes the images for movement. The possibilities appear endless (provided working drivers can be obtained and installed on the box).
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Seriously... does anyone know if any of the ICQ apps have been posted to either this or the WRT54G?
"Sometimes a woman is a kind of religion, she can save your soul & set you free from all your sins" - Bad Examples
You just know the editors are going to be mystified by why this topic has such an insanely high reload count.
Now, if I remember proiperly, USB 2.0 has a speed near 400 Mbps. This thing has a max network speed of 100 Mbps.
Sigh... If only they had included a 1Gbps port on this thing, I'd get somewhere near the speed I want. And yes, I do have a Gigabit network running at home, and only a few laptops aren't equipped with Gig cards. And yes, it does make a speed difference.
What's the real-world performance on this kind of device like? And why is it limited to two USB devices (other than the obvious fact that there are only two USB ports on the thing)? I'm considering one simply as a network backup device.
I don't get it.
I have been pwned because my
10,000,000 is a terribly exciting number, you know.... Actually, hang on, no it isn't.
riguidou take 2
Third and final stab. If I miss this - good luck to the rest.
10 000 000.
He Wins It!!!!!!!
Show him to our prize showcase, Rob.
well done
how could you?
pwned =)
for you to ebay your /. account?
What a sad world we live in.
I got dibs!
-- "I'm not a religious man, but if you're up there, save me Superman..."
I don't get it.
THAT was the great and historic 10,000,000th post. Beautiful. I'm reminded of the "I don't know" written on the chalkboard in Fast Times At Ridgemont High.
http://publicvoidlife.blogspot.com
Looking at Linksys's site, anyone think it looks like that Ion air machine from sharper image?
I'm not drunk, I just have a speech impediment. And a stomach virus. And an inner ear infection.
... it's almost certainly more powerful than a PDP-7. You could get some sort of Unix on it.
buzbee specifically indicate that he just accessed the flash-partition containing the system using the usb connector on the device and mounting the drive so he could
: /dev/null for the shell. But there were two accounts that had a real shell: root and an interestingly named account--ourtelnetrescueuser, that looked like a back door account used for debugging or recovery purposes.
x :1:1:bin:/bin:: 8:12:mail:/var/spool/mail:e user:scFf7ZMXBMl4I:100:100::/home/u ser:/bin/shu ll: /dev /null
e st2:scEPG0VnVyqmE:2001:501:::/dev/null0 wKPq.zChw:2002:501:::/dev/null
all his copying, untarring, editing and modifying where made on the device network share-drive, him being short on space and all...
so you don't need to fiddle a lot with the box, except for plugging in usb, which any luser can do.(?)
he didn't even have to crack the password
"As expected, the passwd file showed the user accounts I had created with a
root:WeeOvKUvbQ6nI:0:0:root:/root:/bin/sh
bin:
lp:x:4:7:lp:/share/spool:
mail:x
ftp:x:14:50:FTP User:/:
nobody:x:99:99:Nobody:/:
ourtelnetrescu
guest:scEPG0VnVyqmE:501:501:::/dev/n
admin:sclzZZfodiRXY:502:501::/home/user/admin
test_user:scEPG0VnVyqmE:2000:501:::/dev/null
t
test3:sc5
But in order to use these accounts, I would need to have their passwords. I started down the path of cracking the passwords before I came out of my stupor and realized all I had to do was edit the passwd file and replace the encrypted password with a known encrypted password from one of my other accounts! I could also just add a valid shell to one of my accounts, but for starters, decided to just put a new password in for root and leave the rest of the accounts alone. "
See, just copying and pasting a configuration file...
even a luser ca do that (bis repetitam placient 8p )
Cheers
da5id
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
Now off to find the 9999999 poster...
Money for nothing, pix for free
I, nslu(1), am just as useful.
I would think most people who are able to hack their NSLU2 are also the type that have an extra computer around that they would use instead.
Sure you could use an old PC for that job. But that PC has at least a 150W PSU, often 200W, 250W or more, and almost every PC has at least one noisy fan. My tests on my ex-router (really old Compaq 486 without harddisk) show that a PC needs at least 40W AC power when IDLE, and much more with newer CPUs. According to the Datasheet, the device is specified for 5VDC @ 2A. USB ports must be able to deliver 0.5A each, so the "real" machine needs nothing more than 5V @ 1A. This means you never put more than 10W into the device, with a low power USB storage device, 5W should be possible IMHO. With a common wallbrick PSU (50% heat, 50% output), this translates to 20W AC power under FULL LOAD. With a modern switching PSU (20% heat, 80% output), and a low power USB storage device, you need about 7W AC power. That's what a modern ATX PC draws in standby mode (so-called "off").
