Slashdot Mirror
Download Torrents With Your PC Turned Off
Mr.Tweak writes to tell us that they have a review posted of a new wireless router from ASUS. What sets this router apart from others is that in addition to being a wireless router/gateway is that it also functions as a thin client system with a pre-installed 160 GB IDE drive (no SATA support sorry) and three USB 2.0 ports for peripherals. If you happen to use one of those USB ports for another drive the router will also support RAID 0 and 1, quite a bit more than the average router.
I have to assume that power consumption is going to go up to power this thing. If I was turning off my PC to save power, I don't think I'd want this thing.
I personally am not stirred by this as I have a set of linux servers set up to do the same functionality with much more speed and efficiency, but I can see this as a neat black-box turn-key solution for someone who can't deal with that level of complexity but can deal with a straight-forward UI.
What I'd like to see in a review like this is what throughput can the SAMBA server give among multiple clients, how many connections the bit-torrent client can handle before melting, what types of printers it can serve (Jetdirect, USB, real Centronics, etc)... you know, useful information I can use to make an informed decision.
Oh well...
This comment does not necessarily represent the views and opinions of the author.
Because I'm afraid of having my data compromised.
I use the router to interface with the interweb for what I need.
Firstly, I script what I want the router to send/get. then I disconnect my computer, connect the wAN side of the router to the interweb. When the script is done, I disconnect the WAN side of the router, connect my computer to the router and copy off the router HDD. Sure it's a pain in the butt, but what am I to do? live without the interweb?
Grump.
-------
This message uploaded to you by ASUS WL-700gE router using Interweb interface 3.02
-----
Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
This one's a winner, I think.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
How do you install any of those on a ROUTER?
The beauty of this ROUTER is that you don't need to leave a PC on for your downloads anymore. Or, at least you can leave your PC's cycles to do something else, be it gaming, Folding@Home, or whatever else.
Not only that, but now you don't need to run your fileserver AND your Web server, since it's got a built-in fileserver and Web server. It also has a print server if you've got PCs dedicated for that.
Your router needs to be on anyways, so. . .
www.linuxpenguin.net
Why does a thin client need 160GB?
Here's why it makes sense to do this on a router:
For one thing, everyone's router is always on, so there is nothing extra in the house sucking power. Maybe more relevant: The router, when Skype is being used, can be set to automatically throttle back the up/down bandwith that it's passing to connected computers (or using for its own bittorrent). This helps prevent degradation of Skype quality. And third, this would be totally simple - just plug in the router, tell it your Skype login/pass, and all your contacts are imported (Skype itself stores those things).
The effect with SkypeIn would essentially be: Vonage without the fees (or for $30/year for SkypeIn)... no, better, because Vonage sounds like crap when I'm using unthrotteled bittorrent. This would justify the price of the hardware, and if the manufacturer could keep the costs low, it would also be very good for Skype/eBay and its userbase. Maybe Ebay could subsidize the costs a bit, and offer free SkypeIn for a year, since anyone who buys this will also probably buy SkypeOut minutes eventually.
...my NSLU2.
Doesn't it make you feel good to know that our freedoms are protected by politicans, lawyers and journalists.
I personally am not stirred by this as I have a set of linux servers set up to do the same functionality with much more speed and efficiency, but I can see this as a neat black-box turn-key solution for someone who can't deal with that level of complexity but can deal with a straight-forward UI.
Well I'm kind of jazzed about the idea, even if not the implementation. The reason is this: I don't have the money or space for a set of Linux servers. I've been expecting for some time that someone would start making "home servers", and I think there's potential in the idea. For my home use, I've been looking for a set of devices provide these features:
Now, I know, i could get a wireless router and an ultra small form-factor computer, install linux, and set it all up. Honestly, that's what I'd like to do anyway. At the same time, it seems like such a waste-- to buy a computer with an audio card I'll never use, and more processing power than I need for any of these tasks. Plus, the video subsystems, keyboard, mouse, CDROM drive, etc. will only get used for the initial install, and I might have to buy or borrow a monitor, because I don't know how to do a completely headless linux install and I don't own a monitor.
Ok, so that's a whole lot of information that's particular to me, and I know there are plenty of ways to get what I need, but not an optimal way, without a lot of extra (wasted) money and parts. Or at least none that I know of (feel free to make suggestions). And I kind of doubt I'm alone in this.
You are definitely not alone. 2 years ago, I was struggling with the exact same dilemma: How to set up a proper home network that did basically what you listed in your bullets?!
I struggled with all kinds of black boxes and turnkey solutions for years, only to find that they didn't play together too well and that I felt somehow limited in what I could achieve this way.
