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Linux In A Box 73
Henrik pointed us to the Linux in a Box project, which is a bitchin' little project to create an inexpensive little Linux box: it boots a 2.0.36 kernel from a ramdisk, and it's pingable and Telenetable, as well as being usable as a Web server. Only for the brave of heart and willing to hack.
Network (infrastructure) Appliance? (Score:2)
Damn it looks like it is slashdotted :( (Score:1)
Not sure how up to date it is though.
Could be cool . . (Score:1)
Mmmm good (Score:2)
Re:Network (infrastructure) Appliance? (Score:2)
lrp.c0wz.com [c0wz.com]
LRP is a Linux based router that boots from a floppy. It now comes in many flavors, sure to meet your needs. I'm running it on a 486SX/25 that I picked up for $10. How's that for a cheap router?
What about the children? (Score:5)
Please stop using these nasty words on Slashdot. Sites like this that are child-accessible should know to restrain their content in the face of pending laws. How many times does it need to be told to people that content that is offensive to children needs to be kept away from them?
it boots a 2.0.36 kernel
On top of that, you go and influence these poor suggestable little children with thoughts of running an outdated kernel that is simply a security hole! How do you even dare? Would you allow your children to use NT3.5? Would you allow them to use an outdated kernel? Think, Taco, what about the children?
it's pingable and Telenetable, as well as being usable as a Web server. Only for the brave of heart and willing to hack.
I think you meant willing to be hacked. Once again, what about the children? Would you let your child use telnet? Why suggest it to the children on Slashdot? You should know better than that. As a maintainer of a website like this, you have a responsibility to not influence suggestible little children with Nazi ideas such as running Telnet on a computer.
Been there, done that, still waiting (Score:1)
Slashdotted!! (Score:4)
I guess its the sort of webserver i'd like to have on my toaster so I didn't have to get up to check how brown my toast was but i'd like to think my toaster would be exempt from
Isn't this like LPR? (Score:1)
why would I need one (Score:3)
Prettier box too.
Linux on a watch (Score:1)
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Linux in a wristwatch by IBM (Score:3)
Supercheap Linux system w/firewall (Score:5)
This is a simple distro (free!) that gets you up and running on a low-end system w/o a hard drive.
Get your Floppy Firewall [zelow.no] at http://www.zelow.no/floppyfw [zelow.no].
If it don't have what you want, you can always add more. But, if you add too much, you might have to add a hard drive.
Re:Damn it looks like it is slashdotted :( (Score:1)
</sacrasm>
Re:Network (infrastructure) Appliance? (Score:1)
You are a unique individual...just like everyone else.
Re:Damn it looks like it is slashdotted :( (Score:2)
You can get a bit more info about the project on this page [www.ing.dk] but unfortunately it's in danish.
It appears to use an Intel 386EX embedded CPU, a 4Mbyte Prom, 64Mbytes DRAM (in a standard simm), and a 10mbit ethernet interface.
I'm unable to get any idea of how big this thing actually is or how complex it's pcb is well from looking at diagrams i'd speculate it's about 6x4 inches...
If only i spoke danish
Re:Supercheap Linux system w/firewall (Score:3)
<p>It's so easy to set up that someone who'd never heard of UNIX can do it, and it's a dead reliable way of connecting your home/small office network or whatever to the net, AND it all fits on a floppy. Been connecting our house for about a year now, the only time it's gone down is when the floppy drive in our aging 486 broke.
Linux in a box? (Score:4)
Oh wait -- does anyone remember this Linux server in a box [jrcs.co.uk]? You also might be able to get Linux in a box at this site [linuxmall.com].
Be sure to check out:
There are simply not enough things that come in boxes. Just think how shameful it is for all that fruit to be sitting out there naked in the produce section at the grocery store...
