Diaspora Hardware
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| Bob_Robertson Jan 16, 2011 9:08 PM EDT |
Now for one of those little wall-wart sized Linux servers, or another relatively slow, small, power sipping USB-enabled box that I wouldn't mind leaving on all the time. Such hardware has been built in the past, I specifically recall a ~1GHz machine that was barely bigger than a standard sized CD drive, with CD, HD, CPU and everything in one handy package. I would want it sized big enough to run a full Linux install, not just an embedded one. Oh, did I forget to mention cheap? If laptops weren't so atrociously hard to keep clean, an old laptop would work just fine. But the older hardware was built for performance in their time, so power sipping and silence were not priorities. Thus my interest in the wall-wart units. Maybe with a USB disk attached. |
| gus3 Jan 16, 2011 10:17 PM EDT |
Don't wall-warts prefer all-at-once image updates from a stronger machine, rather than file-by-file updates customary with spinning platters or flash RAM? I'd sooner use a wall-wart for serving mostly-static content. Dynamic content should be retrieved from some more-powerful system. Disclaimer: I could be wrong. Anyone with actual experience with wall-warts may correct me with impunity. |
| jimbauwens Jan 17, 2011 4:10 AM EDT |
I'm currently looking to get on of those little cool things.
Currently they have 1,2 ghz processors, and are available in different packages.
Many of them have e-sata ports, so its real easy to connect a harddrive to it.
Of course they also have usb ports, where you can hang a whole range of devices on.
It will also boot from an usb drive, so you don't have to flash it over and over if you want to change something.
You can even connect an usb display link screen and use it as a real computer. Its something very cool! |
| Bob_Robertson Jan 17, 2011 8:41 AM EDT |
Gus, yes, I think the wall-wart sized ones do work on an "image" basis. It looks, to a cursory glance last night to LinuxDevices.com that the small systems are in the $300 range. This seems to me to be a bit high, I think $100 would be a better price point for such purposes. As Jim points out, all the tiny systems have USB (and esata) ports, so they can be built without an internal HD at the low end, then the user chooses what size of external drive they want to get. There are lots of physically small USB disk drives out there. And this may be "dynamic" data, but it's not like it's being driven from a massive database and loaded with scripts. |
| jimbauwens Jan 17, 2011 9:12 AM EDT |
@Bob, I think you can find device at 100$ or below. The Seagate FreeAgent DockStar is such a device, you can find it easily for 50$. Its has a 1,2ghz processor, 128mb ram, and 3 usb ports. And it can run any flavor of linux. |
| jdixon Jan 17, 2011 9:22 AM EDT |
> ...the small systems are in the $300 range. This seems to me to be a bit high... Yeah. For that price you can pick up a cheap netbook and still save some money, and it should be powerful enough to meet your needs. Not quite as small as what you wanted, but still small enough to put out of the way somewhere, and capable of being used as a full computer if you need one. However, a quick Google search for Linux SOC reveals the SheevaPlug, which further searches claim to be avialable from: http://www.rainmanweather.com/site/products/SheevaPlug-Dev-K... http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-22-sheevaplug-dev-k... http://www.ionicsplug.com/products.html http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/categories.php All in the $100-$120 price range. There appear to be some competitors there too. |
| Bob_Robertson Jan 17, 2011 5:19 PM EDT |
Looking good! I still cannot afford anything, got my first speeding ticket in 18 years today, and the $175 would have been perfect for finding such a low-watt server. Poop. Next step, one of these hardware makers notices Diaspora, and markets just such a unit (with full USB 5v current support for one of those USB powered HDs) to the Diaspora folks, maybe adverting on their page, etc. Some days I wish I had money or influence. |
| Steven_Rosenber Jan 18, 2011 1:38 PM EDT |
I've heard not-so-good things about those wall-wart servers - mostly that they run hot and fail often. |
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