Hard Drives And Linux Distros
A range of hard drive options were available for my project, such as 2.5" single-platter 500 GB drives as well as 3.5" devices with capacites of up to 1.5 TB. In comparison, I was in awe of Maxtor’s 160 GB parallel ATA-133 3.5" drive and Promise was getting ready to bring PCI SATA controllers to market back in 2001.
Today, four SATA 2.5" drives now have about the same footprint as a single 3.5" hard drive. Remember, full-height 5.25" 20 MB hard drives?
A lot has been written about computer-in-a-toaster projects. Desktop systems have been built in large toasters. Mini-ITX systems have been built in waffle irons, toaster ovens, and just about any and every other enclosure conceivable (including basic toasters, of course). The availability of reasonably priced mini-ITX boards, low-power processors, and fan-less systems make compact case-modding projects easier.
- The best looking computer in a toaster I have seen is a modified 1930s vintage retro. See all the other remarkable custom-case projects this engineer has made.
- BSD in a working toaster
- A 2.8 GHz desktop PC in a toaster
- A "media toaster" using a VIA EPIA mini-ITX board
File Server Linux Distributions
In 2001, ApplianceWare seemed to be the only generally-available distribution that made a computer into a file server. There are now a number of turn-key file-server Linux distros available. When installed, these distros morph a computer into a network file server.
Open Filer and Free NAS are available for download and use without charge. NAS Lite 2 is available for a very modest price that is under $30.00. ApplianceWare and Nexenta are also licensed.
- FreeNAS, freely downloadable (www.freenas.org), built on BSD
- OpenFiler, based on Linux, freely available (www.openfiler.com)
- NAS Lite 2 from Server Elements, available for a very modest price (www.serverelements.com)
- ApplianceWare, based on Linux, available commercially (www.applianceware.com)
- Nexenta Stor, available commercially (www.nexenta.com)
If a file server supported SMB and NFS in 2001, had a Web UI, and did RAID 0, 1, and 5, then it was a good product. If it had a DHCP server, then that was an extra. Today, NAS servers support all the file protocols and include some cool features:
- run DHCP
- SMB and NFS
- DHCP server
- FTP server
- Web server
- Firewall
- Bonjour and iTunes
- Redundant power supplies
- PDC authentication
- Controls over power consumption
- BitTorrent
… and more
I thought the idea in fitting a NAS into a toaster is that you plugged the disks through the bread slots!
"Is that Patrick Swayze!?" -Moses as he looked across the Red Sea.
I thought the idea in fitting a NAS into a toaster is that you plugged the disks through the bread slots!
yeah it would ve been nice if you could just shove in two hot plug & play drives in there.
gives a whole new meaning to "hot swappable"
yeah it would ve been nice if you could just shove in two hot plug & play drives in there.
Imagine a backup-product like the various 'one-touch' backup offerings -- but in this case, you just push a drive into the toaster slot -- it begins the backup process, when done, it can eject** the drive. That sounds very sweet.
**-raise drive, not physically throw it out of the toaster! :-)
Then why not use some of the 640/750GB or 1.5/2TB drives?
Any ways cool mod.
ghetto-fab
Here's a better one:
http://www.embeddedarm.com/softwar [...] oaster.php
Grate job, looks perfect mate.
wouldve been cooler to put in a dvd drive in the bread slots.
How's this hold up in a heavy sea? Data corrupt, read errors as you pound to weather could be a problem. Also where's the view of the light show, I wanted to see those led's flashing and shining thru the bread slots. A hollow-graphic hula girl shining a-top the slots would be a motivational feature. Ideas for toaster RAID 2012
Maybe you could connect it wirelessly to your network and "hide" it in your kitchen.
Maybe you could connect it wirelessly to your network and "hide" it in your kitchen.
hmmm and then your girlfriend get's a craving for some toasted bread ...
all kinds of crumbs and sh** inside your raid
Seems like a perfect place to hide all the p0rn, innocent looking toaster.
Maybe you could connect it wirelessly to your network and "hide" it in your kitchen.
Sounds like an amazing way to hide something.
Possibly make it so 1 of the slots work, and insulate the computer from the heat? Forcing a shutdown if the toaster is actually used. All wireless of course.
hmmm and then your girlfriend get's a craving for some toasted bread ...all kinds of crumbs and sh** inside your raid
Ha. My brother used to put waffles in our VCR, and yet it still lived. A protected compuer would be fine.