So I decided to replace all of these routers, NASes, etc. with a set of Linux servers which I was going to install myself. Buying regular PCs for this was (like you pointed out in your post) out of the question. Too much heat and wasted electricity. Too much noise. Too many wasted parts.
In my quest for low-power servers, I became familiar with the Via Epia set of motherboards and the Mini-ITX form factor. What a god send! I ordered some parts from www.mini-itx.com (3 Travla C146 rackmount cases with Via Epia PD6000E, amongst others) and I was set.
Those things consume only a fraction of the power a regular PC would take, plus they're completely headless. No CDROM, only harddisks in a software-RAID1. No screen, keyboard or mouse during normal operation, either. I installed Debian Sarge on them using a bootable USB stick I made, the rest was done over the LAN.
To sum it up, it can be done, but it's a matter of picking the right parts.
This type of router would be much more functional if it had a proxy server capabilities with builtin virus scanner.
Though, Asus is starting something Linksys, Dlink and Netgear will probably jump on.
\
If they can do it in a tiny package, very inexpensively, fanless, and all with a fraction the power of a notebook computer, I say more power to them.
Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
a) The RIAA doesn't pass laws. They may buy lawmakers, but that's not the same thing.
Difference is neglible (and not worth mentioning) when discussing something on the internet on a forum that commonly discusses the buying of lawmakers.
c) Everything after the word "America" in your sentence makes absolutely no sense and is just ranting against Bush for some reason.
You might not be aware but here in Australia we recently got a whole bunch of American laws passed because Bush wanted us to have them. Bush is able to affect what laws are passed in Australia, despite the fact that Australia is a democracy and not a single Australian voted for him. So yeah, it's definitely likely that the RIAA buy a law banning bittorrents in America, Bush doesn't veto it but instead coerces other democracies (such as Australia) into passing similar laws.
I use the Kurobox for this. The kurobox is basically a modified version of the Buffalo link station but it is designed to be reloaded with a custom linux. Some pre-configured images are available and include tons of apps for torrent, dyndns, LAMP, e-donkey, samba and all kinds of other stuff. It has a USB port which you could use for another hard drive or USB NIC to turn it into a firewall or router although I'm sure most slashdot readers already have pretty good routers. I think linksys made a hackable NAS too but I haven't tried that one.
You want fun, go home and buy a monkey!
I bought Asus WL500G Premium (wl500gp), a lighter version of the router from TFA. The hype is similar - Download with the PC turned off. The main difference is that wl500gp does not have a storage unit included and the user must attach one if wants to enjoy computerless leeching.
Bottomline:
- nice router - I live in an apartment, and I have all around coverage: 18MBps WLAN connection through a couple of walls, 1 - 1 1/2 feet thick each;
- buggy firmware - (e.g. the only way to set the date and time on router is to use the included and non-functional NTP client, no way to set or check the number of simultaneous NAT connections, no way to modify radio power)
- the Download Master does not work (the torrents fail to start)
- lame online support
I hope that the alternative firmware OSS projects (such as http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php or http://www.wl500g.info/ or http://www.openwrt.org/ will provide a stable alternative.
I had a long conversation with a realtor in Jamaica by telephone once while looking for a country where I could retire and grow marijuana in my front yard if I wanted (there aren't any such countries, BTW). Among other things the realtor told me, is that Jamaica would have legalized ganja long ago if it weren't for the American "aid" (ie; tax dollars) Jamaica receives from the USA. One of the strings attached to that "aid" money to Jamaica and all the other countries the USA gives money to, is that they enforce US style drug laws. Why should the USA care what people in Jamaica, Australia, or anywhere else do?
So move along here - nothing new to see, really...
-b.
This is kind old ( over a week now ) and the router is really not that great. The BT client is very buggy and have extremely limited capabilities compared to clients like Azureus. It is a great concept though even if it's a very pricy router. Embeded applications are slowly gaining momentum and this makes me a happy camper.
Personally, I'm more interested by the fact that small power devices can do more and more when it comes to Internet connectivity. Will they eventually delegate all such functionality to separate devices?
i ate crayons when i was a kid and now i have two braincells and the blue ones taste nicer
I hope you don't really believe this... the US virtually controls the WTO. If what you said was true, then the US would have stopped messing around with Canadian softwood lumber years ago. Governments don't import/export... PEOPLE import/export. Governments represent the people (or corporations). If the US slapped unreasonable tarrifs on Australian things, Australian businesses would die off, cutting off Australian government revenue. As a result, the Australian government would complain to the WTO... and the WTO would tell the US it was being naughty and to do something about it. The US would then argue that it was Australia that was causing the problem by not protecting US goods, leaving the US to defend these goods itself. The WTO would then tut-tut both sides, and tell them to resolve their differences.
Meanwhile, the Australian businesses would die out, the government would lose funding, and the US would still make a profit off of their trading practices.