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Tiny Linux Plug Computers: Wall Wart Linux Servers (LinuxPlanet)
Over at LinuxPlanet, there's a brief introduction to Linux-based "plug" computers. "Fortunately, there's a class of computers ideally suited to that sort of job: "plug computers", sometimes called Sheevaplugs after an early model. The whole computer is built into the bit that plugs into the wall, so they're barely bigger than a normal "wall wart" power supply. They use power-efficient ARM CPUs, so you can run a server with only 5 watts. They're inexpensive, usually just over $100 for a plug with 512M RAM and 512M flash. Best of all, they come with Linux installed right out of the box."
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Tiny Linux Plug Computers: Wall Wart Linux Servers (LinuxPlanet) Posted Jan 28, 2011 15:57 UTC (Fri) by piggy (subscriber, #18693) [Link]
I've been wanting to replace my bastion host with one of these for a while. 100Watts is enough to show up on the power bill. I want SMTP, POP3, bind, and a small web server.
Tiny Linux Plug Computers: Wall Wart Linux Servers (LinuxPlanet) Posted Jan 28, 2011 17:31 UTC (Fri) by teknohog (guest, #70891) [Link]
You may also want to consider a Buffalo Linkstation or a similar NAS. They make great Linux servers when you install a proper distro.
To me, a server means something with storage space, and 512 MB of flash is hardly enough to maintain a distro, let alone for storing files. When you add a hard drive with its own power supply, it dilutes the whole energy-saving idea. A NAS that is already designed for a HD should be more efficient.
I started two years ago with a Linkstation Live v1. With 128 MB of RAM and a 400-MHz armv5, it was fine for a web/file server and irc/email shell. The distro was Gentoo and it relied heavily on distcc with cross-compilers on other machines. Recently I upgraded to a Linkstation Pro, with 256 MB and 1.2 GHz. Thanks mostly to the increased RAM, it runs Gentoo surprisingly smoothly, for example compiling glibc in two hours (no distcc/ccache used). Nevertheless, the CPU still runs without a heatsink, and power consumption is mostly due to the HD.
Tiny Linux Plug Computers: Wall Wart Linux Servers (LinuxPlanet) Posted Jan 29, 2011 16:41 UTC (Sat) by ofeeley (guest, #36105) [Link]
Do you have an estimate of the power consumption?
Tiny Linux Plug Computers: Wall Wart Linux Servers (LinuxPlanet) Posted Jan 30, 2011 12:33 UTC (Sun) by teknohog (guest, #70891) [Link]
The box is specced at 17 W and includes a 3.5'' hard drive. This is probably not so different from a plug computer + an external HD.
Of course, having everything in a single package that resembles an external HD, powered from a single wall socket, is a nice feature.
Consider Bubba Posted Jan 29, 2011 12:13 UTC (Sat) by job (guest, #670) [Link]
Also worth considering is the Bubba 3. It looks like an external hard disk but is an ARM-based server. The good thing about it is that it runs Debian and the company behind it is very enthusiast-friendly. The bad thing about it is that it's somewhat pricey.
Tiny Linux Plug Computers: Wall Wart Linux Servers (LinuxPlanet) Posted Jan 29, 2011 18:58 UTC (Sat) by endecotp (guest, #36428) [Link]
I have a QNAP TS-119, which has the same 1.2 GHz ARM processor and half GB of RAM as many of the plug devices, but has internal space for a 2.5" or 3.5" disk (I have an SSD) and is fanless. It runs Debian very smoothly thanks to http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/qnap/. I believe that the new Bubba device is similar to the TS-119. QNAP now have an even faster box, the TS-119P+ with a 1.6 GHz processor, but I believe it has a fan.
I use mine with a mimo mini USB monitor to provide a console.
Tiny Linux Plug Computers: Wall Wart Linux Servers (LinuxPlanet) Posted Feb 3, 2011 3:51 UTC (Thu) by mtaht (✭ supporter ✭, #11087) [Link]
I have the openrd, which is great. It meets all my requirements for a category-busting device.
The guruplug, which is using the same chip, suffers from a heat problem "fixed" by a tiny 40db fan. It's so loud that I've had to banish it to the garage.
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