Slashdot Mirror
USB-Powered Linux Server Fits in Your Pocket
McSpew writes "A small company from Utah (no, not that one) has announced the BlackDog USB-powered Linux server. It includes a fingerprint reader, a 400MHz PowerPC, 64MB of DRAM and 256MB or 512MB of flash and it runs Debian. The host PC sees it as a CD-ROM drive."
Is that a BlackDog 400Mhz USB-powered Linux server with 64Mb DRAM and 512Mb of flash in your pocket or are you just really really really happy to see me...
An Indian-American Hindu committed to non-violent thought/speech/action alarmed by the global explosion of radical Islam
I'd buy one in a second if it had an ipod-style 30/40GB hard drive. With 512MB it doesn't offer me enough storage to be useful.
The article mentions that it was developed with the hopes that some can find a use for it. How about a portable asterisk server so when you travel your voicemail and pbx go with you?
I'm surprised they managed to put so much power in such a small package, I wonder how much heat this thing disipates, as my IBook2 dual usb (500 mhz) PPC can get quite hot. Seems like a cool gadget, but I doubt it has a use in the "real" world besides chick-magnet because it is easier to find a better suited machine for the job, unless carrying around your webserver is your new fethish.
Freedom is strength, Ignorance is peace, War is slavery.
It does co-star Darl's old IKON buddy and "Haloween memo" author Mike Anderer. There must be SCO IP in that, burn it. Oh, nevermind their "server" (you call THAT a server) just melted down anyway.
No, since none or nearly none BIOS versions can boot from a USB storage device. It's used to boot a PC in server configuration, using the Debian on the USB device. No OS are needed on the machine which it is plugged in, so there is no OS suposed to be running an able to mount it.
Does it have have a screen?
It's only $199 ($239 for upgraded version) and with a PowerPC chip and 256Mb flash memory (512 with upgrade), if it had a screen, it might be a decent pda.
Otherwise I don't see the value of having a handheld linux server that has to plug into a computer usb slot (over a usb memory chip with linux on it)
Really, how useful is this? If you need something really secure, why not make a Live CD or memory stick linux that require authentication from a the USB dongle in the form of a password or biometrics? Most PCs are much more powerful then this is, and can provide much more function.
Welcome to the Entropy Bar, may I take your order?
"It includes a fingerprint reader, a 400MHz PowerPC, 64MB of DRAM and 256MB or 512MB of flash and it runs Debian..."
Umm.. server.. what the hell can you serve up running with these specs? Seriously, what practical applications could be run with this now-a-days, or more the relavent question, in the coming future?
Do what I say, cuz I said it.
-Meatwad
At first, the fact that this device shows up as a CD-ROM despite having a USB connection seemed odd, but its possible this is some kind of step around the need for an administrator account to install mass storage devices on the windows platform. The suggestion by the company that this could be used as a portable VPN client seems strange, due to the need to carry the hardware around. Modern ultraportable laptops would seem to meet the needs of those travelling with remote access issues more than this device, which obviously requires a host to piggyback on.
Business Voyeur
There's always the Linksys NSLU-2 with ethernet for $80, just add a usb drive.
"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence or insanity but they've always worked for me" - HST
Because the tiny Linux client has biometric authentication and can be plugged into just about any PC, Cunningham believes it will be a useful and secure way for travelers to logon to their corporate VPNs.
I agree - bloody useful! I've been trying to find a device like this for extactly this purpose. I've come across a few like this one but I need to boot Windows, not Linux. Our VPN client and user software only runs on Windows.
Does anyone know of a similar device that can run Windows?
"Who says nothing is impossible? Some people do it every day!" - Alfred E. Neuman
What would be a common use of this? To quickly pull data off a machine that has a corrupted OS?
It's seen as a CD ROM drive? Why? How does that even make sense? It's USB; shouldn't it mount through the OS's USB subsystems as a removable USB storage device?
My guess is that they have the USB info set so it will be recognized as a USB CD-ROM drive and so they can use Auto-start, if it's enabled, to run their software atomatically.
