NASLite Network Attached Storage

Is that why it's taking so long for release 2.x? Investigation of implementing the ext3 file system indicates that it just requires kernel support along with some new commands to add a journal file to the existing ext2 file system. If you are using "non-conventional" binaries that could explain the delay.

I've tried downloading the software. Is the box it's located on using a dial-up connection? The download speeds are horrendous! Hopefully, it's not the performance of NASLite+ that is the bottleneck and hopefully, I'll get to see it one day soon!:D

Well sanmaster,

Here is a little exercise for you if you really feel the need to understand why NASlite is embedded and not conventional. Take all the binaries that in your opinion are required to do what NASlite does in full. That includes all necessary software to do reports, services, administration, etc. That also includes all dependencies, libraries and all items that you think are necessary for the tasks it performs. You know – hardware detection, auto configuration of mountable media, etc. Then calculate the storage space required to house that content…

You know, ( ls –lh ) to view sizes, ( ldd * ) to check dependencies, etc. Make sure you include all that’s required because if you miss things, your OS will be flawed and will likely not run.

Once you have the total, compare it to the 3.5M that NASlite occupies. Now try not to think “Why do I need to cram it into 3.5M?” but rather “How do I cram it into 3.5M”.

I’d probably not refer to that process as “watering down” since we both know that “watering down” results in bloat. Try to think of it as “distilling” which by the way is the process of removing the water (bloat) or unnecessary content. The result in my opinion is a beautiful, compact and task-specific operating system that can do the most with the least within it’s context.



There is no reason to be bummed. You just need to accept the facts even if you don’t like them.

Tony/Ralph, after sanmaster powers you guys into submission (I'm confident he will) and you are ready to release the root password, would you both be so kind as to also disclose your SSNs and mother's maiden name.

Thanks so much... Alan

Maybe "watered down" is a bit much. But you must admit that all that trimming has left you with little room to do anything else. We already beat the Samba deficency to death in another post but I see the failure to provide 2TB file size support as a possible result of that "trimming down". Bottom line is, you can't fix that problem with the product you have now and you haven't released an upgraded product possibly due to some of that "trimming down".

Now that's a request I hadn't thought of but it is certainly worth considering. What about it guys? Care to share that info as well?

sanmaster,



I am glad to see that you are finally grasping the unique nature of the goals we've set for Server Elements. Didn't you read the home page when you dropped by?



That's all there is to it. But with all good things, this too comes with a price. Absolute automation results in absolute inflexibility the side effect of which is consistent and stable operation. Now that's exactly what we want in a task-specific OS, hence the NASLite you see...

NASlite v2 is still getting "distilled", so when we have that tiny little "potent" collection of 1s and 0s, the 4G limit shall too be eliminated.

Now we have also covered design philosophies and methodologies. The only thing missing was the beer

BTW, Great idea Alan
Who's taking development over

Yes, but when you cut so much that the product suffers it is analogous to a severly overweight person starving themselves literally to death. They may have achieved their goal of losing weight but at what price? I'm not suggesting that NASLite is a dead product but I think you get the drift of what I am saying here. It appears you might not be able to fix a serious problem due to all the cutting and squeezing you've done.

When, when ?:shock:

I could sure use one now

One more request/issue: what's with the software download link? It is slow as anything. I've been trying to download the code since yesterday and my downloads always fail. I know the size is ~37MB but I only get about 245KB before it craps out. Any hints would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

You guys all done now?

That was a very interesting spat of ideas and comments I would have been happy just sitting with you both at the metaphorical table enjoying the beer .

Good discussion

I swear Ralph and I tried our best to avoid all of the above. We even attempted to “worm” around the issue, but it just wasn’t good enough.

And for the record - I strongly disagree with sanmaster's last comment

Hmmm, couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?

1) for correctness, you did not try to avoid the discussion, and 2) I noticed throughout all the postings you NEVER said there was no way to get a root prompt. You only insisted there was no way to login as root (which is probably a true statement).

Also having looked at BusyBox today, (http://www.busybox.com) I now understand why you and Ralph believe NASLite is an embedded system (which it is NOT). BusyBox is used by embedded systems (similar to Ralph's DVD player) but it is not limited to embedded systems nor does it imply that systems employing BusyBox are, by default, embedded systems.

Come on guys, fess up, you did a great job with a conventional, "turn-key" Linux system but that doesn't make it an embedded system. Stop the spin.

[quote="wilbur"]You guys all done now? quote]

I guess not then