I have a computerized device that can put a PDF file on a USB flash drive or USB hard drive. The device is powered by a single board computer running Ubuntu Server. However, it is essentially a kiosk. I cannot access the operating system to configure it.
Can I hook in a NAS to the USB port so that the device puts the PDF file on the NAS? I would like to have that file be accessible to the network assuming that the NAS is connected to the network. I am trying to get rid of the sneaker net.
I apologize if this is a simple question. I have never owned a NAS.
Thanks.
If the NAS is based on USB devices, then you might have a shot. If it's based on hard drives, probably not. (And even if it's USB, if the NAS is expecting to talk CIFS/NFS over Ethernet, it still won't work.)
Check with the manufacturer of your NAS and your device.
The two sides to every story are true and false, not yours and theirs. Facts are not political; lies are. - Deven Green (Mrs. Betty Bowers)
They make USB drives that also serve as a wireless wifi server, so you can hit whatever is on the drive from a computer. Would that be a solution for you? Something like this is the first hit I saw.
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Wirele...
I was looking at this solution. I may have to get one to try it.
I spent some time Googling the NAS solution and could not find a success story.
I am afraid that when this stick is plugged into a USB port, it's locked and ceases to work as a file server. My understanding of the limitation of this product is that it only works as a file server when it's turned on in a standalone mode.
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I'm curious what the device in question does that a regular USB stick doesn't? Couldn't you just put a filesystem on it and copy the pdf regularly?
The two sides to every story are true and false, not yours and theirs. Facts are not political; lies are. - Deven Green (Mrs. Betty Bowers)
Oh,
The device prints a test record to a printer over Ethernet to any HP printer. Or the device "prints" a PDF file to a flash drive (It creates a PDF file and copies it onto the flash drive). The device is locked down Ubuntu Server running a custom application like a kiosk.
Some customers would like the device to copy the PDF onto a shared network drive, but it will take a while to implement that feature (buried on the feature road map). I was looking for a hardware solution work around.
Ideally, a wifi-enabled drive would allow the following. When connected by USB, only the USB connected computer could write to the drive, and the wifi connected devices would have read only access.
I am surprised that this is not currently possible. The few devices that I have looked at allow only one form of access at a time.
Update:
I think that I may be able to do this with a wifi-enabled SD card. Going to research it.
Well, good luck with it...
The two sides to every story are true and false, not yours and theirs. Facts are not political; lies are. - Deven Green (Mrs. Betty Bowers)