[clug] Sheevaplug (Was: Two 'development kits' - $3000 'E Ink' and $99 Wal-Wart)

[Paul TBBle Hampson]

Thread necromancy, I know, but I just came across this device last week,
and had the exact same worry.

On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 02:32:07PM +1100, Robert Edwards wrote:
> James Greenhalgh wrote:
> >Hi Steve,
> >On Thu, Feb 26, 2009 at 1:32 PM, steve jenkin <sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au> wrote:
> >>Anyone seen these developer/prototype kits or know more??

> >>-----------------------------------------------------------
> >>>From Marvell (US$99)

[SheevaPlug]

> Wasn't clear from their webpage if this thing would run on 240VAC
> 50Hz, or not. Also wasn't clear if it uses powerline signalling,
> or if you need to use the Bluetooth and/or the wired Ethernet port
> for connectivity.

> If anyone knows, please let me know.

Martin Michlmayr's got some pictures up at [1], and in one of them you
can clearly see a stick indicating that it's 100V-240V and 50/60Hz.

And the socket prongs are removable, revealing a standard figure-8
cable.

I very nearly ordered one myself, but I don't have the time right now so
I might hold off and see if the Australian dollar gets any better.
Another guy at work is interested too, and we noticed that the shipping
costs for two at once are much better than ordering individually. So if
anyone's thinking about getting one, a bulk order might be on.

As for it being a wall-plug rather than a tiny computer, it serves two
purposes. It's a demo of the plug-computing thing Marvell seem to be
rather keen on, and I must say I like it as an idea. If could power my
printer off USB and this thing had wireless built in, it'd be a perfect
network print server.

It's also a cheap demo platform for the Kirkwood chipset, Marvell's
replacement for the Orion, which powers a whole bunch of Linux-based NAS
devices (eg. the various "NSLU2-killers")

The actual chipset's pretty cool. SATA, USB, gigabit ethernet, PCIE, TDM
(POTS) or MPEG-TS or a second gigabit ethernet or just GPIO pins,
it's a pretty neat little platform. It'd make, for example, a neat base
for a plug-computer Asterix/Freeswitch PABX with two directly-connected
lines. Hell, with a DVB-T tuner attached to the MPEG pins, it'd make a
fairly neat (and cheap) MythTV box.

I'm actually hoping to pick up a four-port NAS box based on this
chipset, if QNap would just hurry and announce one. (They have the one
and two-port versions announced, TS-119 and TS-219, and they run Linux.
QNap've been quite supportive of people's efforts in the past to install
their own Linux. The Orion-based predecessors can be run under stock
Debian Lenny, the 4-port NAS box in that series was seen around for
AU$600-AU$700 and I stupidly thought "I'll grab that next time...")

[1] http://www.cyrius.com/debian/kirkwood/sheevaplug/gallery.html

-- 
-----------------------------------------------------------
Paul "TBBle" Hampson, B.Sc, LPI, MCSE
Very-later-year Asian Studies student, ANU
The Boss, Bubblesworth Pty Ltd (ABN: 51 095 284 361)
Paul.Hampson at Pobox.com

Of course Pacman didn't influence us as kids. If it did,
we'd be running around in darkened rooms, popping pills and
listening to repetitive music.
 -- Kristian Wilson, Nintendo, Inc, 1989

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/au/
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