A while ago the KuroBox got replaced with a Atom based Zotac machine, which is performing fantastically as
a XBMC machine. I still wanted something really low power to leave on all the time as a network storage/media storage device.
After some reading I settled on getting a TonidoPlug 2 – it’s barely bigger than a 2.5″ drive, draws 1.2 watts of power and it’s a full ARM based Linux machine! The perfect home server and hopefully plenty of scope for poking around and experimenting.
Goals
There are a few goals for this box:
- Always on media server
- NAS for backups and other general file sharing
- MythTV backend if possible
Out of the box
Out of the box pretty much all of the goals listed above are achievable, but everything including the kernel was a bit out of date. For general file sharing this doesn’t present too much of a headache, but for MythTV I’ve found it’s generally better to be able to keep up to date. After a few attempts at compiling my own kernels (a project I intend to revisit soon) I found that ArchLinux had recently announced official support for the Tonodio Plug 2. So ArchLinux step up to the stage – http://archlinuxarm.org/platforms/armv5/tonidoplug-2!
Installation went like a breeze and it was simply case case of following through the documented install process. In no time at all I was up and running in a shiny new stock ArchLinux install.
Concerns
I’ve not used ArchLinux before, but everything seems pretty familiar. The notes on upgrading packages (here) scare me slightly and remind me far too much of my experiences with Gentoo, but I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve done a few system upgrades as and when necessary.
MythTV
Getting MythTV up and running was pretty simply and has been running pretty well, bar one or two very small niggles. I’ve dedicated a separate post to my experiences.
