NSLU2-Linux looks like a fun little project. The Linksys NSLU2 is a “Network Storage Link” which means you typically attach it to your network, add an external USB hard drive, and it’s a file/backup server for the computers on your home network.
Pick one up at Amazon for about $80, and while you’re there grab an 80 GB drive for under $100 and you can build a nice little (and quiet) server running Linux, and once you’re running Linux, well, you open up a whole new world of possibilities…
Some links:
- Fun with SLUGs
- Turbo Slug
- Brainwagon Radio: New, but Still Noisy Recording and the NSLU2
- TomsNetworking: Hacking the Linksys NSLU2
- Linux on the NSLU2
- nslu2-general Yahoo! Group
- nslu2-linux Yahoo! Group
- How to Set up an NSLU2 with a Mac
- Use a Linksys NSLU2 on Mac OS X 10.3
Need more info? It’s all over the place, just search for NSLU2 linux.
(I have a whole nother post on the trends I’ve noticed in small, cheap, hackable devices. So stay tuned…)
I can certainly vouch for the NSLU2 being a nifty device. I’ve also got a WRT54G wireless router, and I’ve installed an open source firmware distro on both.
Although I’ve scaled back, for awhile there last year when I first started playing with the NSLU2 I had it working as a mail server, IRC proxy, web proxy, and a slew of other things I used to do with a noisy ancient PC. Funny thing is, the NSLU2 runs faster than that old PC anyway.
Mainly now, I use the NSLU2 for file serving type activities, but that includes things like a DAAP server for itunes, video streamed to my modded Xbox, file server for our laptops.
And I haven’t even started to look at the hardware hacks people have done with both the NSLU2 and WRT54G
Comment by l.m.orchard on Sep 30, 2005 3:27 pm
You can even see simple webpage served on my Slug here. They really are lots of fun.
Comment by Mark VandeWettering on Oct 06, 2005 3:02 pm