What to Do With a $99 Wall Wart Linux Server

Posted by kdawson on Friday May 22, 2009 @02:26AM from the best-computer-is-an-invisible-computer dept.

Guanine writes in with a follow-up to our discussion a few months back on the SheevaPlug: 1.2-GHz ARM-compliant processor, 512 MB DDR2, 512 MB flash, USB 2.0, gigabit ethernet, in a package the size of a wall wart, for $99. Saul Hansell's Bits Blog in the NY Times talks about a few applications for such a device, whose price point Hansell claims will drop to $40 before too long. "The first plausible use for the plug computer is to attach one of these gizmos to a USB hard drive. Voila, you've got a network server. Cloud Engines, a startup, has in fact built a $99 plug computer called Pogoplug, that will let you share the files on your hard drive, not only in your home but also anywhere on the Internet. ... [Marvell's CEO said] 'Eventually you won't see the plug. We want this device to be in your TV, your stereo system, your DVD player.'"

2 of 346 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

First Easy-to-Use Dev Kit by digsbo · 2009-05-22 02:35 · Score: 5, Insightful

The difference with this thing is that it's got an easy to use dev kit based on a popular Linux distro, not some goofy one-off that doesn't have the packages you want (i.e. LAMP, media server, SAMBA, CUPS, etc.).
Re:Wall wart, not WalMart by King_TJ · 2009-05-22 02:53 · Score: 5, Insightful

You're not the only one. Scary, isn't it, how a corporation's name can get that ingrained in one's head that anything similar immediately looks like it?
I was thinking, "Well, that'll be kind of cool, if I can grab a $99 server computer at Wal-Mart."