Spotopolis Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 So I just got a MK808 Android TV stick. And I have seen on the freaktab site that they are working on a linux kernel to run Ubuntu off it. It got me thinking since you can run a USB hub on these things with Ethernet, Would it be possible for someone to "port" Smoothwall to one of these sticks and use it as a firewall/router? Im using Smoothwall at the home now running out of an old power hungry P4 extreme system. I thought that it would be great if I could run Smoothwall from this tiny stick and all I would need it 2x usb to Ethernet adapters. Using only 5v 2 Amp would be amazing. And I figured with the power these little things pack that Smoothwall could work on them. Is this at all possible? I know there is a big difference between ARM and x86 CPUs and that could stop it dead there. Im not to savy with Linux, but I can use it. Just a thought. Its a neat idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwnd2Pwnr Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 (edited) Interesting; I guess I am confused on your concept... you want a portable firewall? Not to sound like a jerk, but is it not better on your PC than it is on a stick? Just curious... Edited December 1, 2012 by Pwnd2Pwnr Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spotopolis Posted December 1, 2012 Author Share Posted December 1, 2012 Interesting; I guess I am confused on your concept... you want a portable firewall? Not to sound like a jerk, but is it not better on your PC than it is on a stick? Just curious... Not so much for portability although that would be interesting, but more for a super small super low power device that still works as a great firewall/router. I figured since Linux/Android is so flexible that it could work. I know you don't need much at all to run smoothwall and I thought a dual core arm with a gig of ddr3 would do the trick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 Interesting; I guess I am confused on your concept... you want a portable firewall? Not to sound like a jerk, but is it not better on your PC than it is on a stick? Just curious... Cisco thought it was a good idea... http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-USBVPN1-USB-Firewall-Adapter/dp/B0000A55GO Though some times some of the things Cisco does just boggles the mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pwnd2Pwnr Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 OK... I see the direction now... Puppy Linux + smoothwall = portable. secure. OS oppn GNU style! PS... love the fact that the Cisco portable router/firewall is cheaper new than it is used... lolz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 (edited) OK... I see the direction now... Puppy Linux + smoothwall = portable. secure. OS oppn GNU style! PS... love the fact that the Cisco portable router/firewall is cheaper new than it is used... lolz Someone else made a linux on a stick computer that ran from usb and powered from usb that would take over a running computer. Think secure os that would work on a public kiosk. I'm trying to remember the name, something about dogs. I'll post up a link once I remember. Found it. Looks like they never really got it to production. http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Pocketable-Linux-server-creates-plugandgo-Linux-desktop/ Edited December 1, 2012 by barry99705 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spotopolis Posted December 1, 2012 Author Share Posted December 1, 2012 Someone else made a linux on a stick computer that ran from usb and powered from usb that would take over a running computer. Think secure os that would work on a public kiosk. I'm trying to remember the name, something about dogs. I'll post up a link once I remember. Found it. Looks like they never really got it to production. http://www.linuxfordevices.com/c/a/News/Pocketable-Linux-server-creates-plugandgo-Linux-desktop/ The whole point was wanting to do this without a big desktop eating power though. With the MK808 that's all you'd need aside from two USB to Ethernet adapters. Its already a full PC and it only needs 5v 2 amp. Theses other devices sound like the still need a PC to run...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 (edited) The whole point was wanting to do this without a big desktop eating power though. With the MK808 that's all you'd need aside from two USB to Ethernet adapters. Its already a full PC and it only needs 5v 2 amp. Theses other devices sound like the still need a PC to run...? Yep. I don't think a MK808 will have the horsepower to do what you want. I could be wrong though. I'd just pick up a linksys wrt and load up dd-wrt or monowall, I think monowall will run on a wrt. Crap, monowall is out, needs x86 processor, smoothwall also requires an x86 processor, they don't support arm. Edited December 3, 2012 by barry99705 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01000010 Posted December 1, 2012 Share Posted December 1, 2012 (edited) I think running on smaller hardware like this is a great idea but there a few issues that are just going to be resolved as the world opens up to arm / low power devices. Issues I can think of from the top of my head 1. Smoothwall is not compiled for arm that I know of. ( maybe that will be fixed soon when more computers are arm based ) 2. The wifi card, the Sd card, the ethernet, and the usb port share the same bus ( slow speed thru the network cause of the bus ) Things that I think are ok 1. Processor speed is fine for a router 