Pogoplug, and lots of images

If you have a disk that contains large number of image and video files, you may not want to attach it to pogoplug, at least yet. It seems that pogoplug wants to generate thumbnails for all video and image files on the disk (/tmp/hbplug.log shows invocation of ffmpeg), and since I attached the disk that contains all digital pictures I've ever took in the past 10 years or so - especially with two kids, I easily take thousands of pictures a year - it looks like the pogoplug is taking forever to process them all.

Looking at .cedata/tn directory pogoplug created (which seems to be the directory for thumbnails), I see 3k immediate subdirectories under .cedata/tn, and total 23k files and directories recursively. *arg*. Life is never simple :(
I don't remember whether I formatted this disk in NTFS or FAT, but regardless, it seems like a bad design on pogoplug's part to use this many directories - you want to keep the number of directories reasonable, especially when the underlying filesystem is badly designed, like FAT.

Anyway, I've stopped "hbplug" process by "kill -STOP", so the disk is not thrashing. I should remember to re-enable hbplug process again.

Pogoplug, optware, samba

Finally I had a bit of extra time to play with Pogoplug. I've set up Optware ipkg on pogoplug, installed samba, configured it and it works beautifully :)
Optware comes with CUPS, so it shouldn't be too difficult to set the print server as well - though I first need aUSB2 hub to try hooking up the printer :)
Now it's time to sleep - if I get more time, I'll try to write down more details on Optware setup.

Update on Pogoplug

After complaining loudly on their support page, I've got an excellent reply from Pogoplug:

Hi.

I spoke with our dev group and here's what's going on. They are working on a LAN discovery broadcast for the drive software, so that it will work without internet access. It should be available soon, and I'll update you when it's ready. We did not provide SMB/CIFS support because we wanted a consistent user experience for Mac and Windows, both in and out of the home. The protocol used by Pogoplug drive software is also a lot faster than SMB. Having said that, you can get full access to your Pogoplug and add any software that you want. We are just about to publish this on our site, but here's the info you'll need:

Pogoplug runs with Linux 2.6.22.18. and the full open source for the kernel, glibc, busybox, u-boot, and other user-mode processes will be available linked from our developer section. Pogoplug currently accepts SSH sessions for the root user (un: root, pw: ceadmin). The processor is a ARM processor with all firmware stored on the internal NAND flash device. The standard linux MTD device drive is used to manage this NAND device with JFFS2 filesystem. Once you SSH to the device, you can change the root file system, install a new kernel modules, etc.

We also support a 3.3v RS-232 UART connection on the main logic board. This UART connection gives low level access to the u-boot boot loader which allows for upgrading the main kernel image.

Please let me know if I can provide any additional information.

Thanks,

I haven't set up the cross compiler on my linux box yet, so haven't done any serious attempt of adding more functionality to it. But regardless, given this information, you definitely want to block ssh/telnet port at the firewall if you haven't done so already, and you shouldn't hook it up to the network you don't trust.

My brief performance testing (just copying some big file) seems to suggest that it is not particularly slower or faster. One issue I've encountered was BSOD - I tried playing .mkv from a windows box that has pogoplug software installed (hence the pogoplug shows up as a disk), and I've got BSOD (the first time in a few years since I've got that laptop). On the second attempt, it didn't crash, so it's not a definite evidence of a bug in their software, but nonetheless not a great sign.

So, it's still not useable as my main network storage. But there are some good signs that it may become one.

My Pogoplug arrived, and I'm disappointed.

This is a quick review of Pogoplug. I have preordered the box, and it has finally arrived. Unfortunately, I'm deeply disappointed, because it has so much potential that's being wasted.

Pogoplug is essentially a small embedded computer, with Marvell's low-power ARM processor core with some DRAM and flash memory, one ethernet port and one USB port.
I pre-ordered it, figuring there's not much to lose - I figured this would be a perfect device that I can play with, as a small home server, given that this little box was supposed to run linux.

