GuruPlug

[hari]

Hi folks,

The "mini" variant of LinuxMCE, aka "Standalone DCE" runs very nice on a Guru Plug. It is the successor of the Sheevaplug. 1,2GHz ARM, 512MB RAM, 512MB NAND flash + other goodies. Perfect low power platform (<10W) for DCE. It is even powerful enough to do a native compilation: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/GuruPlug.

Just testing the unit with a Tricklestar Z-Wave stick, behaves quite well so far, very fast in comparison to the http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Mini2440

br Hari

[bulek]

Hi folks,

The "mini" variant of LinuxMCE, aka "Standalone DCE" runs very nice on a Guru Plug. It is the successor of the Sheevaplug. 1,2GHz ARM, 512MB RAM, 512MB NAND flash + other goodies. Perfect low power platform (<10W) for DCE. It is even powerful enough to do a native compilation: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/GuruPlug.

Just testing the unit with a Tricklestar Z-Wave stick, behaves quite well so far, very fast in comparison to the http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Mini2440

br Hari

Hi,

on Wiki page, there is a link to article about heating problems with Guruplug. I've just checked data about Guruplug Server Plus

http://www.newit.co.uk/shop/proddetail.php?prod=GuruPlug-ServerPlus
and there is a note about :

This unit contains a small fan to aid in heat dissipation.

Is this fan present in older units? Is this a solution to described heating problems? Or do they exists also with that fan being present all the way ?
 
Thanks in advance,

regards,
Bulek.

[hari]

my unit runs quite hot but did not show any issues caused by that till now..

br Hari

[bulek]

my unit runs quite hot but did not show any issues caused by that till now..

br Hari

Does your unit have mentioned fan ? Beside this - is it stable ?

Thanks in advance,
regards,
Bulek.

[hari]

Does your unit have mentioned fan ? Beside this - is it stable ?

Thanks in advance,
regards,
Bulek.

no fan, but it is stable (when not using Gig-E).

br Hari

[tkteun]

Wow, I was looking for this.
I have a Guruplug which is my router/storage/pbx and I felt like it's time to add home automation and media streaming to that list.

When I got the unit I turned it on and it immediately started heating up, after 30 minutes of uboot I burned my finger on the usb ports. So I took the 30 day warranty sticker off it and noticed how the power supply is choking the processor leaving absolutely no ventilation room. After some craftsmanship I came up with this:

picasaweb.google.nl teunkloosterman/Guruplug?authkey=Gv1sRgCLalltCt6Z7JxAE (not allowed links on first post

Cost me about € 7 and it has been running eversince. At first I tried it without the fan but it got above 50 degrees C. within minutes, now it has quite a nervous fan in it, almost like the old xbox, but no heat problems what so ever.

I am using e-sata II (2TB 3.5" external PSU), 2,5" 320GB (usb powered, 500mA), 8GB Class6 microSD (mounted on /usr for apps), 2x Gigabit bridged with Wireless WPA2 AES, Bluetooth.
Also, I'm currently running iptables (about 60 rules in 5 tables), squid (transparent port 80), apache (with webmin), asterisk (landline), OpenVPN and SabNZBd+.

The only thing I'm quite disappointed about is the CPU performance on gzip/bzip etc., it drives the CPU wa time to 100%. I tried gzip'ing 50MB, took about 10 minutes or so. Funny thing is that unrar'ing with sabnzbd really doesn't take that much time. I guess the unrar application uses the CPU, while gzip makes use of the cryptographic coprocessor, never really tried.

I also have the 'professional' upgrade kit which consists of a tiny fan between the psu and usb ports, 3/4 of the fan is blocked by plastic, so I didn't use it.

I really urge people to do something like I did!!! DO NOT USE THE ORIGINAL UNIT!

Anyways, I'm glad I found this topic, somebody should link the Guruplug wiki site to: Category:Cores

[valent]

GuruPlug looks like a great companion to LinuxMCE if you want to do only home automation without multimedia so this fits my home project.

Hari is it possible to install mini LinuxMCE on Tonidoplug (Sheevaplug) hardware also or not?

Are there any EU shops where from Guruplug can be bought from?

[nite_man]

There is an another interesting plug PC - Stratus++. It has built-in Z-Wave adapter. So, you don't need to buy USB one.

Hari, how you control your GuruPlug? Do you have some GUI for that?

[tkteun]

@Valent: I'd look for the Dreamplug: http://www.globalscaletechnologies.com/p-41-dreamplug-devkit.aspx

This has a lot better housing and removable power supply so it hasn't got all the problems of the Guruplug. Also, it has integrated audio.

In the EU (UK) there's: http://www.newit.co.uk/

[valent]

Guys have you seen RaspberryPi: http://www.raspberrypi.org/ ?
This thing id dirt cheap (25$), and my guess is that it would run ARM version of Fedora and LinuxMCE.

[tkteun]

It definitely looks nice, I hope they'll be able to maintain that price when they eventually market it.

But since there already are working prototypes I hope/think there won't be any delays.

One thing though, for LinuxMCE it would be nice to have native networking instead of having to plug everything in a USB hub.

Why do all manufacturers think I really like to shuffle MicroSD's around?

Drop the SD, give back gigabit Ethernet and 2 USB ports. Okay, maybe keep the webcam. Of course in good taste...

[anh25721]

Hi Hari,
Why did you need to use a Tricklestar Z-Wave stick as it has its own z-wave module ?
Thank
Robert

[tkteun]

The AzureWave chip handles WiFi and Bluetooth, I don't think it's capable of 900 MHz operation.

[hari]

Hi Hari,
Why did you need to use a Tricklestar Z-Wave stick as it has its own z-wave module ?
Thank
Robert

the guru plug has no z-wave. I'm using another plug now, same hardware, but with z-wave.

br Hari

[valent]

Which one are you using Hari?