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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
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?
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?
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.
Agreed. Either it needs BPL or it needs Wi-Fi. Most people don't put an ethernet jack wherever they have a power connection, making this somewhat less than ideal for home automation purposes. I'd also like to see it have a relay to switch on and off a power outlet, but maybe that's just me.
Either way, it's a cool little piece of hardware. I'm just not quite sure what I could use it for. It's too underpowered for video encoding/decoding, has no power switching capabilities needed for it to control lights, doesn't have the CPU power to replace my web server (a C2D takes several seconds to render an image with dcraw; this would take several minutes), etc. Maybe coupled with some outboard piece of USB gear, it might serve some obscure purpose like controlling a motor to open and close window shades/awnings for solar heating purposes, but it would still have to be enclosed in some sort of box to safely mount it outdoors....
I'll keep thinking. :-)
Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.
Why do I keep reading that as Wall-Mart?
Because they got to you.
The obvious real solution is Power over Ethernet.
1 PoE capable switch.
+ 8 Wallwart Linux Devices
= 1 (not quite enterprise level) Server Farm in a shoe-box
"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.
Are you kidding? Not enough CPU power? 1.2 GHz is enough for me to do raytracing!
Anyway, if you are going to do video encoding and translate your camera's pics from raw, it is not as if you need to sit and watch it. Just let the device run and do the work. 5 Watts isn't that much.
Kids these days.
... 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.
I'm glad it doesn't have built in wifi. I'll simply attach an Atheros USB dongle with SMA connector and high gain antenna. Instant very high powered access point/storage system.
Charles Wyble System Engineer
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/
It will be. It. Will. Be.
...following the principles of Heisenburger's Uncertain Cat...
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.
By the look of it, this is more of a polished dev kit than a shelf-ready product. Marvell, typically, sells silicon, not widgets, so that would be standard for them. Also, TFA mentions schematics being available under some sort of free licence, and a bunch of companies already building devices based on this thing.
I suspect that products derived from this model will tend to have more in the way of peripherals; but as a dev kit that requires no special handling or equipment, and is priced within the range of virtually any student, linux hacker, or general tinkerer, this looks like a fun bit of kit. I know I'm tempted.
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.
They were running the webserver on it so........it popped out of the wall.
It's either on the beat or off the beat, it's that easy.
I moderate therefore I rule!
--
"I'm just not quite sure what I could use it for. It's too underpowered for video encoding/decoding,"
It could probably do a bit of that, transcoding and serving anyway.
This sounds like an absolutely perfect replacement for my Linksys NSLU2. It's only 266MHz and has 32MB of RAM. At the moment I have one doing mail/web server duty and one running torrentflux-b4rt and mediatomb, streaming music and video to my PS3 and to my machine at work.
That second one is straining to keep up, this little box sounds like it fits the bill perfectly. Similarly powered NAS boxes cost multiple hundreds.