Need small, cheap, *quiet* computing! (Webpads?) (Score:2)
would like building block systems. It would be
great to be able to buy systems for $300 - $400
that could be chained together to experiment with
distributed computing. The small and quiet are
for my studio apartment. If I had resources like
this, I could play with clusters and agents or
CODA. Anyone remember the Ergo brick? This is
what we need. Even better, computing could come
transmeta "slices". How cheap would a webpad be
if it had no LCD? Need more power in your cluster?
Just plug another slice into your cluster cabinet.
How small would a webpad be without display? You
could have a VCR sized chassis with 8 machines in
it.
-Dave
Embedded Processor Servers (Score:2)
Firewalls/Routers
Vanity Web Servers - Set up your family photos
Small Workgroup Servers
Intranet Servers (Internal Project Pages)
"Whiteboard" servers
CVS Servers
Basically anything that requires a cheap, small, server without a high load.
Re:That's nothin' (Score:1)
To help you in your quest for lower karma, please post the email where Rob claimed this.
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Is this... (Score:1)
QNX can boot from a 1.44 MB floppy... (Score:1)
Re:Damn it looks like it is slashdotted :( (Score:1)
--ian
Re:wow (Score:1)
--
cheap linux box (Score:2)
--cr@ckwhore
Re:What about the children? (Score:1)
You still don't have a "buddha spirit" (Score:1)
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I wonder... (Score:1)
Re:Linux in a box? (Score:1)
or, there's DJ In A Box [dyndns.org].
Re:Linux in a box? (Score:1)
Because a LOT of people here (including me) need one
Here's a better cache. (Score:3)
Re:Need small, cheap, *quiet* computing! (Webpads? (Score:1)
Need more space? plug in a harddrive module.
Need more processing? plug in a processor module.
The idea would be that everything is hot-swappable and come to life as soon as you've plugged it in.
(note that the modules don't have to be the size of the isolinear chips... its the idea tho).
You know what the biggest problem would be? Nine months after you've setup this system in your company, someone will create a new protocol and make the one you're using obsolete.. sigh.
;-)
Dr. Seuss running Linux... (Score:4)
Can you run it on a box?
And see how fast it overclocks?
Can you run it on a toaster?
Or run it on a roller coaster?
Can you run it on your phone?
And call your kernel far from home?
Can you run it on your watch?
Or pour some hot grits on your crotch?
linux in a box? (Score:1)
I grep, therefore I am
This is easy! (Score:5)
The procedure for making the EPROMS for the RTD PC-104 card [rtdusa.com] is as follows:
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/ram0 count=4096
mke2fs -vm0
mount -t ext2
cp -pxR
umount
dd if=/dev/ram0 bs=1k count=4096 | gzip -v9 >
Re:That's nothin' (Score:1)
BTW, even though the parent is at 0, my karma is still at 113 (at least it claims to be...)
What we truly need is Linux(tm) in a Lego(tm) (Score:3)
Imagine being able to snap together a Beowulf cluster. Run out of disk space, just snap on another RAID brick. Best of all, with the mindstorm attachments, you can watch the system upgrade itself when it needs more resources.
Just don't let your system have a credit card number or you may find it taking over your apartment today, and the world tomorrow....
Re:Linux in a wristwatch by IBM (Score:1)
I'd pay to see that.
______________
Levity is the antidote to Gravity.
Re:This is easy! (Score:1)
lurn too spel.
it's coloniel, not kernal
Just kidding (ducks)
seriously though, I'd like to run Linux on a PC104 card.. About how much are the cards? They never tell you the price on the mfgr's websites. I guess they are still trying to fit an old-world sales paradigm on a new-world product. Their loss.
also (Score:2)
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cachedot (Score:1)
could I suggest, that when the next big batch of cash comes in, slashdot expands by running all appropriate links for the last two days though a slashdot run cache system?
I propose, somewhat jokingly, that we call this feature cachedot
-Daniel
My $19.50 Linux Box (Score:1)
I found at a computer show a HP Vectra 486/66 desktop system w/8MB Ram, 400MB HD, embedded SVGA and sound for only $17.00. Add to that 2 ISA 10baseT network cards that I got for $1.25 bringing the total cost to $19.50.
