Use NDAS devices on Aspire One Linux

What is NDAS ?
"NDAS(Network Direct Attached Storage) is Ximeta's patented technology which enables all digital storage devices(HDD, ODD, Memory, Tape Drives) direct connection into standard Ethernet networks. All users or systems on the network can directly control, use and share those devices. "
-- ximeta.com

Or to rephrase: it is a type of NAS, but only works if you install ximetas drivers. And note that this topic is only relevant to you if you actually own some NDAS hardware Most popular examples are probably the Targa harddrives Lidl often sells.

Where to get the drivers ?
Naturally Ximeta does not provide "ready to use" drivers for linux - they need to be compiled from source.
Fortunately for you, I just did that - and the result can be downloaded from here: http://sites.google.com/site/thegrimsqueaker/ (the ndas file, obviously)

Download and unzip. You will then get two rpm files.
Install them as follows:

Code:

sudo rpm -ihv --nodeps ndas-kernel-1.1-2.6.23.9lw.24.i686.rpm

Code:

sudo rpm -ihv --nodeps ndas-admin-1.1-24.i686.rpm

You should get a message that everything started succesfully. Good.
Reboot.

Enabling the drivers & choosing the network interface
First thing to do after reboot is to activate the kernel modules, and then starting the ndasadmin program.

Code:

sudo modprobe ndas-core ndas_dev=ath0

Code:

sudo modprobe ndas-block

Code:

sudo ndasadmin start

The ath0 in the above instructions assumes you wish to connect to the NDAS device through your wireless card (for instance using your wireless router).
If instead you wish to connect through an ethernet connection, replace the ath0 with eth0.

Registering & enabling the device
Next we need to register and enable the device. This in principle needs to be done only once - the system will remember your ID and Key unless you explicitly tell it to forget it.

First find your NDAS "ID" and NDAS "key". They are probably written on the the bottom of your NetDisk.
Now, if your NDAS ID (20 characters) and NDAS key (5 characters) are
ID: AF7R2-2MKK4-UHG9S-5RHTG
KEY: 8QT6U
the command to register the disk with the name "MyDisk" would be:

Code:

sudo ndasadmin register AF7R2-2MKK4-UHG9S-5RHTG-8QT6U --name MyDisk

Note that you can use any name you want instead of MyDisk.

Next get the slotnumber by typing:

Code:

cat /proc/ndas/devices/MyDisk/slots

The result will probably be 1. If you do NOT get a number from the above command, type

Code:

cat /proc/ndas/devs

If the Status is "Offline" make sure the NetDisk is turned on and is connected to the same network.
If there is a connection or login error, be certain you started the kernel module/driver with the correct network inferface: ath0 for wireless, eth0 for wired. And that you did not make a typo in the ID & Key of course...
Repeat the above procedure after correcting the problem to get the slotnumber.

Then, to enable the NetDisk,type one of the following commands. Replace the "1" with the slot number you just got.

To be able to read AND write to the disk, type:

Code:

sudo ndasadmin enable -s 1 -o w

To just be able to read the disk, type:

Code:

sudo ndasadmin enable -s 1 -o r 

Mounting the NAS device so you can use it
And then.. the moment you have been waiting for.. the mounting.
First create a mount point, like this:

Code:

sudo mkdir /media/NDAS

where NDAS can be any name you want.

Then check /dev for ndas devices. Each partition will have a name like /dev/ndas-(some numbers)-0p(number)
The first partition of my own device for instance is called /dev/ndas-13417459-0p1 . It is formatted as ntfs*.

So let us mount it:

Code:

sudo mount -t ntfs-3g /dev/ndas-13417459-0p1 /media/NDAS

Replace the ntfs-3g by the correct filesystem (e.g. vfat, ext2 and so on). If you wish to mount the device as read-only, add a -r to the command, like this:

Code:

sudo mount -r -t ntfs-3g /dev/ndas-13417459-0p1 /media/NDAS

Open /media/NDAS in the file explorer and behold... your files !

Notes
* By default Acer includes read-only NTFS drivers on the One.

References:
http://code.ximeta.com/trac-ndas/wiki/Usage
http://code.ximeta.com/trac-ndas/ticket/666

 

I will now also explain how the compilation is actually done, for educational purposes

Getting the needed source files
NDAS drivers: http://code.ximeta.com/dev/current/linux/
Linpus kernel source: http://ftp.twaren.net/Linux/Linpus/Aspi ... 23.9lw.zip

Download these files and save.
Unzip the kernel files (the linux-2.6.23.9lw.zip file) and place the contents under /usr/src/linux-2.6.23.9
Easiest way to accomplish this is to copy the .zip file to /usr/src as root, and then unpack:

Code:

sudo cp linux-2.6.23.9lw.zip/usr/src
sudo unzip /usr/src/linux-2.6.23.9lw.zip

Getting the compilers
To compile the sources, one needs a compiler. By default there is none present on te One, so we will need to get one.
First update the fedora repository locations, if you haven't already:

Code:

sudo yum update fedora-release

Then install gcc, make and some dependencies:

Code:

sudo yum install gcc make

Since we will want to make a rpm for easy distribution, also get the tools to make rpms. For some reason you will also need to remove and then reinstall the coreutils package (otherwise the "install" program which is needed will be missing. Odd that)

Code:

sudo yum install rpmdevtools

Code:

sudo rpm -e --nodeps coreutils
sudo yum install coreutils

Create the rpm
Issue the following command:

Code:

rpmbuild -tb --target=i686 ndas-1.1-24.tar.gz

And sit back while the system creates to RPMs for you. Once it is done, you will find them at:
/usr/src/redhat/RPMS/i686/

See the post above this one to find out what to do with them

References:
http://code.ximeta.com/trac-ndas/wiki/HowToBuildRPM
http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/08/dith ... l-and.html (for the core-utils trick)

 

Thank you so much. This really helped a lot.
Thank you also for re-uploading the files.

flex

 

Since the files were once again removed, I have decided to host them offsite:

http://sites.google.com/site/thegrimsqueaker/

Enjoy