What NAS/Router/ARM Box to Buy?... Looking for hardware info

[fabtar]

Hi,
I'm looking toward a low energy consumption box based on ARM or similar (in order to install Linux).

I've heard there are NSLU and other NAS devices which are quite flexible and permits installation of Debian's Linux.

In order to use a p2p application I fear I need minimal 128MBytes of ram, and I have verified that those boxes have less memory than needed(32MB and 64MB).

Have anyone tested or buyed or found out a cheap&similar NAS or ARM-Box(Minimal system) with more memory?I think I need IDE interface, INtegrated Ethernet Card, and so on.. a minimal system.

Thanks for all suggestions(please include prices).
Cheers

[spiralvoice]

Better to ask your question on this forum:
http://forum.linkstationwiki.net/
_________________
Link overview and precompiled cores here: http://mldonkey.sourceforge.net/DownloadLinks

[fabtar]

Thanks for the tip

[Kasei99]

Be careful, if you choose an arm9 based device you will miss SUI. If i was you i´d go for a PPC based device (which has an real fpu although its slighty slower overall).

I'm running mldonkey on a Linkstation Pro (with an arm9 processor) and its running pretty well.

Gigabit ethernet (even though you wont get more than 20MB/s with ftp) 128MB RAM and 400MHz. Thats more than enough for BT&ED2K. It has an integrated 3.5" HDD and 2 USB Ports to extend disc space via USB-HDDs. You can run Debian on thoose.

They cost around 200€/$ (depending on the HDD size) and power consumption is 13W for me (500GB WD HDD). There is a 40mm Fan but its very quiet, it wont bother you as long as the HDD is turned on.

The NSLU2 Community isnt that big and it only has 32/64MB RAM.

Oh and don´t listen to the forums posts where they tell you mldonkey wont work stable on it. Compile it yourself and itll run stable for weeks/months.

[Kasei99]

Oh and you might want to take a look at this one: http://mldonkey.sourceforge.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3737 if you are looking for an all in one device :p I got one of theese running (poor performance if i may add) but it only consumes 5W. www.openwrt.org would be the right place to look for that kind of thing i think.

[fabtar]

Thanks a lot,
linkstation wiki has yet given lot of directions but your contribution gives me a complete viewpoint.
I think I'll go for powerPC option too.
Just for curiosity...
are the USB ports usable to attach other external devices, e.g. printers?
I have suppose they are normal USB cotrollers so any device could be attached, am I right?

[Kasei99]

If you use the FreeLink Firmware you have a fully functional Debian Server so if either Debian or you got the drivers for the printer you want to attach it shouldnt be a problem. I havent tried it myself (only USB HDD and USB-Memory stick) but the people in the forum dont seem to have any problems with printers at all. The stock firmware supports printers aswell.

However you should read through the forum and website before you decide. Every minute you read there save 5minutes later. Maybe you want to repartition before you copy all the debian necessary files on it and be sure to increase /tmp in /etc/fstab to at least 16M before you try to compile mlnet. A Backup of the sdx1 partition might come in handy later(see screw up )

Just to prevent misunderstandings I got the arm version so i can only tell from my experience about the arm one (LS Pro/Live), not the PPC (LS HG/HS). SUI wont work on arm(yet) but i think it will on the PPC one (from what ive read in the forum), but its only an assumption so dont get mad at me if it doesnt.
And if you screw up for whatever reasons you shouldnt be afraid to put the HDD in your PC, boot up a knoppix CD/some kind of linux to fix it or in the very worst case solder and plug a jtag cable on it.

[fabtar]

Thanks again,
I keep reading about, I'm not in hurry.This has to be a present for a friend of mine in few weeks (Quite a linux's guy), simply we like to give it to him ready&waiting.
There are lot of funny thing to learn about....

[Kasei99]

Depending on your budget there is an X86 alternative http://www.digitallogic.com/english/products/mobile/mpc_detail.asp?id=MPC20_21

With an AMD Geode 500MHz CPU, 256MB RAM and 2.5"HDD/CompactFlash for ~300$ (without HDD/CF). Maximum Power Consumption (without HDD) is 10W

[fabtar]

Nice peace of hardware, this is very nice, at this price perhaps it is possible a Via Epia Mini-ITX alternative? I start looking at this too...
A lot of alternatives...

[Kasei99]

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Corporate/VirtualPressRoom/0,,51_104_543~117765,00.html
AMD released the sempron 2100+ (1GHz 9W) but it´s only for embedded devices and nowhere available at the moment.

The VIA C3/7 processor is no alternative imho. It costs (on a board) at least 100$/€ and consumes ~30W(idle&full load). In that region i´d go for the new Celeron 420(1,6GHz) 430(1,8GHz) or 440/2GHz) because they have comparable power consumption, same price (40-60$/€ CPU and ~50$/€ for the board) but pack alot more power than a via cpu.

Thats what i love about Linux hardware is your choice and not restricted by the OS which is why you have soooo many alternatives.

[fabtar]

Where have you read about C3/C7 power consumption? I have found out quite different numbers.(below 20w for 1.2Ghz models)
But I think they are far more expensive than their geode and linkstation counterparts.PLus lot of people are complaining about C3/C7 performances .

[Kasei99]

I haven´t read about them but measured them myself so it includes the losses from the power supply. I had one myself (pretty old on the 370 socket) and we have alot of them at the company i work for (>1000 533MHz-1.2GHz). We didn´t switch to the C7s because they were more expensive, didn´t consume less power and we had no use for the extra performance
Even an old P3 has a better performance/power ratio than thoose C3s but when they(P3s) went out of production we had to switch. The C3s were very nice when they came out but Via hasnt really improved them much so right now ... well.

Found an older thread here http://mldonkey.sourceforge.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4396&highlight= where you can even see what i used before i got my linkstation. I switched from my Via C3 800 to that P3 500 not only because of the lower power consumption but also because of the slightly better performance.

Price/power consumption/performance/size is why i chose the linkstation. For some the performance might be too bad or the price too high but for me it was the best deal from whats currently widely available and im happy with it.

[indexmonkey]

I have dlink dns-323 [SATA] (they also make dsm-g600 if you need to use IDE Disks)
100/1000 network card
it cost about £150 without disks.

Its arm processor and you can install via fun_plug, your own apps.

see http://wiki.dns323.info for info.
I'm runing mldonkey thats precompiled from the forum on there.

I recommend it. Now my laptop gets a rest, and my downloads continue.
_________________
mldonkey 2.9.2 on dns-323 running busybox 1.6.1

[colchaodemola]

I have a Linkstation Pro [ ARM / 320GB HDD / 128RAM / DEBIAN] ... Running mldonkey with no problems. Power consumption is average 20w with hdd.