AMB Laboratories DIY Audio

[linux-works]

on sale today here (today only, I think):

http://1saleaday.com/

look for seagate dockstar. its some media sharing device thing. of interest 'to us' is the fact that it can be hacked to run linux in an open way; this gets you an ethernet interface (think: webserver and remote control over the web) and a cpu+ram+flash that can do basic things once you hack it.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ecc/dockstar-howto.html

http://ahsoftware.de/dockstar/

its very cheap, today ($18!).

I have not tried this yet (just ordered one, though, lol) but its so cheap, it was hard to resist. hoping I can get serial and maybe i2c working from this to another arduino.

[DorkVader]

Wow, this is really an interesting thought.

Recently, I loaded up an old computer I had with some spare hard drives and I'm burning an Ubuntu server CD now, so this is really in the forefront of my thinking at the moment.

The only reason I'm not buying one immediately is because I don't have any USB hard drives to connect it to. I'll probably wait until I have a real need for it and the price is low again. Until then, I'm putting the $18 I'm saving into the projects fund.
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This is pretty exciting, thanks for the info.

[linux-works]

my thought is to have it boot via usb thumbdrive, not spinning drive; or better yet, onboard flash (if possible). I haven't even started reading up on it yet. first thing: get some hardware, THEN worry about how to use it (lol).

I spent some time with the official arduino ethernet shield (wiznet tcp/ip on a chip module) and I'm just not in love with it. its too minimal and there's one HUGE omission that kind of renders it worthless for all but pure research: it has no security (access lists or anything). these days, I'm not sure its wise to put things 'on the network' unless you can lock them down in at least the minimal way. the arduino shield will let anyone in with no authentication or accept/reject lists. its just too simplistic and its also a bit 'pin grabby' (lol) for my taste (it demands you give up pins 10,11,12,13; yes, even the led13 pin you have to give up). and the ethernet arduino shield is over $30, give or take.

I'm thinking that any useful real-world web-enabled back-end has to have some kind of unix kernel in it or other 'serious' RTOS. the arduino and the ip-on-a-chip just isn't enough to be usable in the real world (unless your network is fully captive and secured on its own). these PLUG based systems seem to have enough basic components to be useful as controller back-ends or even controllers themselves (if you can afford their space/footprint). if you can afford their physical space, then you get a real IP stack, real IP security (iptables or other firewall tech), a semi real webserver and perhaps even a mini database, too. that's a HUGE upgrade over the arduino based IP/web solution.

there could be a serial or maybe i2c link between this PLUG style system and the arduino-land modules via an lcduino. the lcduino would still be the main controller but it would talk to the 'web back-end' box via some serial or i2c link and exchange a simple protocol for remote control and status. or something to that effect.

anyway, I ordered one to play around with. who knows if it will be useful, but it was a cheap enough price that I wanted to grab one now and try it later

[linux-works]

another cheap embedded linux board is on sale: the 'pink pogoplug':

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033WSDR4

normally its about twice that price but its no sale now for about $45

you can hack it ('plug linux') and its very similar to the dockstar but has more RAM and an internal power supply.

I do have one of the dockstars and also one of the pink pogos; I plan to make this kind of board a general web front-end for various controller projects.

fwiw

[DorkVader]

I was considering buying that earlier, but didn't because of the price. Thanks for keeping us abreast of the great deals!

Any idea how easy it would be to paint the pink one? I wouldn't want it to mess up the exclusive black/blue/beige theme I have going on now.

Right now, I have three spare computers. I'm going to turn one into an alarm clock to wake me up later.

[linux-works]

I have disassembled the dockstar but have not taken the pink pogo apart. not yet

the dockstar had some pins that I soldered to for the tty/console. you are able to interrupt the boot sequence (like grub) and get control of things that way. a must-have. what's funny is that you can use the $20 arduino cable (the ftdi usb/serial cable) for all these hackable routers and things. my asus router is like that, too, I've opened it and soldered a header adapter so that I can plugin that arduino cable and get serial console of the booting linux box (asus wrt router).

dockstar has pins you can solder to and so does the pogo, so I'll open that one, too, someday.

my intention is to remove any shell and remount the board inside something else. so the pink pogo plastic (lol) is not relevant.

[linux-works]

wow, found the solution to choppy audio! so exciting!

http://plugapps.com/forum/viewtopic.php ... 6&start=10

that asound.conf file was key. geeze!!

I'm now using a burr brown pcm chip as the usb audio output (what I had on hand) and its perfect sounding.

very encouraging, indeed. usb-audio chopping is now de-chopped

[linux-works]

that's the dockstar guts. note the cpu does not even HAVE a heatsink on it!

I'm using a nokia phone cable adapter (on the ribbon cable) that I hacked. that was a $3 ebay item that uses a starndard PL2303 serial chipset. 3 wires are simply tx, rx and gnd; at 3.3v levels. when you boot the linux board, that wire is the 'console' and you can interrupt the boot sequence, login, etc. that is also the 'way out' of the system for lcduino control (my plans, anyway).

also shown is the gamma1 usb/spdif converter box. red light means its enjoying some flac music

when on sale, this dockstar is in the $20 range. the flash drive and the usb/spdif dongle are the only real expenses and you may already have those onhand.

[dsolodov]

Cool.

What are the difficulties with software, if any?

[linux-works]

if you install 'pogo linux' then things seem to work. so far, at least.

its not as easy as ubuntu or any of the main distros, though.

I will probably make a large tarball or zipfile of the thumbdrive and people can just download that whole thing and boot from it. I've installed mpd and all the other audio related things to make it play back mp3, flac and some others. if anyone wants that I can upload a copy. it would be an easy starting point, at least, as a preconfigured system disk, essentially.