External HD + WiFi + Jassager

[Mn]

I bet most of us on this forum are 20+ (Should be a nice survey to know what type of population views the show...) and by now with all the big changes in operative systems and hardware chances are you have at least 2 computers in your house and god knows how many viable hardware lying around.

Take me for example, i sold my old windows & linux desktop + my old acer laptop (never buy one) and bought a shinny new MacbookPro (Im a fan now) plus i got my self an external "Mybook" 500gig hard drive. Another scenario more likely to happen could be you have 1 good computer in your house and a couple of hard drives around with no good use.

Here comes the idea for a hack and question...

Picture this: Attach your external hard drive to a nintendo DS (its the only relatively low priced gadget that i know has wifi and has been hacked... but it could be anything) used 24/7 as a file repository and a download box (to download huge torrent files) or maybe to have all your most beloved podcasts ready for your return.

Basically its a way to give good use to old hardware without the power consumption/price of a real computer or laptop. Sound good? Maybe an project worthwhile to show on a Hak5 podcast?

PD: One can probably go a bit more evil and less altruistic with this, lets say the last show (have the girl go by with the DS make them reconnect to the evil pineapple and shortly after that with scripts or anything set it to download all files matching X/Y criteria (idk... ".jpeg, .docx, .xls) leave it on for a day, come back and see what you have fetched.

[DingleBerries]

I think the biggest problem is attaching storage devices. Where would you hook up this new hhd to a DS? maybe with the new DS there will be an off the wall hack but as of now i cannot foresee that coming to forwishen.

Another thing you may want to look at if form factor is an issue is the Mini Web Server.

But i do understand what you are saying in a way. I have a limited amount of bandwidth so i have stopped downloading things and just use free services, hulu ect., to stream shows and movies. It all depends on the user and the hardware they have available. I doubt a gameboy will be able to handle an large site, but if its for file hosting then thats a good idea.

[Mn]

Sweet idea man, that has the concept down to the spot... in concept is the same idea take things you dont use or need and that are quite unexpensive or already available, plug that to the internet and boom. The only thing i would add to that to make it run uTorrent http server wich allows me to download and serve files. And instead of an SD card i would of picked something with more space on it.

Thanks for the reply... maybe someday, someone will make it ^_^ and polish the idea even more.

[ADM1NX]

It's probably best to use an old xbox for this hack. They're 50 bucks at most video game shops, and you don't need a modchip to get linux running on it (unless it's version 1.6). I have 3 of them running linux, and the IDE chip can support 2 750gb drives. Stick torrentflux on them and you can download 24/7, with peak power usage at 100w (each). it also has 4 usb ports on it (the controller ports can be rewired for usb) if you wanted to add any more drives or wireless cards, but keep in mind, they're usb 1.1 .

From personal experience, having your own seedbox/web server is extremely useful, especially if you're trying to get large files at slow speeds. torrents become a "set it and forget it" kind of thing, and best of all, you don't have to use your 500-1000w gaming rig just to do some downloading. TorrentFlux has a web interface, so you can access it using any computer on your network, and if you set up port forwarding and dyndns, you can access it away from home.