Filed under: Internet, Hardware, Linux, Open Source, web 2.0
TonidoPlug unboxing and first look gallery: your own private cloud-in-a-plug
by Lee Mathews Sep 5th 2009 at 3:19PM
In case you missed the earlier posts, I took a look at the Tonido beta a while back. Anyone who is leery about offering up confidential documents and media files to the Cloud Gods, Tonido is for you. If you can read and follow directions and spare some of your valuable time to configure the suite, it's a simple, secure, and effective way to rock a cloud setup without giving up control and complete privacy.
Here's a quick recap of what Tonido provides:
- File sharing
- Photo gallery
- MP3 streaming with playlist support
- Thots, a simple blogging platform
- A collaborative workspace with calendar and task management
The internal storage has about 180Mb available for future updates and additional app installs. Now let's take a look at the TonidoPlug (and the embedded software, of course) in all its diminutive glory.
Gallery: Tonido Plug unboxing and first look!
For more images from the Tonido software, head on over to the beta screenshot gallery.
When our chums over at Engadget reviewed the PogoPlug back in April they didn't like the lack of Wifi support on the device. I'm not about to make the same complaint, however. On my sharing device I want a rock-solid, wired LAN connection. My DSL router/modem and the Plug are right next to each other, so it's no big deal to string a short cable between the two.
As for the dig on a single USB port - that's not an issue for me either. About $50US can score you a device like KingWin's dual-bay drive enclosure with room for 2x2TB hard drives and that's plenty of room for me. My music collection fits nicely and I've still got gig upon gig of space that I can fill with Tonido-managed torrents.
For just shy of $100, the TonidoPlug sells itself. It's an amazing little device running awesome software which supercharges your external hard drives with a ton of networked potential.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
obo said 4:41PM on 9-05-2009
I've been running the Tonido software as a service on my always-on-anyway media center and wholeheartedly endorse it. This plug is on my Christmas list for the Net-accessible extensible NAS + remote torrent support alone. The file/photo/music sharing features, OpenID server and hack-friendliness are pure icing.
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Jeff hates socialism said 5:12AM on 9-11-2009
Already wisely using NAS you need this additional toy why?
Cam said 6:20PM on 9-05-2009
So, how does this work? Do you use SSH to get into it, and control settings/software/whatnot from there?
USB for external storage, correct?
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kassie2k4 said 2:42AM on 9-06-2009
do you really think a consumer focused device would require SSH?
Psychologix said 1:03PM on 9-07-2009
They actually give you a dynamic dns based on your Tonido ID that you choose when you set it all up. example.tonidoid.com:10001 and you log in thru the web interface. You can of course access it thru the private IP if you're using it on local network. I've had mine for a little less than a week and while I think it's a sweeeet concept, I've had it stop responding and had to hard-reboot it on several occasions. I hope that they were just flukes.
Wrinkliez said 11:18AM on 9-06-2009
Not to be that guy, but it looks like a typo in the sentence "It's an excellent example of a software product making the jump to harware.." The d in hardware is missing! D:!
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Lee Mathews said 11:19AM on 9-06-2009
Er...what are you talking about? There's a d. It's always been there *cough*
Thanks ;)
Fred said 11:19AM on 9-06-2009
I have been running Tonido for about 2 weeks now. It's really nice to have. I have an always-on backup/HTPC machine running it, and I have all of my documents backed up across the network (using ComodoBackup) into my Tonido shared folder. That way, if I forget a file at home, I can get it very quickly.
That being said, this plug is a neat idea, but if you have an always (or almost always)-on PC, it's somewhat of a waste...
I will be getting it for my little brother for Christmas, however.
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snoopedgyedge said 11:39AM on 9-06-2009
I got a Tonido Plug, and it should arrive Monday or Tuesday (courtesy of UPS). The main reason I got it is because of the tiny energy footprint, remote torrent ability, and the awesome/easy file-sharing amongst co-workers and family members. With an attached 1TB drive (and the ability to add more in the future via USB hub), it's going to fit the bill nicely and use a fraction of the power my current desktop uses by staying on 24/7. It's 2009; flying cars would have been nice to have by now, but I'll take the Tonido Plug instead. :)
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Geir said 4:01AM on 9-07-2009
Does it (the version currently shipping in the U.S.) support 220V, or is it 110V only?
I know they only sell in the U.S. at the moment, but if it can run on 220V it shouldn't be too hard to get hold of some and just swap out that power cord shown on the photo....
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Geir said 4:04AM on 9-07-2009
Never mind, I see it says 100-240V, 50/60HZ on the back of the box....
Owen said 9:20AM on 9-07-2009
If this is built on Ubuntu, isn't there a download somewhere? I wonder if I could put this on a flash drive and boot an old PC with it. The interface seems nice enough for the rest of the family to use.
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Lee Mathews said 9:23AM on 9-07-2009
Ownen - you could create a bootable Ubuntu USB install and then just install the regular Tonido suite. They've got a .DEB for Ubuntu.
http://www.tonido.com/application_download.html
Sandy said 11:49AM on 9-07-2009
I went to tonido.com but I can't find the plug. Where can I order one?
Sandy
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Lee Mathews said 11:51AM on 9-07-2009
Try Tonidoplug.com
hwbv7 said 11:54AM on 9-08-2009
Ive been runnin one of these for a few weeks now, definitely awesome. I have all my external drives hooked up to it and sharing on my network. Also now that they released their rootfs and modules you can move your install from the measly internal 512mb of flash space to any external usb drive you want. From there you can start installing other services and hacking to your hearts content. I loaded mine up with sabnzbd to take the load off of my laptop and it works wonderfully
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optofonik said 4:29AM on 9-10-2009
Been experimenting with Tonido using an old laptop simply for uploading downloading files. A new drive arrives tomorrow that will allow me to transfer said files in addition to music so I can test the Jukebox feature. It seems to be a nice stopgap between an FTP server and a secure personal web page.
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Jeff hates socialism said 5:07AM on 9-11-2009
repeat this aloud until you are deprogrammed:
Intelligent people do NOT pay for mp3s.
Money fetches studio quality.
Therefore demand FLAC support!
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Jeff hates socialism said 5:14AM on 9-11-2009
For $100 why not a popcorn?
With all the raving about external hard drives why no eSata support?
Is it shiny? the itards might buy it
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