I've had thoughts about using a Raspberry Pi Zero W with some additional pieces to make a portable disk station. Haven't actually prototyped anything yet, but how about this:
- Raspberry Pi Zero W - Laddie Alpha and some other software for file transfer to/from the Pi (e.g., SSH, Samba, etc.) - Script to run Laddie Alpha on startup - "Juice Pack" used to recharge USB devices (10 amp-hour devices are pretty cheap these days, and I run a RasPi Zero W from one) - MAX3232 connected to Pi's UART pins (avoids the need for a FTDI-style USB to serial, although that would also work) with a DB25 cable for M100 connection - Stick it all in a small plastic box (so the WiFi can get through) and take it with you! All these pieces are readily available and cheap, and the end product wouldn't be that big. The largest heaviest piece would be the juice pack, but the good news on that is, it's rechargeable. Although you wouldn't have removable SD card functionality, you would have WiFi to get your files back and forth. For extra credit, with some scripts, the GPIO pins on the RasPi could be used to start/stop the Laddie Alpha software, and perhaps even show on an LED when it's running. Has anyone done something like this? Think it would work? - Earl On Sat, Jul 29, 2017 at 8:39 AM, Bert Put <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Ken, > > Slightly off-topic, but wanted to say that I so appreciate you doing the > original NADSBox run as I still use mine at least weekly. I take notes > in portable situations where the M-102 and the NADSBox can often be a > better, more compact solution than a smart phone, tablet, etc. > > So my NADSBox is still going strong! I just find it works better in my > situation than using another machine as a storage device. Thank you! > > Cheers, Bert > > > On 07/28/2017 10:50 PM, Ken Pettit wrote: > > Hi Ray, > > > > When I did the first run of NADSBoxes in 2008 / 2009 timeframe, my > > up-front cash expenditure was $13K for 240 NADSBoxes. This is when I > > was having them built and assembled in China. I probably still could > > have them built and assembled there, though it is a bit more challenging > > since I no longer live there. > > > > Turns out I am traveling to China next week and will be visiting > > Shenzhen for 5 days! YEA!!! Maybe I could visit my old haunts while > > there (in fact I am looking forward to it). > > > > One of the concerns with NADSBox is that I need to update the layout a > > bit to select a different SD card socket ... the socket used in the last > > round of NADSBoxes was acquired from a Chinese source with no real part > > number or way to track it. So the footprint is specific to that part > > which is no longer available. > > > > I am working actively on Woolly which would replace REX and in a way, > > NADSBox, via TPDD access to a host via WiFi. But this is still a big > > development effort, both in terms of hardware and software. > > > > If you still wanted to put up the cash after reading this, we probably > > wouldn't need to build 240 NADSBoxes as demand isn't what it was in > > 2009, but it would still be in the $8K - $9K range I would guess for > > NADSBox alone. I don't know for REX. > > > > Ken >
