Agree with GA. Ubuntu not necessary .. Server install of Debian or similar would be all that's necessary.

once installed you can add what you want to it. Even game servers are CLI Dedi Linux's out in cyberwebz.. (except for the windows clowns that try and host their favorite FPS from their XP workstation.)

ok, cool, thanks for the info. I had assumed Ubuntu mobile had a smaller footprint. If not, no biggie (pun perhaps subconsciously intended).

Hm. I had thought about a mobile server for a while, when I lean more toward the "many devices" approach to mobile computing. And, note, for me, this means "something with an internal battery", as it's not really mobile, to me, if it needs wall power or car adapter power in order to function. I always thought of it as more of an "in-backpack server" than "a pocketable server" though. Or perhaps PAN server. But it would be a file server, an network gateway, and maybe a few other things (VNC to it for running certain apps, for example).

I think it would be best to be about the size of a half-height 3.5" drive, an express card slot for peripherals, a few USB plugs (for keyboard, mouse, ethernet, USB optical drives, USB hard drives, etc.), mini- or micro-DVI plug (with DVI-A support), some form of storage expansion (I'd say a PCMCIA slot, because it can handle everything from SD card readers, to CF card adapters, to even a secondary express card adapter, but PCMCIA is going out of style ... so I dunno; I'd probably be happy with an SDHC slot), internal space for a 1.8" drive, a wifi module that can act as an access point, and maybe a bluetooth module (with DUN and FTP at least, but maybe more profiles as well). AND LOTS OF INTERNAL BATTERY LIFE ... I wouldn't mind if half of the internals were the battery :-)

I might go with ubuntu for it, but I think even more than ubuntu I'd probably go for a rather minimal debian install (for example, maybe not even installing X on it, since I would only expect to use the DVI port for the most basic and/or dire console based stuff ... and that assumes it's a PC-like architecture, if not, then an rs-232 console is good enough). The basic shell stuff, package management stuff, web server with webmin, NFS, Samba, NAT, and a few more things are probably enough for the base install. Just make sure it's easy to find repositories for installing things like drivers for your express cards and USB dongles, and other peripherals.

For CPU architecture? If you want it to be compatible with the most server software that you wouldn't have to do a ton of your own building for (esp. for for things like binary-only drivers that might come for some of the express cards), then I'd suggest SOME form of x86 processor. But, that doesn't necessarily give you great mobility options.

And, like I said, for me one of the tasks I'd put on this is "network gateway". One thing I'd love is to be able to put express cards in it from the various wireless carriers, and have the drivers give voice, sms/mms, and packet access. Then run a SIP server on it for accessing its voice capabilities, and a jabber server on it for accessing its SMS/MMS capabilities. Then, obviously, use the wifi access point functionality to route the packet data capabilities of the express card.

Now you've got a PAN server.

There was a lot of talk about this over here like a couple years ago, when two companies made noises about Wifi/BT portable drives for mobile media sharing. Can't recall the names ATM though, and we never heard of them again.

I would not try to make this device too small if you are planning on putting a battery in. The full 3.5 inch drive size would allow for a large enough battery to run the device proabably for the entire day. Especially if it uses an x86 processor and carries all of the modules you mentioned. With your suggested dimensions it may run for the typical 2-3 hours.

First off just wanted to say I think this is the next logical step from my original concept in the other thread (it's the same device with a slightly different application afterall), so I'm all for it. In terms of scale and battery, quite honestly I think there needs to be some more serious examinations of reality going on around here guys ;-) Yea, it'd be nice to be the same size as the tablet or smaller, but you really expect to achieve that AND have an internal Harddrive, USB hub, PCMCIA slot, etc...

The two hardware options I have in mind right now would consist of the following:
AMD Geode 500 Mhz processor... plenty of pump for a server, along with lots of power efficiency (for an x86 based processor).

2-3 fullsize USB ports... for, whatever. Extra card readers, devices, maybe a 3G modem if you're feeling lucky, whatever.

VGA output... For other uses mainly, not really beneficial for a "server", but would be very useful for other applications the device might take on

Internal USB Laptop Drive or CF card... both available in fairly large sizes for relatively cheap. (SDHC would probably come in the form of an extra USB card reader if desired)

1 hardwired ethernet port... for obvious reasons

802.11 wifi... again, obvious reasons here.

The whole battery thing... well, it introduces costs and physical size, that's all. Also, if you're talking about a mini HD, the battery is pretty pointless as you do NOT want to carry the thing around with the HD spinning... especially in a backpack.

Anyways, I'm persuing the hardware options right now, but it looks like it'd be somewhere around the $200-300 range, depending on whether it's got a HD or a CF card. Batteries/etc would add costs to the top of that, but again I haven't investigated battery options yet. Size wise the option with CF would be about 10cm x 15cm x 4cm-ish, the one with the HD is more like 15cm x 15cm x 10cm.

Oh, and for OS... I'd say something more like OpenWRT makes a lot more sense than Ubuntu or anything else, because it's designed to be very small/compact, quick to boot, and also very versatile in terms of packages and server type of software...

Just my two cents though...

-Rob

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.

The interesting thing to me is something ARM-based that can run off a battery for some appreciable period of time.

Thanks for the valuable input Rob! But I have to agree with GA on the CPU.

On that note, I have a couple of 770s with bad LCDs that might make good prototypes...

The size I picked isn't tablet size, it's 3.5" drive sized. That's a bit bigger than a tablet. Though, I'd go as far as half-height 5" disk drive sized.

As for the 1.8" drive socket, I don't intend that to be for a HDD. I intend that to be for an SDD, but there are mobile devices out there that use 1.8" HDDs. They're QUITE popular, actually (standard iPods).

I don't see the need for a hardwired ethernet port. I see the need for rock solid wifi, maybe two interfaces (depending on what it takes to definitely have a wifi access point, and optionally also have a wifi client, in the same box -- I don't know how many wifi devices can do both at the same time). Ethernet can come from an USB ethernet dongle, as far as I'm concerned :-} (if you're talking about using it for management and configuration, then I'd say "make sure it has a USB client interface" and do your management through that)

Hardwired ethernet "just in case". But the usb dongle point has merit.