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$100 Linux Wall-Wart Now Available
nerdyH sends us to LinuxDevices for a description of a tiny Linux device called the Marvell SheevaPlug. "A $100 Linux wall wart could do to servers what netbooks did to notebooks. With the Marvell SheevaPlug, you get a completely open (hardware and software) Linux server resembling a typical wall-wart power adapter, but running Linux on a 1.2GHz CPU, with 512MB of RAM, and 512MB of Flash. I/O includes USB 2.0, gigabit Ethernet, while expansion is provided via an SDIO slot. The power draw is a nightlight-like 5 Watts. Marvell says it plans to give Linux developers everything they need to deliver 'disruptive' services on the device." The article links four products built on the SheevaPlug, none of them shipping quite yet. The development kit is available from Marvell.
$100 Linux Wall-Mart now available? That would be cool.
Rhymes that keep their secrets will unfold behind the clouds.There upon the rainbow is the answer to a neverending story
Is it possible to also have the ethernet for this device go over the power lines like so many home networking devices? Then you could literally plug it and and have it running.
This would be cool for a pocket-sized router, firewall, packet sniffer, etc.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
From the linked page: "This device connects to the network using GbE"
Does it strike anybody else as strange that this device wouldn't have power line networking built in?
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
All you need to do is wrangle yourself an "interview" with a company, plug one of these unobtrusive babies into a wall outlet, attach a short patch cord to the nearest RJ45 data jack and you're off to the highest (competitor) bidder!
Sounds like a nice box to use as a NAS, just hook up a fast USB 2.0 drive and you're set. With a 1.2ghz CPU and all that RAM it should fly. Meh, my 2TB professional Raid 5 NAS only has a 400mhz CPU and IIRC 32mb of RAM.
... because wall warts with a tail plugged into the nearest network port wouldn't attract any kind of attention.
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
Perhaps one more slot to insert an 2.5" hard drive would make that a perfect home server.
I don't need fast processor, but I need large hard disk space to share media files between my computers.
It looks pretty awesome.
Maybe I can use one with an USB cam to implement some cheap security cameras.
I can put a daemon on there to only start emailing images on movement. :)
Bseacue, evoneyre kwons taht you olny need to hvae the fisrt and lsat leettr rghit to be readlbae. I secsupt you see Wal-Mrat in prnit mroe oeftn tahn Wlal-Wrat.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
Actually, he's got a point. If you can infiltrate the janitorial staff and can plug a two-ethernet-port version of this in between an important computer and a switch, you can sniff/analyze/record all unencrypted traffic until you run out of RAM.
Just be sure to remove it the next day before anyone notices.
Then again, an audio-recording device that recorded keystrokes or a keystroke-interceptor on the USB or PS2 ports is probably smaller.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Why do I keep reading that as Wall-Mart?
Because they got to you.
That's funny; I see Wall-fnordWart.
I've run into this with a number of shopping carts, including some big name sites. I usually have to switch to a different browser - a lot of carts don't work with Safari or Chrome, and some don't even work with FireFox.
No sig? Sigh...
"Or at least a small chunk of Nantucket, RI"
That would be no small feat, seeing as Nantucket isn't in Rhode Island.
Try not to take me more seriously than I take myself.
It is just the right size and would be disruptive.
It might be heresy, but I'm seriously considering using this instead of my Linux box at home... IF it can run rtorrent and hellanzb and handle the load of streaming to my Windows PC in the living room.
Software and CPU power are the only problems I foresee. (And CPU power is probably enough.)
"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; But if you really make them think, they'll hate you." - DM
... because wall warts with a tail plugged into the nearest network port wouldn't attract any kind of attention.
Was that intended to be sarcastic?
How much time do YOU spend analyzing at the rat's nest of cabling located under your desk, where the Linksys wireless router and the three daisy-chained power strips live? Less than an hour per year, if you're anything like me.
I would dare say that an espionage device that disguised itself as a wall wart would be more likely to be discovered based on network analysis ("hold up, what's this device with the unfamiliar MAC off of network port 73?") than based on a visual inspection of the site.
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/02/100_linux_wallwart_launches.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
http://dailydiy.com/2009/02/24/100-linux-wall-wart-launches/
you can sniff/analyze/record all unencrypted traffic until you run out of RAM.
And if you can get away with opening an encrypted network connection to some drop box, you don't have to worry about RAM.
Just be sure to remove it the next day before anyone notices.
I suspect that in most places it could be there for months -- maybe years -- before anyone noticed. Make sure the drop isn't traceable to you and just collect the take as long as it goes unnoticed.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
That's just weird.
It clearly reads "fnord-fnord-wall-fnord-mart-fnord."
Requiem for the American Dream
Nice, but I don't think this is as big a deal as all that. More along the lines of price pressure than anything else. I may buy one, because it is so cheap. Even if I don't, I'm glad everyone else will have to lower their prices now. I've always felt they put on too big a price premium for the small size, considering the generally low performance of the class as a whole.
There are many similar devices already out there. There's the much beloved Linksys WRT54GL. I have a Soekris. Not the most friendly plug and play device ever. I find it easier to update the CF drive by removing it and mounting it on a desktop system and editing files that way, rather than connecting via a serial port terminal. Gumstix is another. Lots of super micro mini ATX form bricks (mini-itx) out there too. Expensive though.
Intellectual Property is a monopolistic, selfish, and defective concept. It is "tyranny over the mind of man"
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
It will be. It. Will. Be.
