1. Discovering Plug Computers
Looking for a way to share your files form one central location, via your network or the Internet?
One relatively new option is to invest in a “Plug Computer”, a common name for a relatively new type of small, energy efficient computer. Plug computers first hit the scene in early 2009, when companies like CTERA, Cloud Engines and Marvell committed to releasing new low-power, small form factor (SFF) computers that would focus on data backup. While the hardware has been around for about two years now, the included software has now evolved into something more than just a data backup service. Printer sharing, social networking, smartphone connectivity and dozens of other applications are now being included (or at the very least can be downloaded from an app portal).
Some of these plug computers are about the size of those lamp timers that you plug into an outlet (or a Clapper, if that's a more hip analogy), while some are slightly bigger, resembling a network router. They are meant to be headless—meaning no monitor, keyboard, or mouse—and used remotely.
Plug Computers can serve many purposes, the biggest of which is creating your own personal cloud, allowing you to access your files, printers, and other services from anywhere on the Internet using PCs and mobile devices. They are basically a low-cost and energy efficient alternative to using a traditional server, such as Microsoft’s Windows Home Server. They can be used for personal use, to access your files when at work, school, or traveling. They can also be used to share and collaborate among your family, friends, or small business.
Plug Computers can be preloaded with a Linux OS and the vendor’s software that integrates it with their third-party apps and services—which is the type we’re going to discuss. Alternatively, you can buy a bare Plug Computer with no third-party integration and use a Linux OS and applications. Keep in mind; you can also usually access the core Linux OS on devices powered by third-party services for further customization.
There are several solutions or devices you can use to create your own personal cloud. In addition to reviewing two Plug Computers, we’ll discuss some alternatives, such as Network-Attached Servers (NASs) and network drives, routers with USB storage, and home servers.
Soooo, does that mean that if I have a plug computer and my own "cloud", which my entire home network connects to, that someone can hack into my cloud and access all my stuff?
Christopher,
Just wondering when the pogoplug will add support for more than *some* HP/Epson models. It's nice that they mentioned the cloud printing features of your device, but suspicious that they didn't mention the incredible lack of device support. Canon, Brother, Lexmark, have zero support, and thus don't work at all, while only certain HP/Epson models actually will work. Plug owners have been waiting over 6 months for this to get addressed, only to see 2 new devices released instead. The awesome iPhone & Android apps (I have used both), need a lot of work. The iphone app never did video at all (when it didn't crash), and the android app was recently updated to stop the crashing, but won't play more than a minute or two of video before just cutting out. (Wifi/4G both).
You need to stop pushing new features, and fix the existing ones.
Potential Customers, FYI, buyer beware. The pogoplug is good at storage & sharing via mypogoplug.com, but every other feature they advertise in the device feels like a half-hearted attempt. Cloud printing is useless for 3/5 brands of printers, watching videos stored on your pogo on your mobile device isn't very functional, and Cloud Engines (The company behind the pogoplug) doesn't seem to care about anything except selling new devices. Obviously that's what keeps the lights on, but you still need to support your customers, Christopher.
Is this public enough to get CE to act, or do I need to start a youtube/facebook campaign as well?
"It has a 1.2 GHz processor, 512 MB of RAM, and 128 MB of flash storage."
The version 2, Pink or Grey models have a 1.2Ghz armv5te processor, 128MB flash, 256MB ram.
The pictured black "V3" is actually a different beast:
dual core 750Mhz armv6l processor (ARM11 MPcore), 128MB flash, 128MB ram.
OK, I've heard of two definitions for NAS - Network Attached Storage and Network Access Server (a gateway) but never "Network-Attached Servers". Isn't that kind of an oxymoron, since a server not attached to a network would be pretty useless...
Got a PogoPlug a while back. Performance, in particular data access, was so bad the device went in the scrap heap within a week. Whenever I hear the name PogoPlug I still immediately feel a strong urge to pound my head into the wall because it's less painful than trying to use one.
nice article, Toms. Guess will have to look into WHS for my needs.
dark_knight33,
This is great constructive feedback.
I'll try to address your legitimate concerns. When the cloud print feature was initially conceived, we selected the number one and number two printer brands in the U.S. at that time. Printer support is a major feature and we limited our scope for better execution. Currently, the cloud print feature is in beta and Development is being as thorough as possible to fully address our compatibility list of HP and Epson printers, 2005 and later. Support is happy to provide this list, just submit a request here http://bit.ly/es1D4W.
As for the balance of your issues, if you haven't already, please 'Submit a support ticket' using the 'Help Center' after logging into my.pogoplug.com. Using this method captures valuable information to help Support get a jump start on your issue.
I will bring your comments to the attention of the Product team but I also want to mention that valuable comments like yours are welcome at feedback@cloudengines.com. The Product team also monitors incoming email at this account.
Thanks again for your thoughtful commentary. Christopher, on behalf of the Pogoplug team
Christopher,Just wondering when the pogoplug will add support for more than *some* HP/Epson models. It's nice that they mentioned the cloud printing features of your device, but suspicious that they didn't mention the incredible lack of device support. Canon, Brother, Lexmark, have zero support, and thus don't work at all, while only certain HP/Epson models actually will work. Plug owners have been waiting over 6 months for this to get addressed, only to see 2 new devices released instead. The awesome iPhone & Android apps (I have used both), need a lot of work. The iphone app never did video at all (when it didn't crash), and the android app was recently updated to stop the crashing, but won't play more than a minute or two of video before just cutting out. (Wifi/4G both).You need to stop pushing new features, and fix the existing ones. Potential Customers, FYI, buyer beware. The pogoplug is good at storage & sharing via mypogoplug.com, but every other feature they advertise in the device feels like a half-hearted attempt. Cloud printing is useless for 3/5 brands of printers, watching videos stored on your pogo on your mobile device isn't very functional, and Cloud Engines (The company behind the pogoplug) doesn't seem to care about anything except selling new devices. Obviously that's what keeps the lights on, but you still need to support your customers, Christopher.Is this public enough to get CE to act, or do I need to start a youtube/facebook campaign as well?
Freenas is also a viable alternative to WHS. It can be a little tricky to set up initially mostly due to the file system used but has proved for me at least to be extremely reliable. I built one using an old mb, Athlon processor and 512 mb of ram. Been running now for about three months continuously with no problem. Conversely I also have a Pogoplug! Why? Simply because it is so easy to share files with friends and unlike the Freenas server it's web interface allows me to see thumbnails of my pics etc on a web page wherever I am in the world. Have to say though it is nowhere near as reliable as Freenas with the web page being frequently slow to load and the one drive I have connected to it often disappears from My Computer in Windows forcing me to reload the program and sign in again. Also Freenas shows up as a network drive no matter which OS I use. Unfortunately Pogoplug does not. Windows is ok most of the time but you can forget Linux, at least Ubuntu and Linux Mint. I have never got Pogoplug to show as a drive on any of my Linux boxes despite downloading Pogoplugs Linux software. It simply does not work which for a network drive is unforgivable.
To the above post, I just bought a Pogoplug, and it connects to other computers just as it should, even on Linux. It even runs on my GUI less (Linux) server! You need to install the fuse system on your computer and change some permissions on the folders which you mount to.
I actually really like the system so far, it seems like they have made everything work, but the leave avenues for more technical users to customise and experiment.
As an aside, it would be absurd for Linux to be unable to connect to the pogoplug: it runs Linux itself!