[Durham] Dream Plug

[Andrew Glass]

Hi Guys

Thanks for your replies - much to think about.  However I have found out a
friend has one so Ive borrowed it to have a go and see what its like.  Hes
got his own build of gentoo on it at the moment however I can swap the
memory card as hes also given me the flat install provided with the device
originally which is ubuntu.  He says its ok but I'll have a play over the
next few days and let you know what the Dreamplug is like.  It looks to be
of a decent build, although he did say it can be a bit wobbly when setting
up but once its running he says its very stable.

I'll report more about it soon.

Ill also be down the linux meeting this tuesday if anyone would like to
have a look at it I will bring it with me :)

Cheers

Andy

On 11 November 2011 13:29, Richard Mortimer <richm at oldelvet.org.uk> wrote:

> Hi,
>
>
> On 11/11/2011 12:27, Andrew Glass wrote:
>
>> Hello everyone!
>>
>> Has anyone got or used one of these before??
>>
>> http://newit.co.uk/shop/**proddetail.php?prod=Deb_**DreamPlug<http://newit.co.uk/shop/proddetail.php?prod=Deb_DreamPlug>
>>
>> Really fancy getting one to run as my router/firewall and wireless ap
>> with dns/squid etc
>>
>> Best get saving up for one as they are £115
>>
>>
> I don't have one but I must admit that my experiences with Globalscale
> aren't exactly great. I do have a GuruPlug (the previous model before
> DreamPlug) and it has/had a number of flaws. Maybe these have been fixed
> with the DreamPlug but I'll list them and let you make up your own mind.
>
> - First off check out the NewIT forums they often have good information
> and you will likely get a feel for problems people are having.
>
> Guru Plug Notes
>
> - The hardware delivered 6 months+ late. I had made the mistake of
> pre-ordering (I did have the option of cancelling from NewIT - so no
> complaints about NewIT) and it turns out that Globalscale had big problems
> with their engineering.
>
> - In the end they fixed their cooling issues on the "silent" computer by
> building a hovercraft into it. Not exactly great.
>
> - Globalscale give 30 days warranty on the device. If you look on their
> site you'll find that they claim that they are development boards and not
> end user boards. I'm not sure how that translates to NewIT because they are
> selling in the UK and are hence subject to consumer laws here. But
> basically the manufacturer doesn't expect it to last more than 30 days.
>
> - uboot was incomplete at best. The supplied uboot image didn't support
> booting from much of the onboard hardware. To my knowledge GS haven't
> released an updated version and the suggested advice seems to be patch
> uboot yourself.
>
> - jtag - you'll likely need access to a board if you mess up uboot
> upgrade. it also is the way that you get at serial console connections so
> install may be difficult without it.
>
> - jtag - when I have had to use this I find it take about 20 attempts
> (over an hour) to reflash uboot via jtag. I've done a lot of work in the
> past with low level bios/firmware so I'm no numpty doing this. The hardware
> just seems to have rubbish poweron sequencing etc.
>
> - wifi - beware of binary blob modules. The guruplug uses the libertas
> driver but you have to find magic modules and you need different blobs to
> use it as an access point or as a client. From memory a reboot is required
> to change blobs too. This might be better with newer kernels but with
> wheezy it certainly wasn't great.
>
> DreamPlug may be different but personally I will think very carefully
> before buying another Globalscale product.
>
>
> Regards
>
> Richard
>
>
>
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Many thanks and cheers! :)

Andrew
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