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Smallest, lowest power device for running a media server, NAS or similar?

Asked by [ Editor ] , Edited by Fernando C. Estrada [ Admin ]

ARM or x86, I don’t mind, but cheap and fanless is preferred, as is official Debian support.

The Fit-PC2 seems very promising, as it has room for a 2.5" hard drive and has 1000baseT ethernet.  It has a GMA500 which has no open source driver, but presumably if you ran it headless it wouldn’t matter.

The Linutop also looks pretty good, though without the gigabit ethernet.

Anything else I’m not aware of?

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thomasrutter
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I may as well mention I currently have a QNAP Turbo Station (109 II). It’s overly expensive for what it is, but it runs Debian well and is fully supported by Debian (armel) since Lenny. It’s also fanless and has space for an internal 3.5" SATA drive. It’s just a little slow and hey, I’m always interested in new and cool devices too.

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8 answers

2

josh

Maybe the Sheevaplug?

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thomasrutter
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I didn’t think they had space for a hard drive in them but the website lists their potential uses including “file server” and “multimedia server”. Would this rely on an external USB drive or something?

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1

amacater [ Editor ]

Second hand Linksys NSLU2? [3W,fanless, but need external hard disk)

Linksys wireless router – can be hacked to add external hard disk

Sheevaplug/OpenRD?

Via Artigo NAS chassis – includes 64bit and virtualisation …

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thomasrutter
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That VIA Artigo looks great! I’m so glad I asked this question.

overholw
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Pogoplug is supposed to run Debian. I unfortunately bought a PogoPlug Pro instead which is a rather different product, despite the similar name.

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1

kaliko [ Editor ]

I just discovered the B3 running Debian.

By the way I’ve been using a Fit-PC Slim (previous model) for two years now, really happy of it.

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thomasrutter
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oooh that B3 looks sweet! shipped world-wide! now where’s my wallet?

kaliko
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yep, these Swedish people are doing great stuff indeed :D Though I’m still wondering if the B3 allows to install your own system, there is no serial output :/ Maybe usb|net boot?

thomasrutter
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yeah there’s a few people complaining in their forums about the B2 (previous product) being stuck on etch, and there’s a “beta” lenny image available where most things don’t work. Doesn’t sound like it’s compatible with a proper debian release – otherwise you’d just dist-upgrade, flash-kernel, whatever wouldn’t you?

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0

cedric cellier

Bigger than the Sheevaplug you have the GuruPlug, which is the “server” version.
It has an eSATA 3Gb/s SATAII according to the online specs.

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adam.trickett
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Watch out with GruPlugs, the first generations had no fans but over heated so they added a fan and now they don’t over heat but they are NOT SILENT. We’ve had a few demos at LUG meetings they are very cute.

I believe the ShevaPlug, GruPlu and PogoPlug are all based on the same boards and chipsets and apparently can be bought running Debian if you want.

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0

adam.trickett [ Editor ]

I got my dad a Viglen branded Linutop which he has used as his desktop system for the past three years. It was very cheap and arrived running Xbuntu, which I swapped with Debian. 


I found KDE3 no slower than Xfce, but neither are fast. When I upgrade my dad’s system next, I’ll give him a faster but more conventional desktop system and take the Viglen home and use it where it’s slow graphics isn’t a problem.

It’s AMD Geode processor is x86 compatible and equivalent to a PentiumII in the 200-300 MHz range. It feels slower than that figure suggests running X, but on the console it’s quite responsive.

If I didn’t have this unit I’d probably buy a Shevaplug/GruPlug for the same purpose as they are very cute.
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0

thomasrutter [ Editor ]

Another candidate seems to be an Antec ISK-300 or ISK-310 case with an Atom D510 or Atom D525-based mini-ITX board in it.  This is getting a lot more towards the performance of a desktop PC (beating both Linutops and the Fit-PC by quite a bit), albeit one from a few years ago, but still is low power and has only one largish case fan.

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0

alexeico from Moldova

NorhTec MicroClient JrMX or JrDX might be an option: fits a SATA harddrive inside a very well-built metal passively cooled case. The drive screws into the case neatly. Customizable hardware config of the unit. Price: <\$200.

I have been using one successfully for about 2 years primarily as a torrent box (with Ubuntu distro, pre-Natty since they dropped i586 support). The only complaint is sometimes rarely the Ethernet silently dies on mine (ifdown; ifup brings it back) — possibly due to something being wrong the r6040 network driver.

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