Sheevaplug Dev Kit Graham Morrison Looks at a Complete Linux Machine Housed in What Appears to Be a PSU…

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Sheevaplug Dev Kit Graham Morrison Looks at a Complete Linux Machine Housed in What Appears to Be a PSU… Linux box Reviews SheevaPlug Dev Kit Graham Morrison looks at a complete Linux machine housed in what appears to be a PSU… he name ‘SheevaPlug’ In brief... presumably comes from the Tfact that this small white box is Complete Linux little bigger than the average PSU, and machine that’s no with the correct connector, it will attach larger than a box directly to a power socket. But instead used to hold a single teacup. of transforming voltages, this box Other options contains a complete Linux machine include the Lintop with 512MB flash storage, 512MB or the Bubba RAM and a 1.2GHz ARM CPU. Home Server. There’s standard USB port, a hosting USB port, an SD memory card slot and an RJ45 Ethernet connector, and the whole box comes with the latest ARM build of Ubuntu pre-installed. Connect the SheevaPlug to an Ethernet cable and you’re ready to go. It’s called a Development Kit because it was envisaged that equally well suited as a media player, by the small box’s performance, even if embedded developers could use these using the USB port to pump music to a it wouldn’t survive a Slashdotting. devices to build their products, after USB-compatible set of speakers, as the We also installed the generic ARM which black-box appliances could be hub for a home automation system or package of Logitech’s Squeezebox deployed based around the same even as a network time server with a music streaming server. We found it hardware. This is certainly true, but it suitable USB GPS unit. was pretty quick, outperforming both precludes many ordinary users from the Synology and the QNAP devices we Nice ’n’ simple looked at recently, making the “The best thing about To get the SheevaPlug up and running SheevaPlug an ideal hub for your music, you need to connect another Linux and MediaTomb performed just as well. this is that it uses the machine to the USB port, load the FTDI Its tiny form-factor, low power drain module and then use a terminal and low price make this an ideal ARM port of Ubuntu.” emulator to connect to the USB serial platform for experimentation. It also port. You can then log on to the makes a perfect replacement for the doing more ordinary things. Compared SheevaPlug and access the command now discontinued Linksys NSLU2, for with the average NAS box, for example, line. This is the JTAG and console example. There’s extensive online the SheevaPlug is more powerful and interface to the device. With the basic support for expanding storage and would make an ideal replacement if you model, you need to type a few booting off USB and flash devices, as just added external storage. The total commands to fix a permission problem, well as many other projects. There are package would still be cheaper than edit the DNS configuration and update no concessions for usability, but if you many NAS boxes. But the SheevaPlug is the distribution packages before you already have some idea of what you’d can start messing around, but this like to do with a SheevaPlug, you’re not doesn’t take more than 10 minutes. going to need any more convincing. LXF Features at a glance After which you have a blank canvas and you can connect over SSH. The best thing about this device is Verdict that it uses the new ARM port of Ubuntu. The result is that you can install SheevaPlug almost anything using apt-get install. A Developer: NewIT Ltd Web: http://newit.co.uk quick command-line count showed us Price: £89 25,292 possible packages, which is huge Features 8/10 compared with the typical NAS box. Performance 8/10 To put the machine to the test, we Ease of use 6/10 Debug Console Ubuntu grabbed several big applications, Value for money 9/10 No matter what state your You can install machine is in, you can thousands of packages including Apache, MySQL, PHP 5 and Cheap, stable, configurable and always use a terminal without having to finally WordPress, and installation was a powerful. Just like Linux. emulator to connect to worry about the CPU or breeze. We followed the standard the console. dependencies. Ubuntu guidelines to get things Rating 9/10 working, and we were very impressed www.tuxradar.com January 2010 LXF127 27 LXF127.rev_sheevaplug 27 23/11/09 1:06:17 pm.