...following the principles of Heisenburger's Uncertain Cat...
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but it doesn't sound like you are a network admin (disclaimer: IANANA). Do you know the "familiar" MACs on your network(s)? And what does it mean for a device to be on a network port 73? Unless you mean a physical port on a router or switch somewhere, that doesn't make sense.
Not that I disagree with your point, which is that the device would not likely be discovered visually, given it was placed well to begin with.
http://www.networkmirror.com/MuDp_g5XY_ZJoCQZ/linuxdevices.com/news/NS9634061300.html
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
How is it even possible to screw something so simple like a shopping cart? Do they add items through rpc over carrier pigeons or what?
Extreme Programming - Redundant Array of Inexpensive Developers
Yes, because I participate. A whole lot of slashdot's readers are in the income bracket that has $100 as a toy price cut off. Over $100 and something may actually have to be sacrificed. At or under $100, the budget can absorb. Eight years ago I wanted to get away from my dependency on a single computer in the house. I got tired of being totally cut off and having to drag an old system out of the closet when my desktop suffered some sort of failure. So I bought three used PIIs. For $100 each. Two of the three have suffered hard drive failures in the intervening years, but aside from that, they've kept right on working. One of them is the NAT/firewall machine for the whole house.
Looks like I finally have a candidate for a replacement. With gigabit ethernet. And its CPU is 200 MHz faster. Gotta love progress.
Yesterday I bought two used APC 1000XL UPSs. For $100 each. The one I had already could hold up my desktop with a 21" CRT for 27 minutes. One of those 5 watt warts should be able to run on battery for, what, a month? GOTTA love progress.
Does anyone know what happened to the server? It just quit responding, and when I went to check it, all I found was a cell-phone charger.
Who would win this election: Andrew Weiner vs Andrew Weiner's weiner.
I'm more interested in a version that supports PoE.
That would be cool! Then you could add an inverter and power the outlet strip. ;-)
You, sir, are the reason they put warning labels on toothpicks. :)
Not torrents per se, but a dinky 100 computer sitting somewhere. Doing something...naughty.
If you get caught you're out 100 bucks. So what? Cheaper than an RIAA settlement letter, for instance.
Not that I'd ever advocate such behavior. Oh heavens no.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
It really depends on Murphy's law. If you were planting the device, you would be caught red handed and receive fines and a jail term.
If the device was planted by someone you were interviewing in your office, it would escape detection for 5 years. Your company's trade secrets (in a convenient folder labeled "top_secret_company_docs") would be stolen by a larger competitor and used to drive your company out of business. Additionally, you would be fired 5 years later as a port audit discovered the device in your office.
If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
I love how easy everything sounds when you precede it with "just".
You and I both know there is no such thing as a fast USB 2.0 drive, DESPITE THE SPECS.
music lover since 1969
LinuxDevices constantly showcases new and fascinating Linux-based hardware like this. Everything from phones to tablets to embedded systems. The problem is that few of these ever seem to make it to market and the ones that do are usually only available to companies who can buy them by the thousands. The remainder that are within the reach of the average hobbyist don't stack up price-wise to more pedestrian solutions that can do the job for cheaper (e.g., a netbook, WRT54GL, or NSLU2).
the device would not likely be discovered visually, given it was placed well to begin with.
But if you're going to go to the trouble of carefully hiding an electronic device somewhere in an office, would you really choose this wall wart or something else?
If libertarians are so opposed to effective government, why don't they all move to Somalia?
It's interesting to compare this to the Linksys NSLU2, which I'm using as a home music server.
So I guess with the Marvell box you get somewhat higher specs, but I'm not sure you really need the higher specs. For most applications, you're going to attach a keychain usb drive to these things, and then the internal flash becomes irrelevant. 32 MB of memory may not sound like much these days, but it's actually plenty for a file server, music server, home automation system, etc. The main advantage I could see to the Marvell is that it sounds a little more open. Linksys ships the NSLU2 in a configuration where it's not really a general-purpose linux box, and you have to go through some hassles to get a real linux on it where you can install packages, etc. Linksys does, however, officially bless the use of third-party linix distros on the NSLU2.
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I'd use it for a NAS, print server, itunes server. I could envision hooking it up to a HDHomeRun and using it as my MythTV backend. Lots of uses for this kind of thing.
I don't have a use for a webserver. But in your case why can't you prerender your images in the scales you need, and just have this device serve whichever image needed? You could save some considerable $ in power.
I have electricity within 3 feet of all my ethernet jacks. But the thought of using it as basically a network enabled X11 outlet switch if it only could switch power, or with external USB gear, seems like using a hammer to swat a fly.
I think people are missing the point of this.
If you set this up as a power-over-ethernet device, you could have it powered from a PoE capable switch with only one wire going into it, no need to plug it into the wall.
Why not just use something that's already available, like a RouterStation or Microtik RB433? The RouterStation's cheaper than Marvell's wart, too.
If the target office has a networked telephone system connected between the computer and the network, you might be able to monitor that at the same time. Many desks sit undisturbed for years, and even if someone sees the device they might not remove it.
Label it "LAN Surge Protector" or similar.
"This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
I suspect that in most places it could be there for months -- maybe years -- before anyone noticed. Make sure the drop isn't traceable to you and just collect the take as long as it goes unnoticed.
You forgot some steps...
1. Place device
2. Collect the take 'as long as it goes unnoticed'
3. ???
4. Do not pass 'go'.
5. Do not collect $200.
First thing you know, someone will hack this thing and install vista on it.