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A Linux Server Express for Portable Wi-Fi?
crome wonders: "The new Apple Airport Express is a little wonder of technology. It packs a wi-fi base station with all the usual capabilities of base stations plus the iTunes over network thing in one little square appliance that plugs directly to the power plug in the wall. I have a few of these and I am quite happy with them. Often however, when I most need a wi-fi base station on the go, I also need a server on the go. For example, in my second home I have an old DSL modem, and I have an Airport Express but I have no way to share the connection over wi-fi because the Airport Express doesn't support PPTP. Having a similarly formatted small Linux server with two ethernet ports, a usable Linux distribution on it with all the tools one needs when traveling, and some disk space to save stuff would be great. Any hints on what components to use or anything that comes close to a Linux Server Express?"
"A while ago, Cerfcube (a small start-up) had such small appliances, but they disappeared and the format (a cube) wasn't very practical. Since I don't seem to be able to find such a very small format Linux server, I am just going to build one myself. I plan to build one into an existing power adapter (mimicking the Airport Express) and cram into it a computer-on-a-chip, a small disk, and two ethernet ports."
What's a DLS modem anyway?
Build a nano-itx pc.
Laptops.
The Linksys NSLU2 may be a good palce to start.
TomsNetworking has a good article about messing around with it.
Add a USB network card and a big USB key and you should be good to go (it has 2 USB ports).
set softtabstop=4 shiftwidth=4 expandtab nocp worlddomination
not an appliance, but a Live CD: ZoneCD
...Rob
The American Dream isn't an SUV and a house in the suburbs; it's Don't Tread On Me.
Hmm, maybe the print server and the speaker hookup for the AirTunes feature. Or the 'by design' plug and go feature of the Airport Express.
GPL Deconstructed
Why not just use a pair of linksys WRT54G routers using the Sveasoft firmware? At under $60 each, not going to find a reliable solution much cheaper... firmware update allows all sorts of neat features, including VPNs.
Well, I think the poster could just buy an Airport Base Station, what with the multiple Airport Expresses (at $125 each) and the two houses, you know.......
Fellowship 9/11
They're kind of expensive, but a Soekris box could work well for you. They are veyr small, fanless PCs without video cards, which use Compact Flash as their hard drives. Their fastest machine is a 266mhz 586-equivalent, which is fast enough to route 10-20 megabits, depending on how much processing you're doing per packet. They all have multiple Ethernet ports, and the various models come with different mixes of PCMCIA, mini-PCI, and 3.3v full-sized PCI slots.
Note that getting a pseudo-embedded environment like this running properly is not trivial. Since there are no hard or floppy drives, you must either install the CF, netboot the unit, and install an OS image, or else build an OS image from another computer and plug it in. And because CF has limited write lifetime, you have to be very careful to minimize writes.
But, once you have things working, these little boxes make surprisingly effective routers and firewalls. They are totally silent and have no moving parts, which makes them good for hard-to-reach installations like tower tops and such.
The main downside is the cost... with a CF, you can expect to put about $300 into a 4801, which is way more expensive than a Linksys box. But you have full control... except for having no video card, they're pretty much like any other PC you'll ever work with.
I'm sure with all the money you'd save, you'd proabably be able to afford the greatest of wifi technologies.
;)
Please don't confuse the sarcasm of this post with some twistedly severe and unbridled jealously of your multi-home ownership.
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
Plug and go where, exactly? How networking and security needs to get configured is pretty standardized. Either the AirTunes is not standard, or it's not secure, or its users have to put up with the same nuisances as everybody else. There is no magic fourth option. And Apple isn't the first compan to come up with proprietary "solutions" to the problem of network configuration that are supposed to make people's lives easier--as long as you keep buying from them only.
it's here but you're right - it wouldn't really do what you want because it won't do wireless (not easily anyway)
There is a good list of small embedded linux devices at (strangely enough) linux devices which should help you out.
One that isn't on that list but which looks pretty much perfect is the meshcube
but there's also the Wireless Router Application Platform which looks pretty interesting and is actually affordable without any expensive developer kit required
HTH
Several folks using our Sveasoft firmware on a Linksys WRT54G or GS have successfully linked to an Airport using WDS (Wireless Distribution System).
It's a cool and relatively cheap way to extend your wireless network coverage without having to run CAT5 to the second router.
Because both devices are based on the same Broadcom wireless chipset they are interoperable.
Life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
William Shakespeare
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"But I'm still right here, giving blood and keeping faith. And I'm still right here."
And use the USB port for external storage for the stuff you're serving.
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Each unit can actually store five 'profiles' such that when it's moved among several places, it can use the settings for that location. I've a co-worker with one, but I haven't used one.
Setup is as easy as any other Mac networking product (Airport, Airport Extreme, Mac OS X).
GPL Deconstructed