[geeks] Interesting "minimal" PC - network appliance box?

[Sevan / Venture37]

> Along these lines, I finally broke down and bought a NAS solution to
> try out.  I bounced back and forth a number of times on this thinking
> that a server gave me better access to recover the drive if the
> hardware failed vs if I used a canned solution I'd be less prone to
> goof with it.
>
> So of course I bought a canned solution and then goofed with it.
>
> I went with the Western Digital Mybook "World Edition" which is a NAS
> (10/100/1000bT) instead of using USB/eSATA/firewire like
> other Mybook versions. Unsurprisingly, it runs linux and sshd is
> easily enabled via a modified url to simulate a firmware update.  Once
> sshd is enabled, it's easy to install a package manager (ipkg, using
> the repositories for gumstix) and enable NFS (already
> installed) as well as a number of other features.
>
> The best part was the price:  $80 for a 500GB unit. (refurb)  The
> drive can be replaced/rebuilt if it fails or removed to grab the files
> (all partitions are ext3-formatted) if the hardware fails.  (any of
> which void your warranty, of course)
>
> I read a number of online reviews first, and the cons seemed to center
> around slow performance at gig-E speeds (not a factor for me) and the
> software used (for a fee) to make your files available from the
> internet (thus the "World edition" designation) which again is not a
> factor for me.
>
> It also has a USB host port which can be used for additional storage
> or to serve out a printer if you hack it.  I haven't experimented with
> using a USB hub. (and probably won't)
>
> It will do a variety of streaming media servers, rsync, rsnapshot, and
> various other junk.
>
> http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/hacks-and-howto

meh, what wrong with an ss20 and a a1000 or d1000 hooked up to it. ;)
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