What little I can gleam from the site tells me that it's the front-end for a bunch of webapps or something to allow you to work with a remote desktop on any web connection.
But that's just a guess since the site is now hosed...
"Bah!" - Dogbert
From their website: "To access and use your BlackDog, you merely plug it in to your host computer's USB port* and BlackDog takes over! Your host machine's monitor, keyboard, mouse, and Internet connection are taken over by BlackDog for the duration of your session, when you are done, you simply remove BlackDog and everything on the host is returned to its original state."
It sounds amazing until I wonder if all they are doing is putting an autoplay file on there that launches VNC or something.
Well, it's Linux. So, according to Microsoft, installation of the Linux-related device will cause untold damage and destruction the likes of which has not been seen since the old testament. Plus, you might get a blue screen if you connect it to your Windows box. The blue screen has nothing to do with the device, you are using Windows after all, but Microsoft wanted you to be forewarned
How did I miss the introduction of computer hardware that comes with a built-in version of "Windows" (from later in the article, it seems to define Windows as Linux, Windows 2000 or Windows XP)? I hope the hardware manufacturer has proper licenses for their MS Windows version and has made the source of the Linux version of their BIOS available as required by the GPL.
I must confess, however, to be puzzled as to why Realm did not just make their device work with regular, unmodified Intel/AMD compatible PCs.
"We're so proud of our new server design, we even use one to run the company website!"
"Uh...why's it smoking?"
For your security, this post has been encrypted with ROT-13, twice.
If the device is able to automaticaly detect and mount disks (until it get designed with a harddrive) and work with other USB peripherals
(sound card) then it would be very attractive
as a 'quick office'.
This may even kick-start a 'PC market' where
the PC itself is quite a low powered unit,
and processing power and IO is added via
these types of removable peripherals.
I can see a suite of Low-end PC's which do the barest minimum, but which can be temporarily
'upgraded' to the users needs.
This may even extend to 'handheld displays'
(eg. Nokia Internet Table if it had a USB
host port) also providing the user interface.
Will a PC of the future just be a 'smart USB hub'?
It pulls up a window on the machine you're on, and shows your X session (browser, word processor) and you use the keyboard, mouse, internet connetion, and monitor of the host machine. You work on your document for awhile, unplug.... go to a different machine, and your word processor is right where you left it. You keep working on your document, all powered by the USB port. There's no evidence on the host machine of what you were running or what you did.
Fingerprint readers and other biometric sensors are almost always a misguided idea, often an evil one, and generally not implemented well. You could get much more useful capabilities by including a small keypad on it, which could be used for passwords if you need them (which you sometimes do, depending on your application), and maybe a little 1-or-2-line LCD display for status.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
http://www.projectblackdog.com/site/index.html
I just saw this at LinuxWorld San Francisco. To quote the staff at the BlackDog booth: "the BlackDog unit first presents itself as a CDRom image to the windows host to load the Cygwin X-Server as well as a tunneling network application to make use of the Windows network. It then establishes a network connection which looks like a USB network connection back to the Debian 2.6.10 kernel running on the BlackDog unit. The BlackDog can then present a UI to the X-Server running on the Windows host it is plugged into. It started with a biometric authentication running on the device. It then had other applications present themselves like Quake 2, Descent 2, Firefox, etc. This is when I became really impressed. I want one! I want to use it to take my mobile stuff with me and be able to plug into any computer anywhere even if its compromised and access the data on my other servers on the internet. Very Cool!!
Seriously, it would be nice if there was a way you could hook these up to a USB hub and have each one running a different program. I'm imaging this to be a cheap and easy way to solve "embarassingly parallel" computational problems. Of course, it would be really sweet if these things could then also share their memory so you could use them to solve not-so-embarassingly parallel computational problems.
I realize these things are low end processors, but depending on the problem your solving they might be a good solution - if they could be hooked up in parallel.
Ben Hocking
Need a professional organizer?
Cool I'm getting one right away so I can be the first to port Linux to it! Oh, wait...