Recommended publications
  • NSLU2 for TF5800PVR Access Over Ethernet
    Configure NSLU2 for TF5800PVR access over Ethernet Summary A Linksys NSLU2 is a paperback size unit that has Ethernet and USB ports. Using this the Topfield TF5800 PVR can be accessed over a home network. The NSLU2 is about £55 but needs custom firmware to access the Topfield. This document describes the installation process on a Windows PC. This configuration does not use any USB drives on the NSLU2. Make sure you read the appendix for latest info. Author Malcolm Reeves ([email protected]) Issue: Draft H Date: 6-May-06 Contents 1. Initial Test 2 2. RedBoot 3 3. Install Unslung 4 4. Install ftpd-topfield 5 5. Upgrades and Configuration 7 5.1 Turbo Mode 8 Appendix A - Rafe’s Comments 9 1. Initial Test So you’ve bought a NSLU2. Let’s test it and make sure it’s working. So connect it your home network. Most home networks are 192.168.0.xxx (where xxx is any number between 1 and 254) with a mask of 255.255.255.0. This range is reserved for local networks and it’s what Windows defaults to. You’ll need to change the mask to 255.255.254.0 on your PC and on your router if you have one. This is because the default IP address of the NSLU2 is 192.168.1.77 which is not on the default local network. After changing the mask enter 192.168.1.77 in a browser URL bar. This should bring up the Linksys web setup pages for the NSLU2.
    [Show full text]
  • NSLU2-Linux Howto Overclocktheslug
    NSLU2-Linux | HowTo / OverClockTheSlug http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/OverClockTheSlug?action=print From NSLU2-Linux HowTo: OverClockTheSlug There appear to be two models around -- please verify that you are running at 133 before doing anything else ''' Tired of sluggish performance? Want to squeeze a bit more out of your slug? Feel that you're not getting the dish you paid for? Overclocking (De-underclocking) the Linksys NSLU2! (or how to get your own TurboSlug) Notes on Slugs supplied at 266Mhz: Edit: My brand new Slug comes from factory with BogoMIPS : 263.78, so it is already running at 266 MHz ?. The Slug is marked with a sticker: Manufactured 05/2006. Maybe someone from Linksys has read this page :) Edit: Mine also comes from factory running at 266Mhz ;) - Manufactured 05/2006 Edit by Bullfrog: Mine also comes from factory running at 266Mhz ;) - Manufactured 05/2006 - R64 is also now no longer fitted next to flash chip near serial port which with R83 fitted and R81 missing - gives the undocumented code for 266Mhz Edit by Charly: Mine also comes from factory running at 266Mhz ;) - Manufactured 05/2006. Also the French power adapter is twice smaller for same power (5V 2.0A) Edit by halfer: purchased 10/May/2007 and found that the " XScale ??-IXP425/IXC1100 " is already running at 263.78 BogoMIPS Notes on Slugs supplied at the standard half speed: Edit by Steve 2/25/2007: Purchased yesterday. Mine came with V2.3R73. Only a windows guy so couldn't verify speed. Task manager showed 31% network usage on large files (>2 GBytes ?).
    [Show full text]
  • A Wee Server for the Home
    A wee server for the home Sudarshan S. Chawathe 2018-03-24 Home server: what? why? • Something to provide small-scale local services • Printing from local network • File server • Easily and privately share files with household • Destination for backups of other computers, photos, videos • Music server • Control playback on attached home audio system • Serve music to play elsewhere • Stream music from elsewhere • Web server: Photo and video galleries • Personal XMPP/Jabber chat server • Landing spot for remote login • Wake up other computers using wake-on-LAN. • Email server, … ? • Under personal control. • Free (libre) • Independent of non-local network • availability, latency, bandwidth S.S. Chawathe, A wee server for the home 1 Why a wee server? • Low power consumption • Always-on is a nice if it only uses a few watts. • Low heat dissipation • Compact • easily stash on a shelf, behind other equipment, … • Low cost • ~ 100 USD. • Hardware options that are more open • than mainstream servers • Fun • low-risk hardware experimentation: flashing, etc. • easy hardware interfacing • blinking lights, motors, sensors, … S.S. Chawathe, A wee server for the home 2 This presentation • For, and by, a non-expert • Not very novel or unique; see FreedomBox, … • Expert advice welcome • Brief how-to and invitation • Buy, build, configure a wee home server • Use, learn, and contribute to libre software • One person’s choices and experience • not comprehensive, nor ideal • but actually used, long term • Small technical excursions (still non-expert) • udev rules • randomness • Sharing • experiences with home servers • suggestions, concerns, future directions S.S. Chawathe, A wee server for the home 3 Hardware choices • many options • examples, not exhaustive lists • what I chose and why S.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Smart Home Automation with Linux Smart
