"Linux-based SLUG spawns highly hackable NAS"

[dougz]

Simple, hackable NAS box with Windows SMB (Linux Samba) file sharing. Less than $130 U.S (0 GB). Sub 60 watt (per data sheet).

Picture - http://www.linuxdevices.com/files/misc/ ... nas200.jpg

From http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS8932620558.html

Cisco's consumer products division is shipping a successor to the Linux-based NSLU2 (aka "SLUG") consumer NAS (network-attached storage) appliance, one of the most-hacked devices ever. The NAS200 has room for two internal SATA drives, supports FAT32-formatted external USB 2.0 drives, and comes with UPnP media-sharing software.

As delivered out of the box, the NAS200 appears to be a very simple consumer device aimed at Windows PC users, or at least users with SMB-based networks. However, a nicely organized source code tree and a system-on-chip processor executing applications built for the 486 architecture could ultimately make the NAS200 even more popular with hackers than the NSLU2, for which multiple alternative firmware builds have cropped up....

The NAS200 appears to be widely available, priced at about $130 without drives.

While the NAS200 is new, it looks like the highly active NSLU2-Linux hacker site will be interested in it. Note: Linksys provides source code, so it is a great platform for hackers. See -- http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/NAS200/HomePage

Out of the box, it looks like a cheap, quiet NAS box for file sharing and backup. If the hackers add other protocols & file formats, it may well evolve into many other roles, as did the NSLU2 -- http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/Applications/HomePage

Vendor web site -- http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellit ... 3986964B03

[dougz]

Maybe not so hackable as the original article suggested. Still cheap and good power-down options.

Detailed review --

...The good news is that the NAS200 is aggressively priced, supports two SATA drives in individual, JBOD, RAID 0 and RAID 1 modes and has built-in UPnP AV and FTP servers. The bad news is that it's slow—slower on the average than even the NSLU2, and that's without the overclocking hack that is commonly applied....
The important thing that Linksys has done right, however, is pricing. Using Pricegrabber, I just got lowest prices of $120, $171 and $329 for the NAS200, DNS-323 and DS-207 respectively. With that, their brand recognition and retail shelf space presence, I'm sure Linksys will sell a ton of 'em.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30127/75/