2. get a battery pack from the hakshop and hours of backup easy 3. Noise and Size, You could just hide this and no one would ever know And I find that cisco thing kinda cool I can set that up with a decent firewall setup and auto connection to a vpn ( I just hand them to the stupid salesmen and people like my parents and say anytime your out of the office/house and connect to a network use this. then they are secure without me have to mess with there computer at all ) Edited December 1, 2012 by leapole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I think running on smaller hardware like this is a great idea but there a few issues that are just going to be resolved as the world opens up to arm / low power devices. Issues I can think of from the top of my head 1. Smoothwall is not compiled for arm that I know of. ( maybe that will be fixed soon when more computers are arm based ) 2. The wifi card, the Sd card, the ethernet, and the usb port share the same bus ( slow speed thru the network cause of the bus ) Things that I think are ok 1. Processor speed is fine for a router 2. get a battery pack from the hakshop and hours of backup easy 3. Noise and Size, You could just hide this and no one would ever know And I find that cisco thing kinda cool I can set that up with a decent firewall setup and auto connection to a vpn ( I just hand them to the stupid salesmen and people like my parents and say anytime your out of the office/house and connect to a network use this. then they are secure without me have to mess with there computer at all ) Not sure why you'd want to run your firewall off a battery, or hide it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01000010 Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 I get some odd looks as people walk into my apartment past my 42U rack, unless they are computer people. I currently run a raspberry pi off a ankle 10,000 mah battery at my parents house, with the battery plugged in and charging while powering the pi, when the power goes out the battery takes over and I have 10 hours until the pi dies, It beats the pants off the large apc unit in size and run time that i got for my servers. ( with only the pi on the apc its like max 1 hour and the apc is rackmount size ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spotopolis Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 Not sure why you'd want to run your firewall off a battery, or hide it. The android tv sticks run on ac power only. It would be a stationary solution. Just low profile and low power. You can run smoothwall on a P133 with 128MB ram so why not a build for an ARM device running a dual core A9 1.6ghz with 1GB ddr3 and an 8GB nand? I already run a netgear with ddwrt for wifi and an old P4 extreme running my current smoothwall build. Just want a smaller less power hungry setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01000010 Posted December 3, 2012 Share Posted December 3, 2012 (edited) uumm what do you mean ac power only, they are dc power only and shipped with a wall wort. The wall wort you plug in is a ac to dc transformer taking 120v ac to 5v dc. I dont use the wall worts when I have the battery the larger arm devices like the o-droid x and its upgraded version are great but 2x or 3x the price. And might make sense because some of the usb ports have there own bus, while your not going to get 1000meg a sec speeds out of it. It should at least max out both 100meg ethernet connections before swamping both busses. As for smoothwall, I am unsure if they have a version for ARM or not, I just run a Debian setup and handle most of it myself. Edited December 3, 2012 by leapole Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spotopolis Posted December 3, 2012 Author Share Posted December 3, 2012 uumm what do you mean ac power only, they are dc power only and shipped with a wall wort. The wall wort you plug in is a ac to dc transformer taking 120v ac to 5v dc. I dont use the wall worts when I have the battery the larger arm devices like the o-droid x and its upgraded version are great but 2x or 3x the price. And might make sense because some of the usb ports have there own bus, while your not going to get 1000meg a sec speeds out of it. It should at least max out both 100meg ethernet connections before swamping both busses. As for smoothwall, I am unsure if they have a version for ARM or not, I just run a Debian setup and handle most of it myself. I just men "AC" as not running on battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry99705 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 I just men "AC" as not running on battery. Anything with dc in can run on a battery. Still don't understand why you'd want to run a firewall off a battery. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spotopolis Posted December 11, 2012 Author Share Posted December 11, 2012 Anything with dc in can run on a battery. Still don't understand why you'd want to run a firewall off a battery. ... I dont. I dont know how that became a thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
01000010 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Not just battery but a battery in between the wall socket and the device, My cable modem has a battery backup in it. My servers sit on a Large APC unit If my router did not have a battery setup how would any system email/call me to say hey powers out? And yea I am not quite sure how it became a thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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