    CYAN YELLOW MAGENTA BLACK PANTONE 123 C BOOKS FOR PROFESSIONALS BY PROFESSIONALS® THE EXPERT’S VOICE® IN LINUX Companion eBook Available Smart Home Automation with Linux Smart Dear Reader, With this book you will turn your house into a smart and automated home. You will learn how to put together all the hardware and software needed for Automation Home home automation, to control appliances such as your teakettle, CCTV, light switches, and TV. You’ll be taught about the devices you can build, adapt, or Steven Goodwin, Author of hack yourself from existing technology to accomplish these goals. Cross-Platform Game In Smart Home Automation with Linux, you’ll discover the scope and possi- Programming bilities involved in creating a practical digital lifestyle. In the realm of media and Game Developer’s Open media control, for instance, you’ll learn how you can read TV schedules digitally Source Handbook and use them to program video remotely through e-mail, SMS, or a web page. You’ll also learn the techniques for streaming music and video from one machine to another, how to give your home its own Twitter and e-mail accounts for sending automatic status reports, and the ability to remotely control the home Smart Home lights or heating system. Also, Smart Home Automation with Linux describes how you can use speech synthesis and voice recognition systems as a means to converse with your household devices in new, futuristic, ways. Additionally, I’ll also show you how to implement computer-controlled alarm clocks that can speak your daily calendar, news reports, train delays, and local with weather forecasts.
    [Show full text]
  • Call Your Netbsd
    Call your NetBSD BSDCan 2013 Ottawa, Canada Pierre Pronchery ([email protected]) May 17th 2013 Let's get this over with ● Pierre Pronchery ● French, based in Berlin, Germany ● Freelance IT-Security Consultant ● OSDev hobbyist ● NetBSD developer since May 2012 (khorben@) Agenda 1.Why am I doing this? 2.Target hardware: Nokia N900 3.A bit of ARM architecture 4.NetBSD on ARM 5.Challenges of the port 6.Current status 7.DeforaOS embedded desktop 8.Future plans 1. A long chain of events ● $friend0 gives me Linux CD ● Computer not happy with Linux ● Get FreeBSD CD shipped ● Stick with Linux for a while ● Play with OpenBSD on Soekris hardware ● $friend1 gets Zaurus PDA ● Switch desktop and laptop to NetBSD ● I buy a Zaurus PDA ● I try OpenBSD on Zaurus PDA 1. Chain of events, continued ● $gf gets invited to $barcamp ● I play with my Zaurus during her presentation ● $barcamp_attender sees me doing this ● Begin to work on the DeforaOS desktop ● Get some of it to run on the Zaurus ● Attend CCC Camp near Berlin during my bday ● $gf offers me an Openmoko Neo1973 ● Adapt the DeforaOS desktop to Openmoko 1. Chain of events, unchained ● $barcamp_attender was at the CCC Camp, too ● We begin to sell the Openmoko Freerunner ● Create a Linux distribution to support it ● Openmoko is EOL'd and we split ways ● $friend2 gives me sparc64 boxes ● Get more involved with NetBSD ● Nokia gives me a N900 during a developer event ● $barcamp_attender points me to a contest ● Contest is about creating an OSS tablet 1. Chain of events (out of breath) ● Run DeforaOS on NetBSD on the WeTab tablet ● Co-win the contest this way ● $friend3 boots NetBSD on Nokia N900 ● Give a talk about the WeTab tablet ● Promise to work on the Nokia N900 next thing ● Apply to BSDCan 2013 ● Taste maple syrup for the first time in Canada ● Here I am in front of you Pictures: Sharp Zaurus Pictures: Openmoko Freerunner Pictures: WeTab Pictures: DeforaOS 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Debian 1 Debian