Did I mention that the NSLU2 has no moving parts?
Tux2000, not related to Linksys except that I own a hacked WRT54G.
Denken hilft.
Doesn't USB 2.0 have a max throughput (max, realistic's probably 320 after overhead) of 480 Mega*bits* per second, where as my Hdd has a max throughput of 100Mega*Bytes* per second. Multiply by 8.
This is just recollection from memory, so I might be wrong. Don't think so, though. See conversion chart here
You're reading Slashdot. Of course you like Linux and pc hardware
So pay either Microsoft or Montevista, it's the same.
That's only true if you place no value on your ass.
I guess this uses less power than a PC. Having a permanent ADSL connection, Iwouldn't mind setting up my own mail server and maybe a tiny webserver with some family pics. But leaving a PC 24/7 is going to add a serious whack to my power bill. This could be a slution.
10 ?"Hello World" life was simple then
- low power... makes the box silent, and the power-supply is simpler/cooler and likely to have a longer life
- simpler software... unlike an old box that potentially has a ton of different things running on it, this has a smaller set of very stable software that's likely to continue working forever
- easy backup/restore... the ROM image is 16MB, so it's something you can put a copy on all of your computers, and is trivial to restore. Whereas if your random machine lost its installation, how long would it take to do a re-install?
- it's small and cheap... yes, spare computers are cheaper, but whereas it's feasible to maintain and store 25 NSLU2's in my computer room, the same is not true of spare boxes... it'd be too noisy and much less stable.
Where we're going with this is having separate hardware to do each little network task. Since they're all running on separate CPU's, if one of them does die, the other ones will be fine, and will likely continue running for a long time.- audio output/video playback (one per room)
- firewall/NAT/WiFi
- DMZ services
- apache
- sendmail
- network attached storage
- backup/restore
- X10 network interface
- ...
These are things you simply want to always work, and don't want to screw around too much.I am going to order one. I think that it is cool that this little device is hackable.
And shame on those who would poo-pah on others for having fun with cheap hardware. If you can't understand why this is fun, then don't do it.
Um... er,.. post number 9,999,999 is... a.. little more.... wordy! than 10,000,001.
The journal entry date reads 2004-06-26 17:38 (UTC).
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
Lots of people are claiming that this is much cheaper to run than a dedicated ATX server, but they are forgetting you need to power the hard disks too. In my (limited) experience, powering desktop 7200rpm disks from USB is very dicey, so you need externally powered hard disk boxes for them.
:o)
Based on UK prices turned up in 30 seconds by Google, so probably not the cheapest to be had, but never mind.
NSLU2: £60, 5V/2A power into device
Cheap USB hard disk box:£35, 50-80VA power into the PSU brick (based on the one on my desk). I'll use 70VA, to be on the safe side.
So, outfitting one of these for two hard disks would cost around £130. Assume a 60% efficiency plugpack for the NSLU2 (which seems conservative) and total power consumption would then be around 160VA.
In comparison, my server has an Athlon 900Mhz, a couple of fans, the same two hard disks, and a 300W PSU. Let's assume it's highly loaded and actually draws around 250VA; I'll ignore power correction factor for these calculations.
At 10p/kWh, the NSLU2 costs 39p per day to run, and the server 60p. If I upgraded to the NSLU2, it would take over 3 years to get a ROI from a purely financial point of view. Unless I've gotten something wrong, in which case I'm sure some clever slashdotter will correct me in a few seconds
So, on purely financial grounds, perhaps hard to justify. Still, it's nifty, it's a hell of a lot smaller than my existing server, and it would reduce the noise in this room nicely by eliminated a few fans too.
Update: hmmm, PC guide reckons it's more like 10W for a hard disk under use, suggesting the rather high sounding 50-80VA max draw are probably for 10,000rpm disks spinning up or something. Even assuming 15W to be on the safe side changes things around a lot; assume 75% efficient PSU plugpacks just to look on the bright side, and we get 20W per hard disk and 13W for the device = 13p per day. Break even is now about 9 months; not too shabby, given the other benefits.
You win again, gravity!
Then add some audio
W00T!
Are they selling multi-drive usb enclosures yet? like this LaCie Big Drive? (yeah I know it 1394 not USB) How about rolling your own, any EE's /CE's feel up to combining a raid card and a usb enclosure? I don't have the know how to do it but I'd gladly benefit from it.
