Hack the PogoPlug

[nayr]

This is just an FYI, ah screw it its a challenge!; I am working on a related project but it could be adapted easily for the IPCam crowd. (I am adapting it to be a car-media server, to share terabytes of music & kids movies/tv to tablets without nearly that much storage).

I am already doing something similar for recording 24/7 using another embedded linux box I have that also has esata, but it was much more expensive than the PogoPlug and is doing alot more than just being a file server (CuBox i4Pro).

Requirements: Familiarity with Linux and seeks adventure.

Here is the jist, you can pickup a 800MHz arm computer with a sata interface, usb, sd and ethernet off ebay for less than $12 called the PogoPlug: http://www.ebay.com/itm/331167370730

It has a SATA USM port on the top of it and for $99 you can get a 2TB drive that docks right into it: http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Portable-External-STDR2000100 or you can opt for a larger drive of your choice and put it into an external USB enclosure.

You'll want a small SD card to install linux on, Performance is about ~25MB/s (~200Mbit) which is adequate for a couple dozen cameras.. install a minimal linux and run just FTP/NFS and configure your cameras to record directly to the camera and use some cron scripts to cleanup old recordings regularly.

this would be very low power, easy to hide and ultimately customizable camera file server.. Run your own NTP server and have all cameras time-sync every min, copy certain files to dropbox, issue URL commands to change profiles at dawn/dusk, setup monitoring to sms you if disk fills, a camera stops responding, etc.

Given the cost of the Pogo, only $12 freaking dollars or less its going to be hard to beat this for simple and cheap.. your cost to save recordings on a standalone server is almost entirely the drive you choose and perhaps an external enclosure.. Would work great if you want redundant storage and have some spare disks laying about, or put a smaller cheap disk in it for a few days of redundancy.

further reading:
http://blog.qnology.com/2014/07/hacking-pogoplug-v4-series-4-and-mobile.html
http://blog.qnology.com/2013/03/tutorial-pogoplug-e02-with-arch-linux.html

 

[pcmcg]

Cool device. Thanks for posting.

 

[Antitrust]

Cool info, will give it a go. Cheers dude.

 

[nayr]

so got my pogoplug mobile and the hacking has begun...

Here is the case I am putting it in:

http://www.polycase.com/wp-36f

and here is a mockup of the pogoplug mobile board, with bluetooth usb, SD card along with a 2.5" SATA HDD in the footprint of the case (everything fits perfectly):

the pogoplug mobile does NOT have a sata port exposed but I can solder a sata cable directly to the board, the power input is 12v and range is acceptable for automotive use.. YAY!
also going in the case but not pictured is a D-Link pocket access point, its smaller than all the rest and I will tap 5v power off the board to power the AP and the HDD.

ArchLinux w/PlexMediaServer are installed on the SD card, audio headphones out the bluetooth to car stereo.. I will get either a 1-2TB drive for it when done.. the Access point is called 'Plex Media Server' and you can connect with any device that can run plex for an off-the grid video on demand system. Music Player Daemon controls the audio output via bluetooth and there is a nice Android App for controlling it.

the specs on the board are rated up to 260F so it wont have a problem running short periods (15h max) sealed up inside a car, I have also been assured that these will shutdown safely if they get too hot instead of burning them selves up.. if only i could get an affordable 1TB SSD it'd be perfect

this guide worked very well: http://blog.qnology.com/2014/07/hacking-pogoplug-v4-series-4-and-mobile.html

 

[pcmcg]

is this to stream media while driving? Why not just use 4G service?

 

[nayr]

I go where there is no service, its also to use at camp to help the lil one go to sleep and let us adults have some quality fire time... or when kid goes to grandparents for the summer, etc. I use too much data as it is durring this period of time, no need to stream music and video when I can bring em along... I use plex at home so everyone is already familiar with its operation.

