NSLU2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The NSLU2 (Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives) is a device made by Linksys. It makes USB Flash memory or hard disk devices accessible over a network (NAS). The device runs a modified version of Linux and by default formats hard disks with the ext3 filesystem, but a firmware upgrade adds the ability to use NTFS and FAT32 formatted drives with the device for better Windows compatibility. The device has a web interface from which the various advanced features can be configured, including user and group permissions and networking options. The device shares attached drives over a network using the SMB protocol (also known as Windows file sharing).
The device has two USB 2.0 ports for connecting hard disks and uses an ARM-compatible Intel XScale CPU. In models manufactured prior to around April 2006, Linksys had, for an unknown reason, underclocked the processor to 133MHz, though a simple hardware modification to remove this restriction is possible. Later models (circa. May 2006) are clocked at the rated speed of 266MHz.
[edit] Community
As the device runs Linux, Linksys was required to release their source code as per the terms of the GNU General Public License. Due to the availability of source code and the relatively low cost of the device, there are several community projects centered around it. There are two main replacement firmwares available for the device: the first is Unslung which is based on the official Linksys firmware with some improvements and features added. The other is OpenSlug, which is based on the OpenEmbedded framework. OpenSlug allows users to re-flash the device with a minimal Linux system including an SSH server to allow remote access. Once installed, the operating system must be moved to an attached hard disk due to the lack of space available on the Flash memory. Once this has been done, a wide range of additional packages are available to be installed from an Internet repository. It is also possible to run Debian and Gentoo on the device.
The ability to run an unrestricted Linux OS on the device opens up a whole new range of uses. Some common uses are a web server, mail server, DAAP server (iTunes) and network router (with the attachment of a USB network interface).