Flying is easy, just throw yourself at the ground and miss. -Douglas Adams
Imagine if this thing had 1 gig or more of memory. Plug it up and take it to your local university or gaming cafe and have a portable warez dump, even better you could probably get it to run in stealth mode. Imagine having one on the back of a EDU computer, you could have multiple warez dumps and be able to retrieve the files instead of downloading them :d
Its a neat idea I wish it was a Lan powered divice though and cheaper so i could buy one and stash it inside one of the walls or cielings at college.
http://www.uwarfare.com the Best Seattle Counterstirke Community
Realm Systems has secured an additional $9 million dollars in funding on July 7, 2005.
The paper SEC filing, describing the new funding has been secured by penguinistas, and is available at : Debt and bridge financing
$7.5 MM came from a single unnamed individual.
Frank Artale, an ex-M$FT VP for NT, was appointed chairman of the board of Realm in January, 2005 , when Realm had secured a previous $8 million dollar investment.
Frank Artale and Michael Anderer's stories first become entertwined over Entirenet. Entirenet is a Redmond and Bellevue, Washington based Windows documentation company. Anderer served as nominal CEO of Entirenet in the 2001- 2003 timeframe. Artale, then serving as Veritas VP for Windows had purchased Entirenet for Veritas in March 2001 for an undisclosed ammount.
Anderer, acting as CEO of Entirenet, announced the acquisition of the South Carolina M$FT training firm, HunterStone, in November, 2002.
Artale had left Veritas by March 2003 when his next venture "Consera Software" was announced. Consera had venture funding provided by Ignition Partners, a Seattle venture outfit staffed with a prominent group of ex-M$FT VP's, including Cameron Myhrvold. Myhrvold has especially close ties to Artale.
Anderer left Entirenet about this time.
Frank Artale has continued to work with Ignition Partners. He was appointed Chairman of the Board of Rendition Networks in Sept 2004, as part of a $6 million dollar Ignition investment. Rendition was quickly sold in Dec, 2004.
Other Artale ventures include Therion, sold in May 2005. He has recently added to the Kenai Software board in July 2005 Kenai's executives, e.g. David Mock and Byrren Yates (CFO) overlap Realm's executives and public investors. Artale is considered an expert on the profitable exit sale of start ups. Other Frank Artale endeavors include advisory roles at Zenprise, Centrify, Accel Partners, and formerly a board position at Level 8.
Michael Anderer's continuing relationship with the Seattle-area venture capital organized by highly placed ex-M$FT VP's indicates his reputation has survived the Halloween memo release.
Everyone TOTALLY got it backwards. You are supposed to go to www.sco.com, NOT realm systems!!!
Interestingly enough, there is a SCO connection to this story.
You may remember the famous Halloween 10 memo from Mike Anderer to two SCO execs where Anderer indicates that SCO's big $50M dollar investment came via backchannels thanks to Microsoft and that SCO should go to MS for more money?
Well, it seems that the very same Mike Anderer is is CTO of Realm Systems makers of this device.
Why would anyone really need a pocket-sized server in their pocket anyways? People are just throwing new, pointless, mini-sized devices out everyday these days....
...) / Mac / whatever for a screen, keyboard, and network connection.
The idea is that you carry your computer around with you, session and all. You can use any PC (with Windows, Linux, BSD,
Be in the middle of a session at work. Unplug it, go home, plug it in. You're right back in your session. Unplug, go to class, plug in, ditto. Unplug, go to library, plug in. Unplug, go to iternet cafe, plug in. Unplug, go to China, plug in...
If you were editing a document it's ready for the next keystroke. If you were reading mail you're still in the mail reader, still looking at the same letter at the same point in the scroll buffer. If you were browsing the web you are still on the same page with the same brower history. And so on. Your files came with you. Your state came with you. Your whole computer came with you - or at least the parts of it that are important for preserving your state. Screen, keyboard, mouse, video card, internet connection - use whatever is handy. They're heavy. They'll work just fine for this service for several generations after the machine they are attached to went obsolete. Why buy new ones? Why tie yourself to a particular one at a particular site?
