The Yellow Machine in Review 265
So, the machine itself is, well, uh, cute. Bright yellow, good clear display lights so that you can see traffic on the different drives. The drives themselves are IDE drives, so yeah, you don't get the speed of SCSI, but frankly, if you are looking for 1.6 TB of SCSI, you probably need to look at jbods or the like. But since the unit is really designed to be an office storage environment, that's probably just fine.
Feature-wise, the unit has almost everything that you want. What is interesting to me, that I haven't seen in many NAS units is that it's got a double firewall. The interface for handling network isn't quite as nice, as say, a wireless unit, but it's decent. You can have the machine sit as your connection to your WAN (it handles DHCP, static IP) do port-forwarding and all those other fun things. The primary problem that I had was actually the config of first getting it setup, but that didn't take much time once I actually read the manual. *grin* It will also do web-access controls for users, monitor e-mails sent, a whole slew of other stuff.
The network support is robust. It does SMB/NFS, and supports Windows and Mac as desktop clients, and does indeed work under Linux as well based on my testing. All of the interface work is done via HTTP so as long as you've got a somewhat recent flavor of web browser, you'll be dandy although it's optimized for IE6. The unit is surprisingly quiet - many times, while I was at my desk (it sat under there) I forgot it was there and kicked it over. It still works fine after that, BTW.
In terms of speed and performance, nothing hugely different then normal network file transfers, but that's more a function of network traffic/speed then anything else. The device handled multiple people using (it has permissions built-in) easily, and did uploads & downloads of big VOB files, MP3 directories, normal files - it shrugged it off. The major issue is pricing; the 1 TB is about $1300. Now, for the DIY crowd, yes, using Linux you could very easily put together a RAID 5, 1 TB machine for not that much more -- and you are probably going to do it anyway. But for the target market, especially situations in which the IT resources are limited, it's a great machine for the ease of setting it up. And since it supports doing automated back-ups as well as has the serial port to work with a UPS system, you don't have to worry about the whole crapping out and losing all of your data. All in all, a great unit. Price is a concern, but a minor one.
Slashdot rating... (Score:2, Funny)
MY GOD HEMOS (Score:3, Funny)
Re:MY GOD HEMOS (Score:4, Funny)
THIS, friends, is a perfect example... (Score:2)
Re:THIS, friends, is a perfect example... (Score:2)
WTF (Score:5, Interesting)
"with the all RAID fun and such."
What in the hell does that mean?
Comment removed (Score:5, Funny)
Re:WTF (Score:2)
Re:WTF (Score:2)
"... makes no sense to me".
Re:WTF (Score:2)
Re:WTF (Score:2)
Actually my guess is the spell checker was the problem.
It looks to me like the sentence should have been:
"We recently had here in the office..."
He probably misspelled 'here' and the spell checker's best guess was 'heard' and he just accepted it without really looking.
Spell check errors lead to what look like gramatical errors with correctly spelled words.
Regards.
Re:WTF (Score:3, Funny)
You might not even notice sentences that no verb.
Re:RAID (Score:5, Informative)
With basic RAID5, the array can handle a single drive failure and can only detect odd errors with no possibility of correcting them. With RAID5+1, a hot-spare is available to start unattended rebuild when a failure occurs but costs and extra drive while still leaving the array vulnerable to a second failure during the rebuild process. With RAID6, error-correcting codes are generated for the N extra (non-data) drives to provide N/2 bits error correction, multi-bits error detection and recovery of up to N erasures/failures.
RAID6 is more computationnally expensive than RAID5 but it can be made arbitrarily resilient to subtle soft errors typical RAID5 would never detect. An external box 6xSATA/NCQ RAID6 with SATA-3G-uplink storage controller would be a nice companion for anybody who takes data integrity seriously but does not want to do TB-scale backups. (Of course, this still leaves data vulnerable to infection-induced or otherwise accidental trashing.)
Re:RAID (Score:2)
Er? (Score:5, Funny)
Parse Error at line 1.
Core Dump...
Yellow Box (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Yellow Box (Score:2)
Not quite there... (Score:3, Insightful)
Otherwise, it's kinda not quite there.
Firewire and gigE are both pretty cheap these days. There's no good reason that a box like this can't have that kind of thruput. NAS doesn't have to mean slow as a snail. They could dump the 8-port switch or just have different model options.
This could be really sweet as a MythTV repository otherise.
Re:Yellow Box (Score:3, Interesting)
Lighten up. Racism takes the form of lynching, discrimination, and unequal distribution of the products of our society. Notice that jokes are not in that list.
Price (Score:5, Funny)
The major issue is pricing; the 1 TB is about $1300.
