Quoting Craig Sanders (cas@taz.net.au):
yeah, i try really hard to like the idea of using a little openwrt compatible router (because they would/could be great), but every time i look into them in any detail, I end up at the same point:
Ditto. Here's the unit I'm considering to replace my decade-plus-old server: http://www.fit-pc.com/web/purchase/order-direct-fit-pc3/ It has dual eSATA, an AMD G-T44R 64-bit CPU, AMI Radeon HD 6250 (HDMI or DisplayPort), takes up to 8GB RAM on two DDR3 SO-DIMMs, room inside for one 2.5" disk, two MiniPCIE sockets. Power draw's about 10-20W depending on load and extras. Fanless. I haven't gotten through researching chipsets for compatibility with good open-source Linux drivers -- SATA and ethernet being for my purposes what matter. However, they claim it runs Linux Mint. Price depends on what RAM and mass-storage you put in it. I'm imagining one of those with 8GB RAM and a pair of 128 GB SSDs for mass storage. Total silence, and next to no power draw. Either one SSD inside and one out, or both in external eSATA-connected boxes.