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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."
It shouldn't be this easy to let hackers break into the system
Why would you want to prevent them? It drives sales of your products.
the kernel is too tangled to successfully create a small distribution that is at the same time useful and feature-limited.
I don't agree. It is perfectly possible to do this, and know several people who _have_ done it. The issue is, it isn't worth the effort. It would take several weeks of developer time to determine exactly what is needed and what isn't, whereas there's actually no problem with including unnecessary features. So that's what happens.
Don't get me wrong, I think QNX et al are very cool systems, and there are many situations where they are more applicable than Linux. But I don't see anything wrong with Linux here.
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)
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!
Full-Featured GPL Web Hosting Control Panel
You are aware that the process for gaining access involves removing the hard disk from it, attaching it to another computer so you can modify certain files, and then returning the hard disk. Not the kind of thing you can do over the network.
If a hacker has physical access to your hard disk, you've got a lot more to worry about than this.
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 -
Oh, please. Who are you with your shoulds and should nots. Did you read how folks originally broke into this box? They *physically* unplugged the USB2 disk from the NSLU2 and mounted the USB hard disk (which is NOT part of the NSLU2) directly to their Windows/Mac/Linux box(es). They then modified the password file from the Windows/Mac/Linux box. Being able to modify this device is a good thing. There is a collaberative spirit surrounding the newgroup associated with the folks developing *useful* applications to run on this the device. Linksys sells a very interesting and inexpensive piece of hardware with the NSLU2. A big reason it is inexpensive is that Linksys (1) lowers software development costs by using a ubiquitous operating system/software that it (Linksys) doesn't need to develop and (2) doesn't pay outrageous licencing fee for proprietary operating system/software that provides the same funcationality as freeware (Linux). QNX? You think the password file associated with QNX couldn't be modified in the same manner? VxWorks? Common.
I don't get it.
I have been pwned because my
If you want ssh, telnet and all the other toys, plug a real linux box into your network !
It is a real linux box. It was when it was packaged too.
The thing about this and WRT54G is that it can do things with more efficient hardware than setting up an inefficient ATX based system. These things consume watts, not hundreds of watts and are also fanless, lighter and more compact.
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
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.
- 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.Speed: The USB 2.0 Hi-Speed FAQ tells us that the maximum speed of USB 2.0 is 480 Mbit/s. The maximum speed of parallel ATA is 133 MByte/s = 1064 MBit/s, plus it does not have the "ATA over USB" protocol overhead. Serial ATA does 150 MByte/s = 1200 MBit/s, IIRC. The ethernet interface of the device supports 100 MBit/s. Modern harddisks can not deliver 133 MByte/s = 1064 MByte/s, but they become faster every day. Flash memory can be that fast, at least for reading.
Power: Each USB port must be able to deliver 5V @ 0.5A.
Now do the maths: You can see that already a single USB device can deliver more data than the ethernet port could transport. The CPU (according to http://www.batbox.org/nslu2-linux.html) is an XScale CPU with 131.48 BogoMIPS, roughly comparable in Performance to a slow Pentium II. I'm sure it can't handle much more than 100 MBit/s Ethernet and two USB 2.0 ports.
Adding a second USB port is convenient to copy data directly between USB devices, e.g. for backup or upgrade purposes. But adding more USB ports costs 0.5A per port for the PSU, making it much more inefficient for each added port.
Tux2000
Denken hilft.
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!
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.
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