Price is a concern, but a minor one.
So.. You think it's a cute looking box? I think so too. In my opinion, it's quite ugly. Very pretty, if I may say so.
Re:Price (Score:2)
Reminds me of a Vogon Cruiser
Re:Price (Score:3, Funny)
All I want is... (Score:2)
1: Cheap
2: Reliable (e.g. RAID mirroring or 5)
3: Decent performance.
4: No special drivers required (unlike Netgear SC101)
5: Cheap.
Re:All I want is... (Score:2)
Re:All I want is... (Score:2)
Re:All I want is... (Score:2)
Re:All I want is... (Score:2)
Funny... (Score:2, Funny)
What about authentication (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:What about authentication (Score:2)
http://linuxmafia.com/faq/Hardware/sata.html [linuxmafia.com]
http://linux.yyz.us/sata/sata-status.html [linux.yyz.us]
This day shall live on in infamy. (Score:5, Funny)
30 NOV 05: Not content with mere duplicate stories, Hemos started posting incoherent ramblings.
Re:This day shall live on in infamy. (Score:3, Funny)
Price a problem? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Price a problem? (Score:2)
Bonus feature: terrabytes right out of the box... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Bonus feature: terrabytes right out of the box. (Score:5, Funny)
Code, please! (Score:3, Insightful)
If it's an unmodified kernel... (Score:3, Informative)
If you don't modify the original you don't have to distribute the source youself, you only have to distribute the source to any changes or derrivatives. See the GPL for details. Specifically:
This means all they need to do is provide a link to kernel.or
Re:If it's an unmodified kernel... (Score:2)
c) Accompany it with the information you received as to the offer to distribute corresponding source code. (This alternative is allowed only for noncommercial distribution and only if you received the program in object code or executable form with such an offer, in accord with Subsection b above.)
Since the Yellow Machine is obviously commercial, are you purposely trying to troll by leaving out the latter half, or are there other versions of the GPL ou
Re:If it's an unmodified kernel... (Score:2)
"If distribution of executable or object code is made by offering access to copy from a designated place, then offering equivalent access to copy the source code from the same place counts as distribution of the source code, even though third parties are not compelled to copy the source along with the object code."
Once again, all they need is to provide the link to kernel.org.
If they didn't modify the kernel, there is no need ot distibute the sources. Such a thing would just be a wa
Re:If it's an unmodified kernel... (Score:2)
Re:If it's an unmodified kernel... (Score:2)
I agree, 99% of the time pointing to kernel.org works. But say you download Mandriva via your club membership and send the binaries to me. You can not refer me to Mand
Here it is... (Score:2)
Now, for my review of the review! (Score:5, Funny)
The reviewer spent some time talking about things, which was cool in my book. At one point, I actually considered looking into one of the technical things mentioned, but didn't as it would've broken the flavor of the review.
All in all, it was a pretty fun review -- I had some laughs and a couple of good cries. For the DIY crowd, you could google the info yourself -- which, you'll probably do anyhow. But for the Suits who want to spend some money and not learn much (much less than say... the spec sheet: http://www.anthologysolutions.com/products/P400T_
Thanks for the darling review. I feel much peppier now. =/
Re:Now, for my review of the review! (Score:2, Funny)
Duplication of the previous style, with a side of satire was nice. Personally, I love the freeing ability that not having to spell/grammer check allows me to review. Kind of like driving in Italy.
To all you reviewers of reviewers of reviewers out there, I'd say give it a shot. The cuteness and lending to overall recur
Heh (Score:2)
That's beautiful. 8P
Mods didn't find it funny, but I did.
Kano Technologies (Score:4, Informative)
Kano Technologies [kanotechnologies.com]
Re:Kano Technologies (Score:3, Informative)
Infrant (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Infrant (Score:5, Funny)
Wouldn't it be smarter to wait until you could afford both the machine and, oh, at least one drive?
The definition of editor? (Score:5, Insightful)
These "sentences" are embarrassing. What happened to proofreading? Seriously, you guys beg for test hardware to play with, and then you write a review that's barely English? Come on. We all have deadlines, but is it too much to ask that the editor proofread his own work to make sure it's coherent?
Re:The definition of editor? (Score:2)
Shame on Hemos for encouraging internet piracy.
And for everyone who's going to pretend it was his legal collection: sure, yea, right. Because I rip all my mp3s and dvd's to disk at work./i>
Re:The definition of editor? (Score:2)
Uh, not its not. This isn't 1998 anymore. It's a business which earns money and has employees. They have meetings, go over earning reports, and have retirement packages. Does that sound like "just a blog" by some dude?