It will also act as a local NAS so we can backup/offload photos when back at base and not need to bring a computer with us.. going to get a card reader for tablet.

example, July of this year I did 6800 miles on the road and weeks off the grid... next year my wife gets an extra week of vacation so its game on!
Proof, this is just the last week.. its missing weeks of travel on west coast: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5owasrw255kdo43/Screenshot 2014-07-14 20.25.27.png?dl=0

in the off season, when not installed in a vehicle it will be plugged into my LAN and be serving cartoons to all the TV's.. this lets me configure only that server in my sons room so he dont have access to hours of zombie movies

I am currently about $15 into this project; in the end w/a 1TB HDD I am hoping to get it done for under $110
Case: +$30
1TB: +$65

 

[nayr]

just for fun I plugged in a small USB drive, installed and configured vsftpd and then set my cams to record to it.. absolutely no problem.. my thumb disk isn't even that fast (10MB/s write).

if you get the non-mobile pogoplug v4 with the sata port (or add your own to mobile) you can expect to avg 320Mbps ftp speeds.. which I think could handle quite a few cameras. The SATA Port apparently also supports port multipliers so you could hook it to a bunch of disks if your so inclined.

PS: Size is ~4.5x4in, the board is smaller.

 

[nayr]

some more info, after its loaded up with ArchLinux you can restore the original PogoPlug software and map it to your FTP server and then the Pogo Mobile Apps see and can access the files.

see: http://archlinuxarm.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3343

also if you follow the directions i posted earlier, it installs a bootloader that will fall back to the stock default boot image if you remove the SD-Card.. so you can always go back to the way you got it by removing the storage with your operating system on it.

 

[nayr]

got some more components to make a lil more progress on this project.. everything fit wonderfully in the case, tonight after kid goes to bed Imna rip out the handy dandy soldering iron and attach the SATA drive.

I think this would be a wonderful project for any of you DIY Camera guys whom want to hide a camera recording device somewhere it'll never be found.. its low power, cheap and this case with its mounting tabs could go inbetween walls, floor joists, inside return airvents without a problem.

some photos attached for your enjoyment..

 

[qnology]

Hi @nayr,

I'm the author of the Pogoplug tutorials. Thank you for sharing it.

Awesome little project you're working on. Last year I actually took my Pogoplug camping (for playing back music). One comment regarding using the Pogoplug as a carputer, the constant power on/off will eventually corrupt the file system (for Arch Linux at least, not sure how resilient Debian is though). I've thought about this for a while now, and the solution is to run a small linux distro directly from NAND (internal flash), but I haven't had a opportunity to work on it (yet).

qnology

 

[nayr]

Thanks for the tutorials qnology, they made it a piece of cake.

Ive put all the logs and temporary files in a tempfs to cut down on the number of writes; Ive thought about reformatting it with a more flash friendly filesystem.

This will be always on in either my VW Bus, with dual batteries, onboard charger and has a cutoff switch when batteries get low... When traveling distance it will be in my car and when we reach our base camp it will be in my lil adventure trailer which I am going to setup with a small solar panel, battery and radio repeater.. When its not traveling in a vehicle it will be brought inside and plugged into the network, serving cartoons and static music collection to local Plex Players.. I might leave it at grandma's so my son has his favorite shows at his disposal sometimes, regardless it wont suffer like a daily driven carputer, but I have no real desire to go back to the original filesystem so putting everything on NAND is a grand idea for longterm stability.. I am thinking of getting a hybrid SSD drive for this so it caches the most used media and keeps the heads parked while in motion.

As an extra bonus, I can bring a Chromecast along and it should work in motels, providing they dont still have old tube TV's.

A reoccurring topic on these forums is hiding a video storage device in your residence so you can protect the video from being stolen; the PogoPlug with a FTPd can be shoved in a rugged enclosure and screwed into rafters, floor truses, crawl spaces, etc.. and not break the bank either while allowing very creative physical security on the video storage.