I then did a network install of RH 6.1 - as mimimum as I could (about 125Mb) and poof - firewall, NAT server for a cable modem.
I plan on selling it to a cable modem using friend for a bit more than cost
Wrong procedure! (Score:3)
STEP 1: Connect unit to LAN through RJ45, apply power.
STEP 2: Unit discovers all local networking parameters by snooping, configures itself as a webserver on an unused address of the subnet (snoop to see its advertisement), and everything else is configured up through a browser.
STEP 3: There is no step 3, because *everything* should be programmable in step 2, including uploading kernels to onboard flash.
Yes, I know that the reason PC-104 cards tend to be as dumb and old-fashioned as they were 5 years ago is because in theory every extra facility adds a fractional cost to the product, but I can't help feel that the accountants aren't factoring in the cost of people's time, nor the likelihood of increased sales if the item is massively easy to use.
Re:cachedot (Score:1)
Some info from a Dane (Score:1)
If only i spoke danish :) I do...
It's 10x16 centimeters, so 4x6 inches is close enough.
Off my head it costs $250 for parts - some (as in all) assembly required. A few days ago I inquired about a price for an assembled system, but I have yet to get an answer. Will probably be a while now that they got /.'ed.
If you're into in-a-box stuff, like at what the CSimm [rt-control.com] (no affiliations) does. It's smaller (the whole darn thing fits in an old-style 30 pin ram-socket). Just bought two of those for running CLinux [uclinux.org]. They're pretty little Motorola Dragonballs (also powers the PalmPilot V series) with 8 Megs of RAM and 2 Megs of Flash and an ehternet chip. No sleep for me now :-)
Re:Wrong procedure! (Score:2)
PPP (Score:1)
Re:This is easy! (Score:1)
remember, Slackware runs on a 386. There a probably a ton of 386/486 PC-104 cards out there that somebody wants to unload.
Tiny Modern Hardware Is Good (Score:2)
Furthermore, it is not at all unlikely that something of 80386 vintage will seriously suck both for the purposes of servicing the LAN as well as for servicing a modem. On my newer (long retired) 80486 box, the UART couldn't cope well with a 28K modem; getting hardware for that now is liable to be a chore. Similar will be true for Ethernet; being limited to 10Base2 wouldn't kill me, as I use it to hook up my laptop, but a slow ISA card may actually hurt throughput.
I don't think this combo would work out terribly well to service a DSL or Cable Modem connection...
Re:Network (infrastructure) Appliance? (Score:1)
Re:Linux in a box? (Score:1)
Re:What about the children? (Score:1)
Re:What we truly need is Linux(tm) in a Lego(tm) (Score:1)
Re:Network (infrastructure) Appliance? (Score:1)
The webpage the previous poster pointed to should give you all the information you need and more. Start with the newbie-oriented howtos and help files. You'd just need a NIC for the 486. It doesn't even need a hard drive (though don't try running Squid or Samba off a floppy!) You don't need to edit any config files directly using LRP (though you can), since everything is wrapped in a console-based configuration utility. I'm a big fan of the LRP distribution.
Slashdot has killed the Linux in the box project (Score:1)
RIP http://www.liab.dk/
Don't forget the TINI (Score:1)
Oh - and did I mention you program it in Java - it has it's own virtual machine on board. Plus stacks of I/O - 4 serial, 1-wire, CAN, SBX, I2C, ethernet, parallel, etc. And all for only $50US
I'm using one for my final year project, and they are very cool.
- Lindsay
i-Opener Linux hack (Score:1)
http://www.linux-hacker.net/imod/imod.ht ml [linux-hacker.net]
Re:What we truly need is Linux(tm) in a Lego(tm) (Score:1)
Re:cheap linux box (Score:1)
Hmm...small OS's on small boxen? Again? (Score:1)
Am I going to be given a (0, flamebait) for this post?