Now that I've received the box, it has a few critical flaws that make it not very usable in its current state.

1. No power saving mode for the disk - I've been using an old laptop running Windows XP as a file/print server. Naturally, when I don't use the disk, the disk doesn't do any "seeks", and it's configured so that it spins down the hard disk fairly quickly when idle. This means my external hard disk spends most of its time spinned down, not consuming much power. This is in great contrast to Pogoplug - it constantly spins the disk, and even when I'm not using it, it does bunch of seeks, consuming power and wearing down the disk. For a box that's meant to be on all the time, this is...deeply disappointing, to say it politely.
2. No CIFS/SMB support nor NFS - I don't know what Pogoplug people are thinking, but they didn't enable this, and there's no way to "properly" access the files, except...
3. A priorietary software on Windows and Mac that show the drive hooked to Pogoplug as a network disk. This software, confusingly also called Pogoplug, doesn't connect if your machine and your pogoplug can't talk to pogoplug's server. For example, if you lose your connection to your ISP, you can't connect to your disk hooked to Pogoplug. This means...
4. Total dependence on the proprietary webservice - as is, the box is useless without pogoplug website. If the company folds, the box will essentially become a deadweight.
5. No printer server support - given how easy it is to support print server, it's crazy not to support this.
6. No ssh into the box - even though this is my computer, I don't have root access. It's not like the box doesn't have sshd running - it has the port open (crazily, it has the telnetd running on port 22 as well - whoever left telnetd running by default needs some serious education on the network security).

As you can see, all the flaws are software - the hardware itself is compact, silent, and low power, and just the right form factor and the price. It's just the software that's not allowing the little-box-that-can from doing all things it's meant to do.

And scanning through the pogoplug support forum and reading some responses, I don't see enough good signs that the company is willing to listen to the similar requests that's already made on the board.

For all you mothers out there

Enjoy!

The Bay Model

This is the first time I heard of this, but looks amazing. It seems like a perfect place to visit during spring break...

Validation, and Rent-a-person

A friend of mine sent me a link to a movie called Validation (thanks Tom!). It's an awesome movie, and my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed it - and guess what ? It turns out the same directory made a movie called Rent-a-person. It's equally entertaining...and those two movies are separate yet entwined :)

Ever heard of beef that's over $150 per lb ?

Costco online now sells Japanese Wagyu Beef. Price? $2299.99 for 15 lbs. That's over $150 per lb. That's gotta be more expensive than a regular cow in whole...

Snow + tree = breathtaking :)

Taken at the top of Sky Express lift in Heavenly, on Christmas Eve.

Driving to the end of the rainbow...

We - the commuters driving to work - are the pursuers of the proverbial end of the rainbow for a pot of gold. But this morning, it was literally true:

This storm's getting better :)

Well, NWS just updated the forecast, and it gets better and better:

* TOTAL SNOW ACCUMULATIONS THROUGH MONDAY NIGHT: 10 TO 20
INCHES...WITH 18 TO 30 INCHES ABOVE 7000 FEET.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Finally, the storm I've been waiting for is coming :)

National Weather Service's special weather statement at 3:24pm today (Dec 13th) says:

* IN THE LAKE TAHOE BASIN...6 TO 12 INCHES ARE POSSIBLE AT LAKE
LEVEL...WITH 10 TO 20 INCHES ABOVE 7000 FEET.

Yeepee! That ought to cover enough coverage to open up a lot more slopes. Sounds like the real snowboard season in Lake Tahoe will start soon :)

A chance to submit your question to the upcoming Obama-Biden administration.

The transition team of the upcoming US administration set up a page using Google Moderator service (internally called Dory - if you've seen Nemo....) http://change.gov/page/content/openforquestions. You can ask any questions, and vote for the questions. I really appreciate the transition team trying to listen to the people through various channels like this. While this is really only a small sign, I already feel better about the new president-elect, and can't wait to see him into the office :)

PS. The URL has changed from my earlier post.
PS2. Now the transition team has a blog explaining why they are doing this: http://change.gov/newsroom/entry/open_for_questions

The flower that blooms in adversity is the most...