    Debian 1 Debian Debian Part of the Unix-like family Debian 7.0 (Wheezy) with GNOME 3 Company / developer Debian Project Working state Current Source model Open-source Initial release September 15, 1993 [1] Latest release 7.5 (Wheezy) (April 26, 2014) [±] [2] Latest preview 8.0 (Jessie) (perpetual beta) [±] Available in 73 languages Update method APT (several front-ends available) Package manager dpkg Supported platforms IA-32, x86-64, PowerPC, SPARC, ARM, MIPS, S390 Kernel type Monolithic: Linux, kFreeBSD Micro: Hurd (unofficial) Userland GNU Default user interface GNOME License Free software (mainly GPL). Proprietary software in a non-default area. [3] Official website www.debian.org Debian (/ˈdɛbiən/) is an operating system composed of free software mostly carrying the GNU General Public License, and developed by an Internet collaboration of volunteers aligned with the Debian Project. It is one of the most popular Linux distributions for personal computers and network servers, and has been used as a base for other Linux distributions. Debian 2 Debian was announced in 1993 by Ian Murdock, and the first stable release was made in 1996. The development is carried out by a team of volunteers guided by a project leader and three foundational documents. New distributions are updated continually and the next candidate is released after a time-based freeze. As one of the earliest distributions in Linux's history, Debian was envisioned to be developed openly in the spirit of Linux and GNU. This vision drew the attention and support of the Free Software Foundation, who sponsored the project for the first part of its life.
    [Show full text]
  • How-To Build Meteohub on Sheevaplug (The Easy Way)
    How-To Build Meteohub on SheevaPlug (the easy way) The SheevaPlug is a low power, small form factor device that can be seen as the successor of the famous NSLU2. Meteohub has now been experimentally ported to the SheevaPlug. Please be aware that this port is rather alpha, but it seems to work. At the moment Meteohub on SheevaPlug has these limitations: ● no WebCam support: This is also not planned for the future ● no WLAN support: Might be added via USB WLAN sticks in the future (low priority) ● no Labjack support: unclear if this can be added by a home-brew kernel module, low priority Meteohub on SheevaPlug makes use of a SD card where operating system, Meteohub application and data are stored. Capacity is 4GB. It should be a SLC based card. As not all SD cards are working with the plug, you might have some experiments in front of you. SLC-based SD card that is proven to be working ● Transcend SDHC Class 6 150x: TS4GSDHC150 Weather stations are connected to the Meteohub by USB connector. This one USB port can be extended with an USB hub. It looks like it can be a passive USB hub, as the Meteohub provides the 500mA on USB and this should be enough to drive a few weather station USB connections and/or RS232-USB converter. Meteohub on SheevaPlug consumes about 5 watts , which is really effective. Meteohub's performance looks fine. It can do about 900 records per second during recomputation (NSLU2 is about 200, x86 Geode platforms are up to 2000).
    [Show full text]
  • A Monitoring System for Intensive Agriculture Based on Mesh Networks and the Android System ⇑ Francisco G
    Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 99 (2013) 14–20 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers and Electronics in Agriculture journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compag A monitoring system for intensive agriculture based on mesh networks and the android system ⇑ Francisco G. Montoya a, , Julio Gómez a, Alejandro Cama a, Antonio Zapata-Sierra a, Felipe Martínez a, José Luis De La Cruz b, Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro a a Department of Engineering, Universidad de Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain b Department of Applied Physics, Universidad de Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain article info abstract Article history: One of the most important changes in the southeast Spanish lands is the switch from traditional agricul- Received 12 April 2013 ture to agriculture based on the exploitation of intensive farmlands. For this type of farming, it is impor- Received in revised form 12 July 2013 tant to use techniques that improve plantation performance. Web applications, databases and advanced Accepted 31 August 2013 mobile systems facilitate real-time data acquisition for effective monitoring. Moreover, open-source sys- tems save money and facilitate a greater degree of integration and better application development based on the system’s robustness and widespread utility for several engineering fields. This paper presents an Keywords: application for Android tablets that interacts with an advanced control system based on Linux, Apache, Wireless sensor network MySQL, PHP, Perl or Python (LAMP) to collect and monitor variables applied in precision agriculture. TinyOS 6LoWPAN Ó 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. TinyRPL Android 1. Introduction real-time applications that operate using large datasets processed by the device or a cloud server.
