On Mon, 15 Feb 2010 10:12:15 +0000 Mark Rogers mark@quarella.co.uk allegedly wrote:
The application I am playing with primarily involves shuffling data from a serial port (via a USB to RS232 or 485 converter) to a remote server over a VPN. So I need the box to be able to establish a VPN connection on startup (and re-establish it if it drops), and to allow me to run some simple scripts to link data coming to/from the server to the USB serial port. Biggest issue I might have would be the USB/Serial - what chance of getting drivers to work?
Pretty good I'd say. The USB serial port on the plug works fine out of the box. But I haven't tried plugging in a USB serial converter to the plug because I've had no reason to do so, so I can't comment from experience.
What script languages are already available as binaries that run on the box? Python, Perl, PHP, etc? (I'll probably need to put a web interface on the box as well but I know it can do that.)
All of those and more.
I honestly have no idea how much of what I know I could do in Linux on an Intel platform is transferable to the ARM in practice. I know binaries won't work but I don't know how easily applications will cross-compile in practice.
I'd be surprised if you needed to do much cross compilation of your own. In my experience (a couple of years of running NSLU2s) most of the mainstream software you would expect to use on intel is available in the debian ARM repository. Take a look at http://www.debian.org/ports/arm/ for a list of supported architectures and pointers to packages and documentation.
The sheevaplug (being a new(ish) kid on the block) has a much smaller fan base than the NSU2, but if you want a feel for the range of applications being run on debian on ARM, take a look at the NSLU2 site at:
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/Info/WhatPeopleAreReallyUsingTheirSlugsFor
and at:
http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/HomePage
and of course Martin Michlmayr's site at http://www.cyrius.com/debian/
The debian ARM mailing list (and of course the archive) at debian-arm@lists.debian.org is also a fantastically helpful resource (and the mailing list participants are also very helpful).
Mick
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