Well, the winter's finally arrived in California, but we still have these amazing flowers in our frontyard:



Taken with T-Mobile G1 :)

Heavenly started making snow - opening on Nov 21.

Yeepee! I can't wait to go up there on the Thanksgiving week - I have booked a room for the entire week :)

Bike friendly or not ?

In reply to my previous post, a friend of mine (who doesn't live in the Bay Area) asked me if my route is really bike-friendly. Well, you can find the answer to that question at:

http://www.vta.org/schedules/gmaps/index.html

And if you overlay my route  (unfortunately I don't know how to overlap my route on top of that  bike map yet), you'll notice that a lot of it is covered by bike lanes. And except for a short stretch on Camden (and the right most lane in that section on Camden is really wide so no worries), most of my routes outside bike lane are through neighborhood streets (e.g. through Campbell), which has virtually no traffic in Saturday morning. So that route is very safe and bike friendly (there are less traffic signals on those routes as well, which helps a lot). Oh, and the route is essentially flat - there are very minor incline/declines but no hills at all, with a lot of straight runs where you can go as fast as your legs can allow.

Saturday's bike trip

Yesterday, I had the longest bike trip so far - about 21 miles (33km) from my house to Cupertino High School. 

It took me about an hour and 40 minutes - the average speed of about 12.6 miles per hour.

Considering all those stop times at numerous traffic signals, this is better than I actually expected

- 30 seconds wait at 20 signals would be 10 minutes, and that would make the average speed 14 miles per hour.

Here's the map with my route:

View Larger Map

The weird loop at the end was basically to spend time before I met my wife at

Cupertino High School - I arrived there much earlier than I expected,

so the loop became much larger than I originally planned.

Now this gives me high hope that I can bike to my work within 2.5 hour or so in the bike-to-work day next year...

Silicon Valley's road names

As a computer science geek, Silicon Valley has many "interesting" things around, and among them is the names of streets. Here's a few of them that are interesting to me:

While Semiconductor Drive in San Jose sounds like a perfect place to find semiconductor companies, you'll have better luck around Component Drive, which crosses with N. 1st Street - where you can pretty much find all major and minor semiconductor companies. Not so far from  Component Drive, you can drive through Disk Drive in San Jose, and then after just one signal away and you can hit Fortran Drive and Fortran Court right next to each other.

You don't even need to ask which company is at 1 Amd Place, Sunnyvale. Of course, there are a few giants that won't be satisfied without its name on the road sign: you can't drive through Oracle Parkway in Redmond City or Cisco Way in San Jose, and you don't even need those road names to know where you're getting into if you drive through those streets.

However, not all companies are witless and boring to make their coporate address in their own name.  The famous Infinite Loop in Cupertino is a pun for every programmers out there, although the Loop isn't really a complete loop by itself- which kind of fits the "fruit" company that is located there). Both Network Circles in Santa Clara and Menlo Park are really full circles and you can keep driving on those Circles without leaving them (they are also the address of the same company who owns network.com). 

Joe Garcia for Congress....NOT

If you can vote against Joe Garcia (you can, if you live in Florida), here's one more reason to do so. He's a spammer - I live in California, and I rarely register for any political events/organizations, and I suddenly got two emails from him, asking for support.
Unless this is a deliberate attempt by his opponent to put mud on his face (which I seriously doubt), he's a bona fide spammer in my book, and although I have no idea who he is and what kind of politician he is, he's either not paying enough attention to his campaign or he's using illegal and abusive tactics (spamming IS illegal), and in either case, you should not vote for him.

Keep an eye on LHC

Are you worried about LHC (Large Hadron Collider) bringing the end of the world ? Then rejoice - now you can keep an eye on LHC at: http://www.cyriak.co.uk/lhc/lhc-webcams.html

Enjoy!

PS. Ian, thanks for the link :)