I really think he said he just took some ext3 drivers for mac and then mounted the drive...
if mount -t smbfs is physical access...then ok.
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
I noticed. :-) I suppose we should be grateful that he/she/it missed the Big One.
Money for nothing, pix for free
I had rtfm, but a bit too fast 8)
It takes 40+ muscles to frown, but only four to extend your arm and bitchslap the motherfucker
10,000,000 is meaningless. The big post came will be 100000000h.
-I am an elective eunuch.
Anyway to hook this up to Tivo like devices to get additional space for recording stuff from TV.
Congrats! What are you going to do next?
Network Security: It always comes down to a big guy with a gun.
do you think it would work as a webserver? i know there is some kind of webserver on it. but i could not find details if anyone managed to get apache running on it. as others mentioned. it would be great to have a small energy saving webserver instead of an old noisy pc.
It would be really nice if the Slashdot would tell us what the story is about. I realize that there's a link, but it would be supremely convenient if I didn't have to click through in order to find out if the story is worth my time.
Please note that this story is posted in the "Developers" section. I would expect stories here to be about programming languages, algorithms, a Mono vs dotGNU flamewars, or a party at the DNA Lounge. So when I read the title "NSLU2 Now More Useful", and the blurb "the WRT54G's not the only hackable kid on the block", I'm not instantly associating it with network storage devices.
Do you really expect me to instantly recognize the "NSLU2" and "WRT54G" names? I can barely remember that "GX240" is the name of my workstation and "iFP-790" is the name of my ogg player, without having to memorize tens of thousands of other equally non-mnemonic product names in order to understand what Slashdot is talking about.
Don't blame me, I didn't vote for either of them!
There appears to be a fair sized amount of information on how to modify these boxes on various Japanese sites which I can not read a word of. So I have yet to take my LinkStation appart but will hopefully get around to it soon. So far it has worked well and I am pretty happy with my purchase.
(apologies for being offtopic, but) I just had to note that the parent post is number ten million!
- First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then ???, then profit.
1) But, does it run linux?
2) Imagine a beowolf cluster of these!
3) In Soviet Russia...
"Software is like sex... it's better when it's free"
Then I supposed ultimately it would be most beneficial to boot from the drive, and run a headless machine.
Namaste
Salve,
a rd.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=sb\
a rd.pl?Action=ShowPost&Board=talkbacks&Post=359
I would like to know how fast the data transfer of NSLU2 box and other
routers like the WRT54g but with USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 is.
BTW WRT54g & Co has a Broadcom BCM47x2 chip with only one 100
MBit/s Ethernet - so using them as 100MBit/s to 100 MBit/s Router will
IMHO reach only less then 50 Mbit/s.
OK when some Wlan-Routers with Broadcom BCM47x2 and USB like the
ASUS WL-500 (USB 1.1) and the Netgear WGT634U (USB 2.0) make it
possibe to add a hdd via USB, too. Why not hack them (too)?
Howto add more Flash/RAM?
see my question at Home / Little Linux systems & single-board computers
(SBCs)
"Any Flash/RAM upgrade Howto? I like to hack small/cheap BCM47x2
(WLan)-Router"
http://www.linuxdevices.com/cgi-bin/board/UltraBo
c&Post=254
But Flash memory is quite expenise - IMHO would make more sence to have
a solution with an usb-memory-stick. Is there a chance to hack a bootchain
with usb-support that the selfbuild kernels are booted from usb-stick? Can a
kernel A boot a kernel B? How? Consider that kernel A sound be flashed
once and never be upgraded, new kernels sould be stored on the USB
stick, so the kernel version from A and B becomes different in the future! I
found only:
"I'm fighting from another angle. I have a kernel booting another
kernel working for an SMP kernel. Now if I just need to get it to work
for a SMP kernel when more than 1 cpu is in the box and I'll be in good
shape "
http://www.linuxbios.org/faq/archive/0632.html
-So could a kernel A boot a kernel B and how?
-Any other boxes based on Broadcom chips with USB support?
Greetings
rob
PS: This posting is a copy from my posting:
http://www.linuxdevices.com/cgi-bin/board/UltraBo
Gratz! You are message number 10 million :o)
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
if Slashdot is still alive, someone will get post 100000000. It will probably be about a Beowulf cluster.
(Congrats, you did get it).
great news seeing as i just set one of those Linksys up right here
Business Voyeur
This would be mad to serve homebrew gamecube games off! no need to have a computer on!
.au yet. :(
Shame it's not out in
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Some Slashdot history (thanks to $$$$$exyGal for the informative journal entry...
