My TonidoPlug Died :-(
I have been using a TonidoPlug since February 2010. It has been running next to a PogoPlug v. 1.0. On the whole, I’ve used the TonidoPlug more. I find it more flexible, and it’s software suite has been very useful. I’ve used the blog application as a replacement for delicious.com and the bit torrent client has been very useful. Obviously, the file sharing has been the primary application. Although, this is one place where the Pogoplug shines brighter than the TonidoPlug. The Pogoplug file sharing is straight forward to use and easy to set up. It’s dead simple to share a file or directory with someone else without setting them up with an access account. The Tonido file sharing is not as intuitive, but it works. Tonido has been steadily improving the software over the last year, and now third party applications are starting to appear.
So, after not being able to connect to my plug I checked it and found the LEDs dark and the plug cold. No doubt a fried power supply. Unfortunately, I’m three months beyond the hardware warranty. I am going to see what else is out there before buying another TonidoPlug. But, in the end, I may very well buy another.
Do you have any experience with other plug computers? Newer Pogoplugs?
A Few Plug Computing Links
PlugIN to the Marvell Plug Computer Ecosystem and Meet Inventors of the Plug Computer
Amahi ‘Plug Edition’ Released – Brings Amahi Home Server to Plug Computers
The Future of the $99 Server and Birth of Reverse Virtualization
Plug Computer gets Amahi server and a developer camp all its own
Cheap Linux wall warts small on size, big on possibilities
Seagate DockStar Woot! Deal
If you have a Seagate FreeAgent Go™ drive, you can turn it into a NAS by adding a Seagate DockStar dock. It has the PogoPlug software embedded, so you get the functionality of a PogoPlug combined with the USB dock. Woot.com has the DockStar for $20 + shipping today only. The current model is $79 direct from Seagate.
Tonido Vs. PogoPlug
Early last fall I purchased a PogoPlug and later in the year I bought a TonidoPlug. After using the PogoPlug for a while, and running a bit torrent client and Firefly iTunes server, I decided to try the TonidoPlug. The Tonido software suite looked like it would handle most of what I was using the PogoPlug for, without having to hack it. So, after running both for 6+ months, I have decided to keep both. Why? The PogoPlug handles file sharing cleaner and easier than the TonidoPlug. I can quickly set up a share that I let other access without having to set up accounts for them. When I am done, it’s easy to turn off sharing. Plus, I can do it from my Android phone (or an iPhone if I were so inclined). I am not as enamored with it’s handling of media files. It can handle MP3 files, but the audio player is adequate, at best. It does better with video. It converts video files into a more bandwidth efficient format for streaming.
The TonidoPlug has a built in bit torrent client that works well. And an audio player that can handle iTunes files (non-DRM) as well as MP3. The file sharing works fine, but it is less intuitive than the PogoPlug. The ability to set up a quick share with a link I can email to someone else only works if the other person is set up as a user on your TonidoPlug. Files can be shared on PogoPlug without the user needing an account, or logging in.
The price of the PogoPlug’s ease of file sharing is that it relies on pogoplug.com providing a proxy service to direct users to your PogoPlug. Tonido provides a similiar service, without the benefits, but it is not necessary. I have used DynDNS to redirect traffic to my TonidoPlug. The Tonido software suite is a nice addition to the TonidoPlug, at a cost $20 less than the current PogoPlug device. The additional functionality take care of most personal cloud needs. I find that the PogoPlug’s file sharing ease of use is enough to keep it around.
Previous articles:
http://blog.craiglpatterson.com/2009/11/16/playing-with-the-pogoplug/
http://blog.craiglpatterson.com/2009/11/25/plug-into-plug-computing/
http://blog.craiglpatterson.com/2010/02/08/a-tonidoplug-is-plugged-in/
http://blog.craiglpatterson.com/2010/02/08/plug-into-plug-computing-update/
A TonidoPlug Is Plugged In
I have added a companion plug computer to my 3 month old PogoPlug (Version 1), a TonidoPlug. For the same $99 + shipping I paid for the PogoPlug (the new version 2 PogoPlug is now $129), I got almost identical hardware and a lot more software. I’ve had the unit up and running for a couple of days, so this is not an in-depth review.
Plug Into Plug Computing
Since my last post I’ve continued to use and play with my new Pogoplug. I’ve also run across more resources for “plug computing”. There are 4 main “plug computing” devices available on the market: The Pogoplug (the original which I have, and the new 2.0), the Sheevaplug, and the Tonidoplug. Each of the three address a different user base. (more…)
Playing With the Pogoplug
I purchased a Pogoplug device last week. I have been playing with it for a couple of days. Being a tinkerer, I kept it in it’s out of the box configuration for nearly an hour. I unboxed it (sorry, no unboxing video, although it is packaged quite nicely), plugged it into my router, power, and a spare USB drive sitting on my desk. I logged into my.pogoplug.com, created a username/password and it found my pogoplug and I was able to access the drive and it’s files from my browser. I was expecting to be able to see a mountable drive like a typical NAS device like the Linksys NSLU2 device. But, the Pogoplug requires downloading client software to be able to mount the drives. Not a big deal, but it limits it usefulness in some ways.
But, there is a way to make the Pogoplug play other roles in your home IT infrastructure. OpenPogo is the place to stop to unleash your Pogoplug. The Pogoplug is a small Linux server running a very small OS configuration. It resides on a small partition in flash memory. There is a larger, unused partition on the flash memory. Following the instructions I have made my Pogoplug a bit torrent client, a TOR server, a media server, and a DynDNS update client. I can now offload bit torrent downloads to the Pogoplug, share my iTunes library, and access it by a domain name rather than IP address.
There have been a few hitches, nothing worth describing. It took a little work to set up the Transmission client daemon to add enough security to allow access from outside of my network. The TOR server setup was pretty quick and seems to work well. Firefly install and setup was very quick and seems to work great. There is a danger of overtaxing the small server with too many torrent downloads.
If you have some basic Linux skills and can manage to use Google, there is a lot you can do with this unit. I’m just getting started.
UPDATE: OpenPogo is giving away a Pogoplug go here: http://openpogo.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=212. Or follow them on Twitter, @openpogo for more info.
