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Build your own Web Server / Gateway for $220 or less

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It's not a polished article by a long shot. (it contains a new look I'm working on for my site at www.myblueroom.com ) To see the Elephant Web Server / Gateway with the possibility for use also as a home automation controller; click on the Elephant button on the left hand side of the page. If you have a Cable / DSL modem then this article might be of interest. (It replaces your router) I've been using one for about a year, just wanted to share how it's done.

Total cost with software is less than $220 Canadian.

You can program it in Perl, PHP, and more. You configure it with your browser.

With a little programming you could connect it to any serial based home automation devices and control / monitor them from anywhere.
Hey it's cheaper and far more capable than a Stargate Web-Xpander $299 (Rabbit Based Ethernet to RS232 device).

Ultimately I would like to control the Cricket Thermostat and all the other communications enabled devices on my site. As I have the firmware I'll release as open source (GNU Hardware, firmware) I think this way we can all benifit and get very reliable HA devices around the home.

(*look for the Projects / Elephant tab)
 

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This is nice, but it seems pretty basic. The instructions boil down to, buy cheap computer with two network cards, install between modem and hub, install clarkconnect software.

If you're actually into this stuff, I would suggest getting a more popular linux distro and setting it up with this stuff yourself. At least get something that there are popular rpm's available for.
 
If you're actually into this stuff, I would suggest getting a more popular linux distro and setting it up with this stuff yourself. At least get something that there are popular rpm's available for.

The clarkconnect software is Fedora Core 4, rpms work fine. It was meant as an easy to setup and use almost turnkey setup. It allows someone with no linux experence to install a robust server in their home.
As for basic did you look at the clark connect site for the feature list? For a home server what's it missing? A microsoft IIS solution would cost a fortune.
 
Like any preconfigured product, as long as you are comfortable with what's offered, nothing is missing. As for what some other people may want, BOINC or other distributed computing client, VOIP server, webcamera security server, better dbase management or even another dbase, BitTorrent or other P2P client, VNC over SSH management, distributed hardware monitor, game servers... the list of different configurations that someone might want are endless.

Though I haven't run the software, it sounds like the only access you have to manage the system, other than their web management, is using an SSH terminal session.

I'm just suggesting that there are people better off installing fedora and these applications seperately, if they want to have more control of their server.
 
Ill stick with my SLUG (£50 + £80 for external HD) it runs a full linux distro and I can control it (via SSH) from work.

Use it to download torrents overnight and as a webserver and a SMB server as well as a music server
 
Intel Little Falls 2 with Integrated Intel Atom 330 Processor i945GC onboard VGA 6 channel audio mini-ITX Motherboard - Ebuyer <- Intel little falls 2 is a great card for it, runs Debian perfectly well

If power consumption is not an issue, I would advice resurecting a buisiness/desktop type machine. They come all included for less than 40 and have more than enough processiong power. An embedded WRT54 tybe box is also an option.

I would vouch for a WRT54GL type thinmgy and a small server, to separate gateway and applications.
 
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