0 00 0 000 0 000 = 4000000 0 000 0 000 0 000 0 44&cid=8000000 8 &cid=9000000 8 344&cid=10000000
Post #1,000,000 on Jun 15, ???? http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=6038&cid=1000
Post #2,000,000 on Mar 1, ???? http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=16359&cid=200
Post #3,000,000 on Feb 13, ???? http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=27908&cid=300
Post #4,000,000 on Aug 2, 2001 http://ask.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=37241&cid
Post #5,000,000 on Jan 2, 2002 http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=49501&cid=500
Post #6,000,000 on May 20, 2003 http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=64871&cid=600
Post #7,000,000 on Sep 18, 2003 http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=79101&cid=700
Post #8,000,000 on Jan 16, 2004 http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=93
Post #9,000,000 on Apr 28, 2004 http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=10569
Post #10,000,000 on Aug 18, 2004 http://developers.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=11
Unfortunately, I couldn't tell what year the first three were posted, but from 4 million to 10 million, you can see the number of days it takes to post 1,000,000 comments:
4 million to 5 million: 153 days
5 million to 6 million: 138 days
6 million to 7 million: 121 days
7 million to 8 million: 120 days
8 million to 9 million: 102 days
9 million to 10 million: 112 days
First observation: Comment posting is slowing down on Slashdot!!! Slashdot is dying!!! Netcraft confirms it!!! OMGWTFBBQ!!!
(end troll mode)
Second observation: At the current rate of posting, it will take us 3 years to post 10 million more comments, or about 27 years to get to 100 million. So you can reschedule the celebration from 2525 to 2031, if not sooner.
Hear recorded Slashdot headlines on your phone! New service beta testing. Just call (248) 434-5508
1) Yes ...network stores you!
2) Ohh, ahh.
3)
A very cool application for this box would be to port Python on it so that it can run bittorrent, imagine having your bittorrent client running constantly (btlaunchmany), you simply feed it with new torrent files and collect the downloaded files a few hours or days later. Much quieter and spends much less power than a Linux PC...
Actually I'm really considering buying it if it's feasible, gotta find out if they sell them in Japan though.
"Naughty, naughty, naughty, you filthy old soomka !"
why is it that when you can hack into something running linux, it's cool. but when you can hack into something running windows it's a huge security flaw and microsoft is evil?
:D
ok, actually i think it's cool too but isn't it a little "funny" how being able to hack into a windows machine is a "bad thing(tm)" and hacking into a linux machine is considered a cool feature by geeks? that should make windows *REALLY* cool.
Keith D.
I looked long and hard for USB 2 enclosurers that housed more than one or two drivers and were LBA48 cmopatible. I found NONE for a reasonable price. However I did find Firewire b enclosures and purchased one. My computers all have both interfaces but if this box had Firewire I would've purchased it instead and had myself a nice network storage device instead of hanging my new box off of an existing computer. :-( As it is I may still purchase one to hack but it's not as useful and I see no Firewire version of it. Cooldrives.com was the site that I got my enclosure from as I recall - nice selection of stuff. I got the 4bay enclosure. The EBAY stuff is NOT LBA48 or doesn't support Firewire B...
Build it, Drive it, Improve it! Hybridz.org
And metric is elegant. But it can be used with any base--decimal is only involved with prefixes. For me there's no point in getting mad at how things are. We're neither systematic nor hexadecimal fully. I just smile a bit when I hear about pints and (force) ounces.
-I am an elective eunuch.
Maybe we can make slashdot history here twice. What's the record for most replies to a post? We're at 53 so far...
-jim
I have an idea where this box might come in handy. Say I want to bring my digital camera with me on vacation, and I will take lots of pictures. I think buying 10 flash cards for the camera is too expensive, so instead I would like to bring a USB harddisk and dump the pictures onto it once a day. So what I would need for this task is a device to which I can connect two USB devices. Is NSLU2 the right choice or is there something better?
Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
> why is it that when you can hack into something running linux, it's cool. but when you can hack into something running windows it's a huge security flaw and microsoft is evil?
Because you misunderstand the point of the story. This isn't about security at all, it's about "exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities" - a phrase lifted straight out of the Jargon File's definition of Hacker. Hacking the NSLU2 involves trivial circumvention of security, yes, because you need a shell on the thing, but that's beside the point. The meat of the hacking is what's going on now in the NSLU2-linux group - getting Fedora (ie Redhat) to run on the thing. That certainly counts as "stretching the capabilities" of this little device to me.
You may pack up and leave now.