Need help getting started

[kws]

I'm brand new to this and want to make sure I'm on the right path before risking bricking my pogoplug. This is what I'm hoping to do ...... Have a gray pogoplug and want to be able to movies and music on an external harddrive by setting up a smb share on my ATV2 that I've installed XBMC on by jailbreaking with Greenposi0n. To do this, do I need to install the "official Arch Linux ARM install linux" on it by following the instructions on "Install on Pogoplug V2 Pink" and then install "Samba" by following the instructions on "Application:Samba"? If I do this, will the Arch Linux ARM install linux be installed in a USB flashdrive for booting and then I can map to any harddrive plugged into any of the other USB ports on the pogoplug? Or do they need to be formatted as ext2 drives as well? If I unplug the USB Flashdrive, will the PogoPlug be back to stock or is it permanently overwritten? My apologies if these are basic questions - I've been searching and googleing and this looks like it might do what I want. I'm always willing to experiment and try something new - have to start somewhere. Thanks so much for any assistance or direction you can provide.

[WarheadsSE]

Welcome kws,

In regards to getting Arch Linux ARM running (official distribution name as of 01/2011), you are correct in that you should follow the same instructions as the V2, and in how it works. Once you have that in place and have configured Samba [pacman -Sy samba and configure] you will be able to map drives as you standardly would a Windows share.

The drives attached are not required to be ext2 formatted, only the boot volume, as the u-boot bootloader doesn't understand many file systems. Other attached drives can be formatted as NTFS, ext3, ext4, etc.

For any future requests, feel free to us the forums, or contact us via IRC. There is a webchat link on the Wiki main page that will jump you straight to our IRC channel on Freenode.

As an aside, in the future, please use more formatting, a jumbled mess can be hard to follow.

[kws]

Thanks WarheadsSE - much appreciated. Will give it a go.

[kws]

I'm pleased to say I successfully installed Arch Linux ARM install linux and samba on my pogoplug. Thanks to leming on IRC - great patience and support.

The one element I'm still struggling with is the configuration of Samba to access my drives that I'm hoping someone can help me with.

I used the sample configuration for the smb.conf file but was unable to access the drive with the following:
path = /tmp/.cemnt/mnt_sdb1/
When I changed it to path = /tmp I was successful but don't think this is right.

Would like to be able to add additional drives and have access to all of them but not sure how to do that.

Any advice on how to properly configure the smb.conf file to do this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[WarheadsSE]

Unless the CE Pogoplug service is running, you will not have the /tmp/.cemnt directory.

You're likely better off using /media/sdXX

[kws]

Thanks.

Just to make sure I understand, my smb.conf should include something like this if I have 2 separate drives?
[USB 1]
path = /media/sdb1/
read only = no
public = yes
writable = yes
force user = root

[USB 2]
path = /media/sdc1/
read only = no
public = yes
writable = yes
force user = root

[WarheadsSE]

Sure, that would work well.

[BinaryJay]

I like to just share out my /media folder where everything mounts to. That way, when I plug in another drive temporarily to get something quickly on/off then it's available everywhere.

[kws]

Unfortunately it didn't work. I couldn't access either drive.
BinaryJay - are you saying that if I just set path = /media then any USB drive I attach will be automatically accessible and shared?
Thanks again for all the advice.

[BinaryJay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('kws', 'U')nfortunately it didn't work. I couldn't access either drive.
BinaryJay - are you saying that if I just set path = /media then any USB drive I attach will be automatically accessible and shared?
Thanks again for all the advice.