Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

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Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby rashomon » Wed May 11, 2011 10:52 pm

I'm planning to buy a Pogoplus Pro P01 and install Arch Linux ARM install. This would be my first Linux-powered ARM device and I plan to use it as an Asterisk and a backup server with an external hard drive. I'm not buying the recommended SheevaPlug since it has only 1 USB port and P01 also has WiFi built in.

I've read the hardware page on the wiki to find out what I will miss out on:
    Memory: 128 MB. I can build a swap file/partition in order to overcome this.
    Storage: 128 MB. What is the use of this storage? Since I will be installing Linux on external drive, does this internal storage contain only the bootloader? In that case 128 MB for bootloader is sufficient.
    No JTAG: Since I've no knowledge of hardware, what is JTAG's use? After reading installation instructions, it doesn't look like I need JTAG in order to install Arch Linux ARM install.
    Not a Sheeva Processor: Are there packages that I will not be able to install/use because the Processor is not Marvell Sheeva?

Thanks for answering all my newbie-type questions.
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Re: Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby WarheadsSE » Thu May 12, 2011 12:26 am

Memory: correct observation
Storage: again correct. This essentially just stores the kernel.
JTAG: Actually we're identified the JTAG port as HD5 on the board, just no header, and it is *not* needed to install.
Applications: Everything that runs on the Sheeva/Marvell is an armv5te and runs perfectly on the Pro's armv6l
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Re: Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby rashomon » Thu May 12, 2011 1:42 am

Thanks for clearing all my doubts. I plan to buy a P01 soon and install Arch Linux ARM install on it using a 2GB USB flash drive. If all goes well, I will do the same with a 1TB external drive. Your website has lot of helpful documentation for new users like me.
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Re: Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby d1dd1 » Thu May 12, 2011 4:38 am

The dual core cpu and using a sata hdd (internal sata port) gives a significant performance boost compared to the PogoPlug Pink / Seagate Dockstar.

I'm using the PPP mainly for FTP transfers (using filezilla via xvfb and tightvnc and icewm) and media sharing (minidlna) and it works great !
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Re: Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby slycat » Thu May 12, 2011 7:27 am

Pro user here. Haven't used any of the other devices discussed on these forums, but I can say I have mine running hard 24/7 as a
Torrent server (transmission-cli)
Printer sever (cups)
Network storage (samba)
Media Server for xbox (minidlna)

Along with other functions while these are running like FLAC conversions (ffmpeg) and using SFTP/SCP transfers to connect from school and friend's houses so we can all share the torrent server ^_^

I've got the OS on a jumpdrive and the storage on a 1TB Seagate usb drive (with hd-idle to save some power). Easy setup for the most part but can get tricky if you're not too big on using a terminal, but I'm sure you can make it work. If all else fails, PM me dude.
Pogoplug Pro w/ Wireless User -> decomm.
Cubox-i4pro User
4TB eSATA HDD (8g/3700+ Sw/Storage)
Kodi / Transmission / Minidlna / Samba / Batch-audio-conversions / Lighttpd
------------------------------
Rollback Machine - Thanks to impatt
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Re: Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby WarheadsSE » Thu May 12, 2011 1:47 pm

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rashomon', 'T')hanks for clearing all my doubts. I plan to buy a P01 soon and install Arch Linux ARM install on it using a 2GB USB flash drive. If all goes well, I will do the same with a 1TB external drive. Your website has lot of helpful documentation for new users like me.

Please just remember:
While flash drives work perfectly well, 90% of the developers plugs actually run on USB attached (well, Mine are all SATA ;) ) drives, because they have a longer life span and are more fault tolerant. And by all means necessary do not put swap on a flash drive
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Re: Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby slycat » Thu May 12, 2011 5:40 pm

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('WarheadsSE', '
')Please just remember:
While flash drives work perfectly well, 90% of the developers plugs actually run on USB attached (well, Mine are all SATA ;) ) drives, because they have a longer life span and are more fault tolerant. And by all means necessary do not put swap on a flash drive


I had done this before with the chroot method and even the rebuild (with the ./fixlibs.sh requirement) method, but seeing as how a *LOT* of the previous documentation suggested running the OS on a flash and mounting storage on /opt or other, I loaded all my files to a flash.

I plan to run a backup of my plug thus far and possibly load the backup on my 1TB drive, free up a usb port, but I'll have the drive running constantly throughout the night (its a desktop drive so it plugs into the wall, power-hog).

Is there a way to edit the fstab to increase the life of the flash drive (i.e. add a noatime option on a certain slot)? My current fstab:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
# /etc/fstab: static file system information
#
# <file system> <dir> <type> <options> <dump> <pass>
devpts /dev/pts devpts defaults 0 0
shm /dev/shm tmpfs nodev,nosuid 0 0
#### Next are external 1TB storage device
/dev/sdb3 swap swap defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb2 /media/Harddrive ext3 defaults 0 0
/dev/sdb1 /media/NAS ntfs defaults 0 0
')
Pogoplug Pro w/ Wireless User -> decomm.
Cubox-i4pro User
4TB eSATA HDD (8g/3700+ Sw/Storage)
Kodi / Transmission / Minidlna / Samba / Batch-audio-conversions / Lighttpd
------------------------------
Rollback Machine - Thanks to impatt
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Re: Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby rashomon » Thu May 12, 2011 7:18 pm

Good that you pointed out the Internal SATA port otherwise I would have bought a USB-only external drive. I know, I would have to open up the case to use the SATA port but it would be faster.
Just wanted to have the opinion of members here whether it worth buying a white-label hard drive like this http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=150519112706 along with a 3-year Squaretrade warranty?
Or is it better to buy a hard drive enclosure and fit a WD Drive (that comes with 3 year warranty) into it?
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Re: Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby pepedog » Thu May 12, 2011 7:51 pm

I am a big WD fan, but google wd20ears first.
I can't find energy to work out problem, but it might be spin down issues.
Guess what drive I have?
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Re: Disadvantages of Pogoplug Pro?

Postby rashomon » Fri May 13, 2011 5:31 am

Seagate ST2000DL003 looks more "green" as far as power consumption goes and its users seem to be facing lesser issues than wd20Tears.
Does anyone have a suggestion for a hard drive enclosure for 3.5" SATA drive? Or just any enclosure will do?
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