I'm the last person who should ever poor grammer or mis-spellings but man was that "review" was bad.
Price major or minor concern? (Score:4, Insightful)
Price is a concern, but a minor one.
So, which is it?
$1,300 for 1T is cheap.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:$1,300 for 1T is cheap.. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:$1,300 for 1T is cheap.. (Score:2)
Another box to check out (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Another box to check out (Score:2)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N8
Roughly 80 cents per gigabyte (assuming the really dumb approximation of 1TB = 1000GB and not 1024... dumb HDD manufacturers)
Second Language (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't really think anyone in the slashdot crowd expected it to not do that.
Generally, a hardware review contains at least some sort of benchmarks or some gauge of performance. The closest you came to this was "I kicked it and it didn't break" and "It was kind of easy to use."
If you're going to review hardware, why don't you look up some other reviews for related hardware and try to structure yours in a similar manner. That way, you might actually offer some useful information.
Re:Second Language (Score:2)
Thanks for the comment, I needed a good laugh.. seeing as how my office is slowly filling with water right now..
English is /.'s Second Language (Score:2)
"Over?" I don't want to sound like a typical
UPS box (Score:4, Funny)
When I first read the words "about the size of a ups box" I pictured one of those big brown metal boxes you put packages in for pickup by UPS.
If I wanted something that huge for storage, I'd get an AS/400.
So I'm sorry I misunderstood you Hemos. When you said UPS box, you meant UPS box, not UPS box. My mistake.
How many Libraries of Congress is that? (Score:2)
What the hell does that mean? I have seen many "decent" UPS units, ranging in size from an oversized power strip up to roughly 20U sized. Now I'm not sure I trust the rest of the review, as any halfway knowledgeable IT person understands that the size of an UPS is entirely dependent on needs dictated by (load * time). There are so many comparisons available, and he managed to pick the one that is utterly meaningless.
Re:How many Libraries of Congress is that? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:How many Libraries of Congress is that? (Score:2)
heh. Indeed, size and placement are inconsequentialities. The most important characteristic is clearly given: it's yellow
Re:How many Libraries of Congress is that? (Score:2)
I think it does. Ask someone who is paying $4000 a month for a studio apartment in any major city if it matters. I am looking to put a NAS box out in my woods for backups in case the house goes up in smoke. I was going to bury a power and CAT-5E cable out there to some sort of enclosure. The smaller- the better.
Of course- my big problem is the elements and heat for this project. Anyone ever seen anyone do something similar? I was ever thinking something buried- perhaps
Wow. (Score:5, Funny)
I also reviewed this machine (Score:5, Informative)
Here's [tomsnetworking.com] my review.
Re:I also reviewed this machine (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I also reviewed this machine (Score:3)
Something that's bothered me about the Tom's group of sites is that they don't have a printer friendly link.
Why?
I mean, I know you want maximum ad impressions, but no one can easily print this stuff out and show it to their boss. That and the irritating "Continued" links, which makes the table of contents pretty worthless.
Maybe I'm the only one who gets annoyed by this, but it's something y'all should consider
Re:I also reviewed this machine (Score:2)
"But honey, it's necessary for a hardware review for Tom's! Obviously since you can see the buxom lass holding the grapefruit, this product has failed my tests..."
Re:I also reviewed this machine (Score:2)
Tom's Networking: (Score:5, Informative)
Here is a quote of their conclusion: For my money, looks like I'll be investigating other products, first.
But (Score:2)
Ventilation? (Score:2)
Am I missing something? (Score:3, Interesting)
Nice product by the looks of it, but I can't see myself ever buying one.
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:2)
Re:Am I missing something? (Score:2)
Not by definition, but where else would you put it? I've always put my firewalls at the front door of the network, AKA within reach of the T1.
Also Firewall is not synonymous with router, as in Firewall/Router
Ssince one often performs some function of the other, it makes sense to filter and route packets through the same box. therefore, we have a box that gets labeled Firewall/Router, because it does both.
I would never put a NAS on my networ
from the website ... (Score:2)
"We won't just stop with OS X. We give greater coverage - all the way up to OS Z!"
$1:GB is Cheap (Score:2, Insightful)
What about openfiler? (Score:2)
How about Openfiler [openfiler.org]? Not quite DIY, probably a decent compromise.
Try Infrant instead (Score:3, Insightful)
I just looked at the specs for this and am not that impressed. Like many other NAS devices, they claim OS/X support, but support is not via AFP. Though their docs make no mention of it, the YellowMachine is almost certainly running SAMBA only, and OS/X support is also through SAMBA. The problem with this is primarily long filenames. Try backing up your music collection to a SMB/CIFS box, and you'll see what I mean. IMHO, if you don't have AFP support, then you don't support Macs.