Pull it out, it senses the loss of connection and saves anything still in RAM to a non-volatile memory (flash or disk if they can get it) before it runs out of the power in the onboard capacitor. Plug it in and it boots up, recovers state, and sweet-talks the new machine into giving it a full-screen window and the use of keyboard, mouse, and comm stack.
The designers brought this out for licensing to manufacturers (using a slightly-hacked BSD onboard) over a year ago. I saw their booth at Supercom in Las Vegas back then. (Target was to make the small config for under $100 in bulk for schoolkids, maybe $200 in a big one with postage-stamp hard drive for the rest of us.) It's nice to see a version finally on the market - and with Linux yet.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Despite the summary claiming the device appears as a CD-ROM, it also appears to the host as a network device (masquerading as a ethernet-over-USB dongle). Sounds to me like it might be downright handy for your application.
I don't think I'd give any money to these folks. http://www.groklaw.net/comment.php?mode=display&si d=20050808123259231&title=Anderer's+Realm+raises+a +fresh+%249+million&type=article&order=&hideanonym ous=0&pid=347656#c347665
http://www.groklaw.net/search.php?query=Mike+Ander er&keyType=phrase&datestart=&dateend=&topic=0&type =all&author=0&mode=search
Mod up parent please.
Or i'll do one better, repeat the whole post here:
Cut from an AC post:
Michael E. Anderer, of the SCOX "Halloween" memo fame is the CTO of Realm Systems. His old homepage "S2 consulting" hosted the developer forum for Realm. A number of other M$FT links raise the disturbing question if this product is real or elaborate "opposition" research on the part of Redmond.
Realm Systems has secured an additional $9 million dollars in funding on July 7, 2005.
The paper SEC filing, describing the new funding has been secured by penguinistas, and is available at : Debt and bridge financing
$7.5 MM came from a single unnamed individual.
Frank Artale, an ex-M$FT VP for NT, was appointed chairman of the board of Realm in January, 2005 , when Realm had secured a previous $8 million dollar investment.
Frank Artale and Michael Anderer's stories first become entertwined over Entirenet. Entirenet is a Redmond and Bellevue, Washington based Windows documentation company. Anderer served as nominal CEO of Entirenet in the 2001- 2003 timeframe. Artale, then serving as Veritas VP for Windows had purchased Entirenet for Veritas in March 2001 for an undisclosed ammount.
Anderer, acting as CEO of Entirenet, announced the acquisition of the South Carolina M$FT training firm, HunterStone, in November, 2002.
Artale had left Veritas by March 2003 when his next venture "Consera Software" was announced. Consera had venture funding provided by Ignition Partners, a Seattle venture outfit staffed with a prominent group of ex-M$FT VP's, including Cameron Myhrvold. Myhrvold has especially close ties to Artale.
Anderer left Entirenet about this time.
Frank Artale has continued to work with Ignition Partners. He was appointed Chairman of the Board of Rendition Networks in Sept 2004, as part of a $6 million dollar Ignition investment. Rendition was quickly sold in Dec, 2004.
Other Artale ventures include Therion, sold in May 2005. He has recently added to the Kenai Software board in July 2005 Kenai's executives, e.g. David Mock and Byrren Yates (CFO) overlap Realm's executives and public investors. Artale is considered an expert on the profitable exit sale of start ups. Other Frank Artale endeavors include advisory roles at Zenprise, Centrify, Accel Partners, and formerly a board position at Level 8.
Michael Anderer's continuing relationship with the Seattle-area venture capital organized by highly placed ex-M$FT VP's indicates his reputation has survived the Halloween memo release.
-- Another senseless waste of fine bytes.
They never mean it. It's equivalent to saying "I support the war, but don't want to fight in it." In case you think I'm lying, test out their "commitment" by engaging in a conversation about, for example, the importance of data typing in a weak static typed environment. Explain how it allows the compiler to catch errors! Then watch as she walks away... ... And don't ask how I know I'm right.