[nmglug] Some non-conventional Linux (and *BSD) platforms

[Kevin Karns]

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Bob,

Thanks for the excellent research brain-dump on embedded systems! 

Pebble linux looks sweet, being Debian-based!  http://www.nycwireless.net/pebble/pebble.README  ... and those 2 inch scsi cards in the miniPCI interface that are available for the Soekris and PCEngines boards look very tempting also.  Plus, the low power requirements are awesome.  

However, I prefer the Via Epia MiniITX boards for most of my work in small footprints.  They don't cost that much more and have much more speed and functionality at only 1 to 2 inches larger.  Plus the ComBIOS KVM interface on the Soekris boards seems cumbersome.  I can't wait for the two platforms to converge more in the future.  

Sadly, I was unable to find the GNU/BarbieOS last month after searching desperately in the malls and retail outlets.  It must have sold out.  But no!  I see what to do now ... Build an Embedded GNU/BarbieOS doll-robot for my daughters!!  
Hmmm ... daughter's science fair is coming up next month.

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.2.3 (GNU/Linux)

iD8DBQE//nNkHjuuXSps0iURAl28AJ9LsJAJWZTrT0wwaanTCQijvDF9wQCcC2YA
drhT1s/pQifyuBqkYaq/Qb8=
=Eq1a
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

----- Original Message -----
From: Bob <bob at bobknight.net>
Date: Wed, 31 Dec 2003 18:50:05 -0700
To: "NMGLUG.org mailing list" <nmglug at nmglug.org>
Subject: [nmglug] Some non-conventional Linux (and *BSD) platforms

> At LCWA, we're looking to get away from dumb access points (AP) and do 
> things like captive ports (ala nocat...http://nocat.net), some 
> intelligent routing/firewalling/filtering, centralized logging, 
> intrusion detection and so forth. Apple Airports currently are the AP of 
> choice on our net, simply because we have a lot of them, they're very 
> near bulletproof and quite MRTGable (they also run Linux, but with a 
> netboot type of arrangement and NFS'ed filesystem...not quite reliable 
> or optimal for us).
> 
> One reason we don't run nocat at present is that we use bridges, which 
> mask true MAC addresses. Nocat (as we found out early on) doesn't like 
> to see multiple logins from one MAC :). So. We've been looking at 
> alternatives and have found a couple.
> 
> One is the Linksys WRT54G. Check out the WRT54G yahoo group and the 
> WRT54g wiki at Seattle Wireless 
> (http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWrt54g). There is some 
> truly amazing work being done on these units (one of the ones I'm 
> tracking is James Ewing's at sveasoft...check out his FAQ at 
> http://www.sveasoft.com/forum8.html). We're likely going to use these as 
> our neighborhood (not long-haul, generally) access point devices, 
> coupled with the Senao/Engenius CB3 bridge for the uplink. You can get a 
> WRT54g for around $80 or so. Pretty cool.
> 
> At points that are going to be accessed by long-haul (up to 12-13 miles 
> or more) backbones or users----yes, we have links that long---we will be 
> using Soekris boards (soekris.com) running either m0n0wall 
> (m0n0wall.org) or pebble linux (nycwireless.net/pebble). There is also 
> another interesting board at PCEngines 
> (http://www.pcengines.ch/wrap.htm), but we don't have any experience 
> (yet) with them. They're significantly cheaper than the Soekrii and have 
> all the features that we need for these points. We're typically using 
> 200mw Senao/Engenius Prism PCMCIA or mini-PCI cards in these.
> 
> Finally, it's quite easy to simply take an obsolete laptop and make it 
> into an AP using any number of distributions out there.
> 
> The whole point of this was to hopefully generate some interest in and 
> discussion about off-the-wall uses for free OS's. It's pretty amazing 
> what's out there...the embedded world is about to get turned on its 
> head, I think...embedded platforms historically have not been cheap and 
> these price points are quite attractive.
> 
> Cheers,
> Bob
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> _______________________________________________
> nmglug mailing list
> nmglug at nmglug.org
> http://www.nmglug.org/mailman/listinfo/nmglug

-- 
______________________________________________
Check out the latest SMS services @ http://www.linuxmail.org 
This allows you to send and receive SMS through your mailbox.

Powered by Outblaze