    [Show full text]
  • Low-Cost Conversion of Single-Zone HVAC Systems to Multi-Zone Control Systems Using Low-Power Wireless Sensor Networks
    sensors Article Low-Cost Conversion of Single-Zone HVAC Systems to Multi-Zone Control Systems Using Low-Power Wireless Sensor Networks Julio Antonio Jornet-Monteverde 1 and Juan José Galiana-Merino 1,2,* 1 Department of Physics, Systems Engineering and Signal Theory, University of Alicante, Crta. San Vicente del Raspeig, s/n, 03080 Alicante, Spain; [email protected] 2 University Institute of Physics Applied to Sciences and Technologies, University of Alicante, Crta. San Vicente del Raspeig, s/n, 03080 Alicante, Spain * Correspondence: juanjo@dfists.ua.es; Tel.: +34-965-909-636 Received: 31 May 2020; Accepted: 25 June 2020; Published: 27 June 2020 Abstract: This paper presents a novel approach to convert a conventional house air conditioning installation into a more efficient system that individually controls the temperature of each zone of the house through Wi-Fi technology. Each zone regulates the air flow depending on the detected temperature, providing energy savings and increasing the machine performance. Therefore, the first step was to examine the communication bus of the air conditioner and obtain the different signal codes. Thus, an alternative Controller module has been designed and developed to control and manage the requests on the communication bus (Bus–Wi-Fi gateway). A specific circuit has been designed to adapt the signal of the serial port of the Controller with the communication bus. For the acquisition of the temperature and humidity data in each zone, a Node module has been developed, which communicates with the Controller through the Wi-Fi interface using the Message Queuing Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocol with Secure Sockets Layer / Transport Layer Security (SSL/TLS) certificates.
    [Show full text]
  • News@UK the Newsletter of UKUUG, the UK’S Unix and Open Systems Users Group Published Electronically At
    news@UK The Newsletter of UKUUG, the UK’s Unix and Open Systems Users Group Published electronically at http://www.ukuug.org/newsletter/ Volume 19, Number 1 ISSN 0965-9412 March 2010 Contents News from the Secretariat 3 Chairman’s report 3 UKUUG – Spring Conference 2010 4 OpenTech 2010 – 11th September, London 5 OggCamp10 announcement 5 Erlang Factory London 2010 5 News from the ODF Alliance 6 PHP Conference 2010 8 A Note On Setting Up the SheevaPlug Linux Plug Computer 9 Book review: The Art of SEO 16 Book review: SEO Warrior 16 Book review: Programming Google App Engine 17 Book review: Inside Cyber Warfare 18 Book review: flex & bison 19 Book review: Core Data: Apple’s API for Persisting Data on Mac OS X 20 Book review: CSS the missing manual (2nd edition) 21 Book review: The Art of Community 21 Book review: Learning Python (4th edition) 23 Book review: Head First Programming 23 Book review: The Sustainable Network 24 Contributors 26 Contacts 27 news@UK UKUUG Newsletter News from the Secretariat Jane Morrison Thank you to everyone who has kindly sent in their subscription payments promptly. We have received a number of early payments. Those remaining outstanding will be chased this month and any members who have not paid by the end of April will not receive the next issue (June) Newsletter. We now have everything in place for the UKUUG Spring Conference and Tutorials, being held in Manch- ester (23rd - 25th March). The event will again be sponsored by Google and Bytemark which has enabled us to organise a Conference Dinner at the famous Yang Sing restaurant.
