Internets,
I am interested in a home server to replace my aging POS. I need something that can hold a bunch of disks and have eSATA and a bunch of USB ports and some gigabit ethernet. The hp and acer “home server” models look ideal except they come with only Windows Home Server and one of them doesn’t even have a VGA port, and I don’t want a weekend project to deal with these things to make them work.
Surely there’s a vendor out there putting together atom-based home servers for enthusiasts who just want to put ubuntu-server on a bunch-o-disks and shove it in a closet?
You may find the Bubba Two machine interesting:
http://www.excito.com/bubba/products/technical-specifications.html
I’m looking into getting a Bubba too. Comes with Debian and a bunch of neat stuff working out of the box.
If you’re feeling hacky, you could always play with a MyBook World II (Network Version) – It’s instant but slow network storage but easy to hack into…
http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/hacks-and-howto
bubba work great in my end
recommended for bubba
Depending on your needs, Linksys NSLU2 is a bit old, but still works well. It takes two USB disks and can run Linux. We support it with Jaunty arm kernels.
I would suggest buying two things.
1) A multi-disk hard drive bay with eSATA output (like a NAS, without the N). They’re surprisingly cheap (read: 8bays for ~£300). Most high-bay solutions support RAID5/6 out the box. Some can be flashed to run your favourite Linux OS.
2) An Acer Inspiron Revo. Atom-powered. Nvidia 9400M graphics (supports VDPAU video accelleration) £150(!!) with Linux. Runs Karmic perfectly. Silent. Perfect media center. 6 USB, 1 eSATA. Gigabit LAN. WiFi.
Put them together and you’ve got a monster of a home server for £450.
One DAS: http://www.amazon.co.uk/EdgeStore-DAS501T-Bay-eSATA-Enclosure/dp/B001H54JX6/
5 bay. Supports RAID5. £170. Spectaular bargain. The EdgeStore range looks like it’s really good value.
I’m really satisfied with my low-power-usage, no-noise atom-based Asus Eee Box. But it lacks the space for several internal disks I guess.
Or the Asrock Ion 330 nettop. Unlike the Acer Revo, it has a dual core cpu and it costs about the same. Then use it with someting like a disk enclosure/external harddisks.
Or the Asrock Ion 330 nettop. Unlike the Acer Revo, it has a dual core cpu and it costs about the same. Then use it with someting like a disk enclosure/external harddisks.
Oops…forgot to say great post! Looking forward to your next one.
These guys make neat things, though they appear to be Via-based when they aren’t using Intel dual core: http://www.cappuccinopc.com/
I’m pretty happy with my dns-323: http://wiki.dns323.info/
I put my eyes onTranquil PC BBS2. It’s a barebone server that has everything you (and I) are searching for. It’s Atom 330 (dual core) based, RAID, eSATA, USB, VGA and comes, obviously, with no OS preinstalled. It’s not so cheap, ~300 £ with no disks.
Check http://www.tranquilpc-shop.co.uk/acatalog/BAREBONE_SERVERS.html for details.
I currently run Debian Lenny (with some Squeezy packages) on a Linksys NSLU2. It serves files (NFS, Samba) on USB HDs, DNS (dnsmasq), imap (dovecot), static html (lighttpd), ldap (openldap), music (mpd), printers. It’s time to replace it with something more powerful…
These guys do pre-installed Ubuntu, but I can’t see any mention of e-Sata. Otherwise, looks pretty reasonable.
http://www.efficientpc.co.uk/desktops/
[...] Home Server without “Home Server” « jorge’s stompbox [...]
been looking for this sollutions too. thanks guys for the links
System76 has some servers that might fit the bill. (system76.com); they *just* do Ubuntu, so I like to buy from them when I’m buying systems. Plus, I’d like to continue having the option of buying Linux boxes and not having to pay for Windows I’m not gonna use (and can’t even transfer!)
QNAP makes fairly nice storage devices which can act as a server.
The TS-239 Pro or TS-439 Pro are Atom powered servers with plenty of USB ports, eSATA ports and hot swappable drive bays. Debian works on them with a few updates (info here), not sure about Ubuntu – but it can’t be too difficult.
I’ve personally got a slightly older TS-219 which has an ARM processor, but it’s a nice little box.