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.

Comments

Power consumption?

[slapyslapslap]

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.

Re:Why not just use a computer?

[TommydCat]

In this page-and-a-half-spread-out-to-69-pages review, I didn't actually see the price listed, though it was listed as one of the cons. What is the price of this device?

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...

Re:Why not just use a computer?

[ForestGrump]

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.

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This message uploaded to you by ASUS WL-700gE router using Interweb interface 3.02

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Brilliant for retail

[Nefarious Wheel]

Just saw this last week. In retail grocery we pump a lot of data back and forth between head office, store back office, and the lanes. Anything -- and I mean anything that keeps us from having to lay another cable or put another piece of bulky hardware under the sales counter is a bonus. I could see these things used in the C racks at the front to stage price changes, etc. and being retail the fact that they are utterly dirt cheap will have a broad appeal.

This one's a winner, I think.

Re:Smoothwall anyone?

[NetRAVEN5000]

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. . .

Thin Client

[DeathElk]

Why does a thin client need 160GB?

This device needs a killer app: Skype

[Dr. Spork]

Seriously, I'm sure the processor in that router is strong enough to handle Skype. Just put a radio transmitter on it and bundle two wireless handsets , and you get what lots of people wish for: Skype without a running computer! (Maybe it should also plug into a regular phone socket so you can use your old phones.)

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.

Missing something

[kahrytan]

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.

Re:Natural extension

[evilviper]

Wow, now let's put into it _all_ functionality we expect from a computer! ;-)

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.

Re:news?

[aussie_a]

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.

Use Kurobox

[kylehase]

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.

Not so happy

[citro]

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.