*-depends on what version you downloaded.
Actually, there is a different application here (Score:1)
That's a different beast, though. All of the firewalling code relies on routing. A packet exists on one subnet (on one interface), and if certain conditions are met, it will be passed through to another subnet (on the other interface). This is great, but I think it would be better if this could be done with a bridge instead of a router. A company with a class A/B/C network has to split their net into multiple subnets for a router-based firewall to work, but not for a bridge-based firewall.
For some info on this technique, check out This link [bell-labs.com].
Since a bridge looks like a wire to the outside world (it has no effect on the topology of the network), a potential intruder won't know whether their packet has hit a firewall or not. A bridge that rejects a packet looks like the target machine (behind the firewall) is physically disconnected from the network. A traceroute won't identify the firewall (since the packets don't have to go through an IP "interface"), so that makes it harder for someone to figure out what machine to target for an attack.
I think that some of this functionality is available in the new 2.4x kernels, since they have disconnected the ethernet interfaces from the IP addresses (for other reasons). (This HOWTO [linuxdoc.org] has info on bridge/firewalling)
The next thing to do is to actually give a bridge an IP address - the same address for either NIC. You'd still have to know which "side" a packet comes from, for the firewalling to work. Once you have this setup, you can contact the machine (if you know its' address), but it doesn't show up if you try to contact something beyond it. Additionally, you can do things like have remote users (whose IP addresses change each time they dial in) use your SMTP/FTP/whatever boxes by authenticating to the brigde/firewall, and having the authentication script add a temporary IPChains-like entry for the dynamic address. That fixes a lot of the problems with spammers using relay hosts. (yes, this sounds a lot like a slightly modified proxy server)
Maybe this is a good separate topic for discussion on /.
Re:i-Opener Linux hack (Score:1)
http://www.linuxrouter.org/ (Score:1)
We've been doing this since 1996.
telnet?!?!? (Score:1)
Jason
Linux In A Box, from the creator! (Score:4)
I, Mikael Dich, the designer of the Linux In A Box microprocessor board, is pleased that the LIAB project has come up on www.slashdot.com! http://www.liab.dk has broken down due to the heavy load, so here is a little information:
The board uses i386EX at 25 MHz, 4 Mbyte of FLASH, up to 64 Mbyte of DRAM (72 pin), 10BASE-T, runs on 9-24V DC or AC, 8 watt, 150 grams, 4*6 inches.
I am cofounder of the company "LIAB Electronics I/S" which produces and sells assembled LIAB microprocessor boards. We deliver these boards complete with a CD-ROM, a Users Manual and a Hardware Reference. Price approx. $300. The CD-ROM contains all documentation, including sources for the bootloader, kernel patches, images for an inital ramdisc, schematics and plot files for the PCB. This documentation is free and everybody is free to manufacture their own LIABs. You may change the design and use it as you want. You may download pdf versions of the (draft) Users Manual and Hardware Reference on http://www.liab.dk
The LIAB board now runs both version 2.0.36 and 2.2.14 of the Linux kernel. At least ten different extension boards have been designed for the 64 pins I/O connector: a 12 bit A/D card, a relay/optoisolated I/O card, an MP3 player using the STA013 MP3 decoder chip, an IDE harddisk interface, an HPIB interface and a floppy interface. We are working on an simple USB host interface these days. The board is considere ideal for educational purposes.
Mikael Dich, midi@www.liab.dk
Wonder if they would include ... (Score:1)
until (succeed) try { again(); }
Re:Supercheap Linux system w/firewall (Score:1)
Re:What we truly need is Linux(tm) in a Lego(tm) (Score:1)
At least this would be a lot more colourful than the "grey goo" of nano-tech gone wrong :)
__
Floppies are unrealiable (Score:3)
-John
Re:That's nothin' (Score:1)
Re:That's nothin' (Score:2)
Re:The GPL (Score:1)
-thinkpol