Unfortunate that this depends on apache. A stand alone version would be more general as many small linux installations don't include Apache.

Just add a cheapo keyboard and set up some simple scripts that run off commands like "gimme"

alias "gimme=umount /dev/sda1"

Cheers

Diarmuid

edit. Of course you will have to log in blind first!!!

Hi Guys,

Seagate have a very nice product based on the plug.

http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/external/freeagent/freeagent_dockstar

Acts as a docking station and also has 3 usb ports as well as ethernet.

Any ideas whether it could be updated with ubuntu. Comes with the PogoPlug software.

Diarmuid

Also, it allows larger usb memory cards, etc to be added. Some of the usb memory sticks are pretty wide.

westyd1982,

Those are nice numbers and go to show how much power (and heat) is created by the internal transformer.

Are these numbers pure 5 volt consumption or do they include some sort of voltage conversion.

3 to 4 watts is doable form a lithium polymer battery

Cheers

Diarmuid

What are the chances that the plug could be powered with an internal lithium ion battery ans still look pretty good. While the whole point of the system is to be plugged in, I think that such a small board lends itself to a portable application. The 5 volt Dc could easily be supplied by an external battery back, but that is not so compact.

An internal battery would work but would require a charger system as well.

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=726

and

http://www.sparkfun.com/commerce/product_info.php?products_id=8484

Would the plug work off 3.7 volt? I wonder whether the 2.5 V pins could be used. A DC step up unit could be used.

Diarmuid

Diarmuid

The case is easy to open. As stated, just remove the rubber feet, and unscrew the screws with a Philips head about 3 turns. They don't come out. So do each one in sequence one turn at a time until the halves come apart. The screws have little locking grommets that keep them in their half. Remember when putting them back to rotate back a turn until they click into the existing thread and then tighten away.

Has anyone tried to run the board on 5 volt direct. I'd be interested to know if the heat is from the transformer or is it from the board

Cheers

Diarmuid

www.bluekulu.com

I presume the two pin connector is for external power. 2.5 volt sees like an odd voltage. Any ideas why? and not 3.3 or 5? The the output power from the supplied transformer has not changed.
I'd say j11 is for bench testing the USB without having to have the connector on. Although that does kill my argument for J7 being used for this.

I think I have the EU version. It comes in a very sweet white box, and includes an ethernet cable, a two pin plug with  figure of eight connector for the Sheeva, a euro to UK (actually I'm in Ireland)  adapter and a male to male, USB A to mini usb cable. Also included was a figure of eight to UK plug lead. Nice,

The box even has little magnets for it to close with a snap. I've never come across a dev kit so well put together. It also had a CD that I haven't looked at yet. I could sell it to my customers as it is. I just need to add a custom sticker.

I wrote to Global Scale and asked them about the connectors and other stuff.

Henry Chiu, VP Sales and Marketing, was very helpful. These are the pin outs. Basically both uarts but one has  i2c also.

1.     J6

Pin1- GND (with white dot)

Pin2- UA0_RXD

Pin3- UA0_TXD

Pin4- RTS (SDA for I2C)

Pin5- CTS (SCK for I2C )

Pin6- +3.3V

 

2.     J7

Pin1- GND (with white dot)

Pin2- UA0_RXD

Pin3- UA0_TXD

Pin5- +3.3V

It would be interesting to see if these are extra uarts or are they connected with the USB. I think that the plan would be for these to be used in OEM versions that don't have USB slave connections in order for the boot params to be changed for kernel reloads etc

It is a devkit and as such needs to be treated with a bit of care. I digested the wiki over a few days and eventually was confident that I had a plan to get what I needed going. Eventually it was a 10 minute job to totally reflash the unit with a new kernel with additional modules and maybe another hour for my software to work (using apt-get, wget and build-essential).

I am  no linux genius and ARM has long been a no go area for ma as I mainly work with boards from PC engines and biffer board. However, as this board runs debian, software install and development is no more awkward than on an x86 board. I have tried boards from atheros (meraki, fon and open mesh) and found the resource constrains to much for my python  based system. Ditto using the NSLU2. This is the first ARM product that I feel has the power to be a proper network server.

Hi,

I opened up the plug today after a successful weekend programming etc. The unit will do what I want and I am now looking at the next step to create a product based on this hardware.

The board says Power Plug v1.3. It doesn't look like the other internal shots I've seen. On the side with the power connector, there is a battery, sdio card slot, usb cionnector and ethernet, minu usb . More importantly, there are two connectors. the first has 4 pins and is labeled UART J6 and the other has 6 pins and labeled j7.

What are these and will these be available on the non devkit boards. Would these be used to connect to the boards to flash them?

There is also a 2 pin connector called j2 and a JTAG. Also it looks like the silkscreen is set up for either a conventional serial port or more likely a VGA connector. The board is all one without the separate daughter board.



Thanks

Diarmuid 

Thanks allot,

I wonder is the CPU board available on its own without the "plug" part?

Diarmuid

Hi,

I wonder if anyone else has ordered developer kits from Global Scale. How long did they take to arrive? I'm in Ireland and it's now over two weeks since I put in the order.  Is it slow because of the UK plug option I took

Cheers

Diarmuid