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2008-09-22 , 16:39
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#21
The battery could definitely be a backpack design, though. Make the device flat-bottomed with rubber feet, so it sits nice on a table, but also have slide-lock notches to slap on a battery. (I'm thinking 3.5" drive but 2/3 the thickness for the bare device, and that much more for battery.)

If you do it right, you could slap a HDD on instead of the battery pack, and power the whole mess via wall-wart. (And if you do it really right, you could slap on both, and get limited shock-resistance and battery-life, but still have mobility and cheap storage.)
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2008-09-22 , 16:39
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#22
Honestly, we've already got the guts of the hardware. Take an overo or a Beagle Board and slap it into a case with some accessories built in.

Done.
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2008-09-22 , 16:43
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#23
Originally Posted by GeneralAntilles View Post
Honestly, I don't see much point in a server that you have to plug in. That means HDs and x86 are out the window.
I agree about not having to plug it in. I don't agree that it rules out HDs, but it does eliminate full size HD's, and probably 2.5" HDs. But, as I pointed out, my reason for suggesting an disk slot was for an optional SSD, not for an HDD.

The interesting thing to me is something ARM-based that can run off a battery for some appreciable period of time.
Are you suggesting a light weight home server? I've thought about that kind of thing too. Something like this could be used as a linux-based alternative to an airport base station, with lots of flexibility about access interfaces, storage, on-device services, etc. With the added bonus of an internal battery that can act as a UPS.

But, my primary interest is in an "in backpack" server/gateway device.
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2008-09-22 , 16:51
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#24
Originally Posted by johnkzin View Post
I agree about not having to plug it in. I don't agree that it rules out HDs, but it does eliminate full size HD's, and probably 2.5" HDs. But, as I pointed out, my reason for suggesting an disk slot was for an optional SSD, not for an HDD.
Bleh SSD. It's just a bunch of flash chips with an SATA interface attached. Cheaper and easier just to drop a bunch of SD cards in the thing (5-card RAID array anybody?).

Originally Posted by johnkzin View Post
Are you suggesting a light weight home server?
Erm, home server that runs off a battery? . . .
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2008-09-22 , 16:53
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#25
Originally Posted by johnkzin View Post
Are you suggesting a light weight home server? I've thought about that kind of thing too. Something like this could be used as a linux-based alternative to an airport base station, with lots of flexibility about access interfaces, storage, on-device services, etc. With the added bonus of an internal battery that can act as a UPS.

But, my primary interest is in an "in backpack" server/gateway device.
That's what *I* was originally suggesting. Sort of.

And "backpackable" is maybe a better description than "pocketable" (unless you have Benson-class pockets). Imagine that some young guy plops down on a city bus seat. Your MID is preconfigured to sniff for portable servers, and it suddenly spies one. You check the lobby and see a game you have and enjoy playing. If one is in progress you join. If one is not you request one. Others who have subscribed to notifications for the game being started are alerted that one has begun.

Of course, that was a highly mobile scenario and depends on everyone engaged being just as mobile as the server. Otherwise, the device could instigate ad hoc meetups whereever, whenever. College campuses, parks, airport lobbies, etc.

EDIT: of course planned events are more practical.
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2008-09-22 , 16:56
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#26
Originally Posted by GeneralAntilles View Post
Honestly, we've already got the guts of the hardware. Take an overo or a Beagle Board and slap it into a case with some accessories built in.

Done.
Yeah, except I have the 770s on hand.

The tricky part is adding the rest of the structure... especially the SD arrays (an idea I really like).

Also, the SD cards will need to be replaceable, given their limited life.
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2008-09-22 , 17:06
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#27
Originally Posted by GeneralAntilles View Post
Bleh SSD. It's just a bunch of flash chips with an SATA interface attached. Cheaper and easier just to drop a bunch of SD cards in the thing (5-card RAID array anybody?).
Depends on who you want to be using it. If it's just for this crowd of hobbyists, sure, that's reasonable. If you're talking about something that could eventually reach out in scope, I think they're not going to want to deal with a deck of SD cards.

Plus, I'd rather have one large (real) file system than 4 or 5 small ones that I have to juggle with things like a union file system, a (fragile) concatenated file system, etc. SSD == simple way to get an easy to manage 64GB+ file system.

Erm, home server that runs off a battery? . . .
Yes. So that it doesn't lose power during storms, doesn't need to interface with a UPS 10 times bigger than it, can be relocated without powering it off, etc.

I've thought about using an old or cheap (walmart special) laptop for that part (battery powered home server). But it would have lots of non-necessary parts, like the screen and keyboard, which would make it unnecessarily large.
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2008-09-22 , 17:10
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#28
I appreciate everyone's comments in this thread. This may be a pipe dream, but then so were many other currently successful products.

I almost have enough to start a company blog article.

Benson, could you do me the favor of revisiting my original specs but writing the essentials (plus extras) as you see it, and then posting? You seem to grasp some of the needs and technical aspects better than I currently do.
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2008-09-22 , 17:16
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#29
Originally Posted by johnkzin View Post
Plus, I'd rather have one large (real) file system than 4 or 5 small ones that I have to juggle with things like a union file system, a (fragile) concatenated file system, etc. SSD == simple way to get an easy to manage 64GB+ file system.
. . . and pay several hundred dollars more than the stack of SD cards for it? No thanks.
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2008-09-22 , 17:21
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#30
Yeah, this would certainly have to balance cost/performance. Once it crosses the $400 USD threshold it loses a sizable share of potential users.
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