    [Show full text]
  • Pen Testing with Pwn Plug
    toolsmith ISSA Journal | March 2012 Pen Testing with Pwn Plug By Russ McRee – ISSA Senior Member, Puget Sound (Seattle), USA Chapter Prerequisites one who owns a Sheevaplug: “Pwn Plug Community Edition does not include the web-based Plug UI, 3G/GSM support, Sheevaplug1 NAC/802.1x bypass.” 4GB SD card (needed for installation) For those of you interested in a review of the remaining fea- tures exclusive to commercial versions, I’ll post it to my blog Dedicated to the memory of Tareq Saade 1983-2012: on the heels of this column’s publishing. Dave provided me with a few insights including the Pwn This flesh and bone Plug’s most common use cases: Is just the way that we are tied in But there’s no one home • Remote, low-cost pen testing: penetration test cus- I grieve for you –Peter Gabriel tomers save on travel expenses; service providers save on travel time. • Penetration tests with a focus on physical security and s you likely know by now given toolsmith’s position social engineering. at the back of the ISSA Journal, March’s theme is • Data leakage/exfiltration testing: using a variety of co- A Advanced Threat Concepts and Cyberwarfare. Well, vert channels, the Pwn Plug is able to tunnel through dear reader, for your pwntastic reading pleasure I have just many IDS/IPS solutions and application-aware fire- the topic for you. The Pwn Plug can be considered an ad- walls undetected. vanced threat and useful in tactics that certainly resemble Information security training: the Pwn Plug touches cyberwarfare methodology.
    [Show full text]
  • Plugcomputer
    Fakultat¨ Informatik Institut f ¨urTechnische Informatik, Professur f ¨urVLSI-Entwurfssysteme, Diagnostik und Architektur PLUGCOMPUTER Alte Idee, Neuer Ansatz Thomas Gartner¨ Dresden, 14.7.2010 Ubersicht¨ Motivation Alte Idee: NSLU2 Neuer Ansatz: PlugComputer Quellen TU Dresden, 14.7.2010 PlugComputer Folie 2 von 24 Motivation Problemstellung Wie kann ich meine personlichen¨ Daten und Dateien moglichst¨ effizient, f ¨urmich und ausgewahlte¨ Personen, ¨uberallund immer verf ¨ugbarmachen? • Soziale Netzwerke • Hostingdienste wie z.B. Flickr, Google Suite, YouTube . • Server anmieten Probleme: • Daten ¨ubergabean Dritte • Dienste wegen ihrer Große¨ f ¨urAngreifer attraktiv TU Dresden, 14.7.2010 PlugComputer Folie 3 von 24 Motivation Losungsansatz¨ Idee: Eigener Server im eigenen, sicheren Netz das inzwischen meistens ohnehin standig¨ mit dem Internet verbunden ist. Vorteile: • Beschrankter¨ physikalischer Zugang f ¨urDritte • Voll anpassbar Nachteile: • Konfigurationsaufwand • Energieverbrauch • Larm¨ • Verantwortung f ¨urdie eigenen Daten TU Dresden, 14.7.2010 PlugComputer Folie 4 von 24 Motivation Losungsansatz¨ TU Dresden, 14.7.2010 PlugComputer Folie 5 von 24 Alte Idee: NSLU2 Allgemein Mit dem Network Storage Link von Linksys konnen¨ Sie die Speicherkapazitat¨ Ihres Netzwerks schnell und einfach um viele Gigabyte erweitern. Dieses kleine Netzwerkgerat¨ verbindet USB2.0-Festplatten direkt mit Ihrem Ethernet- Netzwerk. [Lina] TU Dresden, 14.7.2010 PlugComputer Folie 6 von 24 Alte Idee: NSLU2 Außen • 130 mm x 21 mm x 91 mm • 1x 10/100-RJ-45-Ethernet-Port • 2x USB 2.0-Port • 1x Stromanschluss TU Dresden, 14.7.2010 PlugComputer Folie 7 von 24 Alte Idee: NSLU2 Innen • Intel IXP420 (ARMv5TE) • 133 MHz, spater¨ 266 MHz • 8 MB Flash • 32 MB SDRAM TU Dresden, 14.7.2010 PlugComputer Folie 8 von 24 Alte Idee: NSLU2 Modifikationen • NSLU2 Firmware basiert auf Linux! • Ersetzbar durch Debian, OpenWrt, SlugOS .
    [Show full text]