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What to Do With a $99 Wall Wart Linux Server
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.'"
I don't really see the revolution here - it's a small headless server. A bit like an NSLU2 only a lot faster. They're pretty cool.
They also seem to suffer from dodgy NAND memory, which is a shame, and booting from SDHC is not yet very well supported. That said, they come with Ubuntu server pre-installed and it was trivial to turn it into a media server.
Have it run either skype or magicjack. I have heard that the second is planning to support Linux "soon". I would definitely be more interested in cheap phone service at home if it didn't require me to have a desktop computer on whenever I wanted to make a call.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Can they do a wireless version though? I have relatively few cables in my house and I'd like it to stay that way. I assume there are more people like me in the world considering how many WAPs there are in my area. It's a fantastic idea and I'm sure it's a fantastic device. I just wouldn't have one without wireless access.
I was thinking of using it for monitoring and control in a smart house type environment. I there are several company making USB sensor packages and relay controls. I found some with Linux support at phidgets.com. You could have a full set of sensor in key room and relays to control lighting or fans.
Let some one use your computer and they will use it for the day. Give or sell some one a computer and you will be tech s
Hook up an external hard-drive or NAS and one of those USB displays http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9676037801.html to create something like this: http://technewsline.net/displaylink-for-linux-turns-a-humble-wireless-router-into-a-beautiful-pc/. I'd build myself a nice BitTorrent client for which I don't have to leave my computer on all the time. Other than that I'd use those as fileservers and for routing/processing duties. Any bets on when the first Beowulf wall cluster will emerge?
Our current home network setup has my wife and I primarily using laptops. Our printer, however, is shared out by a desktop computer upstairs. The desktop computer also acts as a file server. (For example, keeping years' worth of photos that we wouldn't keep on the individual laptops.) While the monitor is shut off unless the desktop computer is actively being used (rarely), we would definitely save power by turning the desktop computer off. This would mean, however, that we would need to go upstairs and turn it on whenever we wanted to print or retrieve a file.
I wonder how much energy these wall wart servers draw. If it's less than a standard desktop PC (which I build back in 2002), then it might be worth it to buy one, hook up a large USB HDD and the printer and share those out. Anyone know if this is possible (laptop & desktop computers currently run Windows XP)? If it is possible, any ideas how much power (if any) I would save?
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
you can get USB touch screens for (not cheap), but If you could tie a 7" USB touch screen to this device, you'd be able to create something that you can plug into almost any room and use for browsing, chat (rudimentary due to touch screen), and other very basic tasks.
Is it sad that I am more likely to recognize you and your posts by your sig than your name or UID?
I'm planning to try making one of these into a scanner server. It could potentially turn any plain old USB scanner into a network-attached scanner, using the vast array of SANE drivers available.
Initially it should be very easy just to run an instance of saned, which lets SANE frontends talk to the backend over a TCP socket. A more ambitious project would be to combine the SheevaPlug with a web-based SANE frontend... the only one I could find was phpSANE but it seems to be a dead project...
Install NFS/Samba or whatever, mount a network drive from a NAS to it and then install Logitech's SqueezeCentre software so that the Logitech Duet can play tracks from your NAS rather than a PC.
I've wanted an ultra-low power solution for these two reasons (but mostly the first):
1. Overnight downloads ( usually bittorrent ). There's no reason to leave my entire PC turned on, when all I really need is an internet connection and storage. Combine this with a high capacity SD card and power savings should be huge.
2. VPN / remote desktop. While at work, I often find it useful to connect to my home machine for various reasons. It could be for a secure IM connection, or it could be just to have access to a different IP address for testing.
VPN'd to all your friends and family.
Cruciall feature being trivial vpn config support.
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I agree that this device, at present, is a trifle too limited. USB expansion works; but it gets rather clunky if you want more than a few devices. On the plus side, the platform on which it is based offers a variety of more serious expansion options(2x SATA, 2xGbE, 1xUSB, 1xPCIe, and a bunch of serial and similar). It would be quite easy and, I suspect, quite likely for either Marvell or third parties to build slightly more expensive and substantially more functional versions of the device.
Problem is that most of these functions would be happy without their own local CPU, but if the CPUs do drop below the $50 price point, it could be feasible to just have local CPUs anyway for data integrity, local signal processing, autonomous operation in the event of network failure, etc.
Did it strike anyone else as lame that the MIT dude said he'd have it run a spam filter?
Rather than thinking it as WalMart market dominance that forces us to read "Wall Wart" as "Wall Mart"... I prefer to consider myself and all the others who mis-read the headline as being "up-down dyslexic".
Seriously thought... 2 thoughts...
a) a "fax" receiver. although last I checked I didn't think there was a phone line port for this. I do know that I really like my older generation Mac running OSX sitting on my phoneline getting all my faxes. Would love to have a smaller machine for this.
b) the question is wrong... "what would you do with 'one' wall-wart" may be missing the point... may not be much you can do with one, but with lots???
I'm doing just that with a Buffalo Linkstation Live. It's sold as a network drive, but it is a complete ARM server running Linux, at least after you install a proper distro. At 400 MHz and 128 MB, it's not as powerful as this wall wart, but on the other hand it has a proper SATA drive.
http://www.nas-central.org/index.php/Main_Page
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
There are a slew of little device servers that tend to be rather pricey that this device could replace. I think I paid $100 for a wireless printserver that only supports a single printer. I could run all 3 of mine off this gadget. And I could run my all in one off it, it wasn't supported by the printserver.
"The Adobe Updater must update itself before it can check for updates. Would you like to update the Adobe Updater now?"
quite likely for either Marvell or third parties to build slightly more expensive and substantially more functional versions of the device.
Bingo. This product is simply their entry into the market. It IS quite likely that it will eventually be $40, but there will still be a $99 ******Plug, uncoincidentally containing a couple of the upgraded features dev's will want to utilize.
True. Also, I'm sure there was a lot of debate for them to decide whether to add that stuff and push the price over $100. I would expect, if they get enough interest, they will offer such an item next year (1GB RAM, 2-3 USB, maybe wifi), and could do it for the same price.