The Pogoplug does accessing the files on a local network. Ie, it does not send them out and then back in again. But you do need a internet connection to the Pogoplug 'mothership' for it to work properly.

Place Shifting Enthusiasts

This has to be the worst designed product on the planet!

It is designed for home use, yet it is useless for home use by anything but the exceptionally narror list of uses designed by the idiots at pogoplug!

Ever hear of basic things like CIFS or SAMBA, UPNP, etc?

I regretfully bought one of these and now have a paperweight that I cannot even give away!

purple mink said:

saphfron said: This has to be the worst designed product on the planet! It is designed for home use, yet it is useless for home use by anything but the exceptionally narror list of uses designed by the idiots at pogoplug! Ever hear of basic things like CIFS or SAMBA, UPNP, etc? I regretfully bought one of these and now have a paperweight that I cannot even give away!

Try the "for sale - free" forum on Craigslist!! They'll take anything!

Well - I found my solution after I posted... PlugLinux.

A full reinstall of the embedded OS, does use up one USB port for a small memory stick, but well worth it.  My PogoPlug is now a Plug Computer Server.  The full Linux instance running on it is easily running a SAMBA server for in-home file sharing, as well as a full Apache server running my personal home page, running many of my own custom scripts and programs.

The resulting server is fantasitc, but I am very disappointed that such an easy-to-fix item is not being dealt with by Pogo...  SAMBA is open source, and can be added in very short order to the PogoPlug devices with little effort and cost.

I may have liked to maintain some of the Pogo features, but had to dump them to get the services I absolutely required in SAMBA.

purple mink said: I guess you didn't read what others have previously said in the thread then...........over a year ago!!

I purchased it based not on research but a whim while at BestBuy.

If you arer referring to OpenPogo, I tried it, but it was still a mediocre implementation.  PlugBox Linux is, by far, a better solution for my needs.  mind you, I am a UNIX person in my career as well, so the relative complexity of dealing with a kernel install, pakage management, etc - while simple for a technical individual, is a non-starter for the mass public.

Sharing files in a home network via SAMBA is pretty standard fare, uPNP support is commonplace for home-use media devices and "connected" televisions.  These are features which should be standard if the device permits, which the PogoPlug hardware definately does.

Just my opinion, and one I believe would make the PogoPlug a much more consumer-friendly (and popular) device to own.

I try to inform myself as much as possible before buying any piece of hardware for my network, just because of problems which may arise, but at least I will research the capabilities of the device later on at my leisure. For the last 3 weeks, I think I've gone through every forum/site based on Sheeva plugs, GuruPlugs, you name it, I've been there, but the support, especially from the various manufacturers/vendors was poor to nil, from the forums to direct emails, so I myself decided to go with the PogoPlug Pro....not sure what version it will be, [v1 or v2] but already have bookmarked the links for the available open source packages. I don't even think I'll be using the Wi-Fi feature as my network is all wired, but like any gadget, I decided to get the extra feature. I wasn't referring to OpenPogo specifically, only to the points you referred to......namely CIFS, SAMBA & UPNP all of which is implemented in both OpenPlug and Plugbox Linux. As far as consumer level implementation of this is concerned, most people just want the basic functionality of the device and aren't really concerned that the hardware is capable of applications they never imagined. Personally, I won't be using uPNP, even tho' my media/server devices support it, but will just use SAMBA. I'm just waiting now for delivery of my PP Pro today and looking forward to using it.