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…)
2 replies on “NSLU2 (Server?)”
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
You can even see simple webpage served on my Slug here. They really are lots of fun.