Similarly, there's no support for rsync or (given what Tom's Networking has to say [tomsnetworking.com]) file access via FTP or HTTP. And this may be just me, but who wants a router, DHCP server, a firewall, and a proxy server embedded in a NAS box? And $1300? That's cheap?
I recently purchased a RAID enabled SOHO NAS appliance. I spent a long time figuring out exactly what was needed in a mixed OS/X, Windows, Linux environment. I picked the Infrant ReadyNAS [infrant.com] box. You can see my blog entry [wanderingbarque.com] on this subject for details as to why. In short: support for SMB/CIFS, AFP, NFS, rsync, webdav, and FTP. Support for UPS devices. Support for Gigabit Ethernet. Very good documentation and an even better (employee active) user forum. And I got a TB of storage (650MB after RAID 5 formatting) for $1,000.
Banana 9000 et al. (Score:2)
http://www-i5.informatik.rwth-aachen.de/mbp/bloom
whats that mean? (Score:2)
what the hell does that sentance mean?
Volume of RAID arrays (Score:2)
Can anyone comment on the volume level of this array? Quiet, loud? Quiet enough for a server room but too loud for an office desk?
YACOTS (Yet Another Critique Of This Story) (Score:3, Insightful)
This story is currently nominated for "Worst Slashdot Story of 2005" and unless a Katrina-scale woofer of a story comes along in the next month, this little slice of junior-high blather will easily take the prize. I wonder if Hemos actually _read_ this story before posting it? (Hemos: did you write this? Or just post it?) As many others have pointed out, the first sentence doesn't even parse in English! I might be wrong, but I'm assuming that Hemos' native language is English because most of the not-english-as-first-language-having folks I've met can express themselves MUCH better than Americans who grew up with English. Not meaning to flame Americans (I'm from Mississippi after all...) but the state of written communication in the USA seems to be declining proportionally to the rise in blogging.
Translator Mangled (Score:2)
We had recently in the office of yellow apparatuses which is formed by Anthologieloesungen. The yellow apparatus, in the bovine one of the cubes, is acceptable an apparatus, the guards of the basic rule wuerdevollen the format of a scato him of UPS which has 1 TB or 1.6 TB of the memory location, with the entirety diversione and consequently the IDEA. We have with him close here around in a month or con
Re:English comp was never my strong subject (Score:3)
Geez, I know I don't pay for a subscription, and I know SlashDot doesn't claim to be any kind of professional writing at all, but...
When your website's one-and-only purpose for existing is to communicate information, don't you think it's worth at least minor efforts to avoid miscommunication like this?
It's really not that hard, either. You could probably find a highly qualified copyeditor or three who could do such small piece-work on deman
Re:English comp was never my strong subject (Score:5, Funny)
This hope I helps.
Re:Yellow Discrimination (Score:3, Funny)
Windows Vista outsells Linux RAID! Laura DiDio said so and you know she wouldn't lie!
We just did an independent study proving that a 10/100 Ethernet connection outperforms Gigabit in achieving small office business targets!
If you don't buy this machine, we'll stop selling to your country and pull all our employees out and tell George about you!
Wait until the next version! It'll be awesome! You'll be able to act
Re:My impressions are below (Score:2)
Re:What the hell has this place become? (Score:5, Funny)
You forgot obviously commercial advertisements masquerading as reviews by Chinese PR agents who can't speak (or write) English.
Re:Hmm...no GB? (Score:2)
1300 gigs = 1,300,000,000,000 bytes = 10400000000000 bits = 10400000 megabits. At 100 mbps, that's at least 104000 seconds or 29 hours to copy the whole thing.
Yeah, backups are going to be a problem unless of course that machine IS the backup server where the backups are being stored.
Re:Hmm...no GB? (Score:2)
Re:Hmm...no GB? (Score:2)
Re:Where't The Gigabit?!? (Score:2)
Re:Where't The Gigabit?!? (Score:2)
True, but any of those could push more than 100mbps. I agree that they should have made the switch 10/100 with a 1gb connection to the internal array.
Re:Yellow is faster (Score:2)
[*] I didn't actually look at the picture, so there may be a very sharp looking racing stripe
Kicked it over (Score:3, Funny)
Wow, this shows a level of idiocy I would not have thought possible. After the first time kicking it over, the thought should have come up, "CRAP! That's a terrible place to keep that. I should move it to somewhere more out of the way, where it won't get knocked over all the time."
"Whoa, that's the fourth time I've knocked that thing over. I'll be