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."

Comments

Re:DLS modem

[jm92956n]

What's a DLS modem anyway?

A DLS modem is a small piece of hardware that is now believed to be extinct by most credible computer scientists. Current available evidence suggests the item was once used as a telecommunication device.

Alternate theories include a submitter without a spell-check device.

Use flash memory

[egarland]

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).