Software-Defined Radio Remotely Using A Linux Wall wart

July 9, 2012 by Mike Szczys 18 Comments

Here’s a interesting idea; if the hardware seen above is dropped at a location, you can monitor radio signals remotely via the Internet. [MS3FGX] has been toying with the idea for a little while now. He wanted to use a DVB dongle with a portable Linux solution to offer Software-Defined Radio (SDR) capability without the need to actually be there.

The white box is a PWN Plug, a branded version of the SheevaPlug. The black dongle that plugs into it is a DVB tuner dongle. It’s meant to receive television signals over the radio, but recently the hardware has been used as a simple way to implement SDR. Combine the two (along with the antenna), stir in a network connection, and you’ve got a remote listening post. What can you listen to? Just about anything that’s within the dongle’s bandwidth range. [MS3FGX] mentions walkie-talkie traffic and pager signals, to name just two.

He even wrote an installation script that gets you up and running in no time.

GuruPlug, The Next Generation Of SheevaPlug

February 8, 2010 by Mike Szczys 50 Comments

Meet GuruPlug, an all-in-one server that is now available for pre-order. This is the next generation of the popular SheevaPlug that features some added goodies. The base model sells for the same $99 and appears to have the same specs as the original but for $30 more, the GuruPlug Server PLUS moves to 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports, one eSATA connector, and built-in WiFi and Bluetooth. All of this for $129 and it only pulls 5 watts? Wow.

Update: Thanks to [Foerdi] and to [Phil Burgess] for the pointing out that the hardware diagram on the features page shows WiFi and Bluetooth for both models.

[Thanks Chris]

SheevaPlug PBX

January 20, 2010 by Caleb Kraft 25 Comments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIcTWya7TQA&feature=player_embedded]

[Greg] has been working on a version of Debian/ FreePBX/ Asterisk for people to be able to drop onto a SheevaPlug. If you haven’t seen it, the SheevaPlug is a tiny computer housed in a wall plug. They made some waves when they were announced last year, and we’ve spoken of them several times. [Greg] is offering up the operating system in a pre configured format for SD cards so you can just download it and drop it in your SheevaPlug. Yeah, there’s a little bit of work to do before it will boot, which you can see in the video above. Thanks for sending this in [Greg], keep up the good work.

OpenPogo, An Alternative To Pogoplug Software

August 21, 2009 by Matt Schulz 21 Comments

pogoplug

Many of us heard the news of Marvell’s SheevaPlug plug-in PC being released alongside its consumer solution counterparts. One of the prominent products based on the SheevaPlug hardware is the Pogoplug. The Pogoplug is essentially a no-configuration media server that allows you to plug in a hard drive and network cable to make data readily available anywhere you have Internet access. It’s a great idea, but the underlying software is closed source, limiting the demographic of the device to consumers who are happy with an out-of-the-box solution. Enter OpenPogo, a solution for people who want a bit more control over their device. OpenPogo gives users more say over what their Pogoplug does; from running a torrent client to a web server to a Ruby on Rails server. The possibilities for the device are limitless, and OpenPogo makes turning our ideas into reality it just that much easier.

Hackit: SheevaPlug

April 29, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 59 Comments

plugserv

A few months ago, we introduced the SheevaPlug, a 1.2GHz ARM processor with 512Mb of RAM, 2 usb ports, an ethernet port, and an SD card slot. In that article, we asked: “What would you do with one?”. We received tons of responses, 118 comments and counting. Scientific American had a similar idea and asked some “hackers”(MIT students) what they would do with it (thanks, grisspy). We thought maybe we would weigh in with our opinions. Join us after the break and in the comments.

Continue reading “Hackit: SheevaPlug” →

SheevaPlug, Tiny Linux Server

February 25, 2009 by Caleb Kraft 132 Comments

plugserv

This little wall plug is actually a full computer with 1.2GHz cpu, with 512MB of RAM and 512MB of of flash memory. It comes with versions of linux, ported for its ARM processor. At $50, this cool system could be finding itself in a lot of homes. You can get more information from the manufacturer. What uses can you think of for it?

[thanks, everyone who sent this in]