I purchased & installed a D-Link NAS devise about 18 months ago. Basic functionality was OK but....

Not compatible with Microsoft Outlook. This uses a Linux file system; certain programs require NTFS file system extensions that are not available with this box.

Reliability was poor, hardware failed after about 14 months. Moved the disk into a PC and oops!, the Linux file system is not recognized by Windows.

Green energy savings is OK if everybody turns off their PC when not in use. Very difficult to achieve in a household so this becomes one more device that's always on.

cherman1 wrote:Ok - Router + Harddrive makes sense.

Router + Harddrive + Photo frame is just silly, Why not Router + Toaster + Airfreshener

I'd buy that.

Ranish wrote:I am sorry to inform you but you are not correct. 2.4GHz is a Radio frequency and not a speed.

The Reason you see 2.4GHz and 5Ghz is not a speed factor but an option that is given to the consumer. The idea is that 2.4GHz is a frequency that is used by alot more devices in the house other than things that connect wifi, which can create interference. So 5.0Ghz was introduced to help alleviate the problem, because it is a less common frequency. Dual band routers exist for the sole purpose of giving your devices the freedom of choosing which is the best signal in the current enviroment the devices are in. So that you have the least interference possible thus the best signal possible.

And actually a frequency IS a speed rating. It's the speed at which something cycles in a given period. Generally understood to be "cycles per second."

So, guess you're wrong too. AND you misspelled Environment.

cherman1 wrote:Ok - Router + Harddrive makes sense.

Router + Harddrive + Photo frame is just silly, Why not Router + Toaster + Airfreshener

But Router + Airfreshener + Cylon Toaster maker would be awesome lol

Ranish wrote:I am sorry to inform you but you are not correct. 2.4GHz is a Radio frequency and not a speed.

Actually, by using the Nyquist and Shannon-Hartley theorems, you can convert a frequency into the maximum available bandwidth at that frequency.

It's kind of like episode 4, when Han says that he made the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs. Parsecs are a distance, but he was referring to a speed, but the speed of light being constant, that only leaves distance to be minimized.

Hopefully, I've managed to bring some hard-core nerd to this Woot discussion.

Hey so does anyone know how this router would fair with Fios?

I am moving into a house with two kids that both have macs, I am pretty knowledgeable about PCs..but not so much macs, anyone of you with a mac? are there gonna be any compatibility issues here? any help would be appreciated

gjones33 wrote:I am moving into a house with two kids that both have macs, I am pretty knowledgeable about PCs..but not so much macs, anyone of you with a mac? are there gonna be any compatibility issues here? any help would be appreciated

It says in the specs that Macs are supported. You won't have any trouble with the wifi part. As for the NAS, you probably won't have any trouble either.

mbus wrote:Basic functionality was OK but....

Not compatible with Microsoft Outlook. This uses a Linux file system; certain programs require NTFS file system extensions that are not available with this box.

Reliability was poor, hardware failed after about 14 months. Moved the disk into a PC and oops!, the Linux file system is not recognized by Windows.

So what you're saying is, Microsoft ignores the existence of a world outside Redmond, and that's D-Link's fault?

If you're going to place blame, place it where it belongs. If Outlook is designed to fail when used with the world's most common server filesystem, that is Outlook's fault. And if Windows is designed to be unable to mount foreign filesystems, that's Windows' fault. Linux and OS X will recognize and mount Windows partitions, but Microsoft chooses not to reciprocate, just to make interoperability more difficult.

quantamm wrote:It says in the specs that Macs are supported. You won't have any trouble with the wifi part. As for the NAS, you probably won't have any trouble either.

Thanks..I wasnt worried about the wifi, ive just never had a mac before, so im never trust when it says mac compatible, but the wifi will probably be the only thing they use, ill setup the printer myself.

chefbooyadee wrote:Sadly, I don't think DD-WRT(or Tomato, my preference) is compatible with any 802.11n routers... *sigh*

I use dd-wrt with a Linksys WRT300N and it performs flawlessly. Never a hiccup since the first day I brought it up.

chefbooyadee wrote:Sadly, I don't think DD-WRT(or Tomato, my preference) is compatible with any 802.11n routers... *sigh*

I've been using using a netgear WNR834B that I got on woot! for the last three years with no problems. First thing I did was load DD-WRT on it and I haven't looked back. Stable as can be and wireless N to boot.

Yes, unfortunately woot wants to be in the new style of promoting cheating... what a shame!

Are they running out of ideas to present their products?

Bad taste!

Does this thing do IPV6 addresses?

SinnFein wrote:You can also accomplish the same thing with any router that supports multiple SSIDs. I have two SSID's configured on my DIR-655 router, one is for 802.11n devices and the other is for 802.11g devices.

Two SSIDs will not obviate the degradation that arises from narrow bandwidth at 2.4Ghz only.

dmegson wrote:I don't get it. Your link doesn't answer his question, it just goes to Google. How will that answer his question?

Hence the smiley - he was saying that the OP could just look it up on Google.

toddrainer wrote:And actually a frequency IS a speed rating. It's the speed at which something cycles in a given period. Generally understood to be "cycles per second."

So, guess you're wrong too. AND you misspelled Environment.

Well, you're just playing with semantics. By "speed," he meant the rate at which data is transmitted.

CIS7CHIMES wrote:Does this thing do IPV6 addresses?

There is some suggestion that it might:

D-Link native support of IPv6 announced--anyone tried it yet?

IPv6 at home or office, part 4.0: tunnelbroker.net, IPv6 routers

Crap! It will not fit drives taller then 9mm which means that the Western Digital 1 TB drive which measures in at 12.5mm will not fit.

Though this 750GB one would work.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136658

I'm thinking of getting this just for the NAS and Wireless N but I prefer my Cisco 1841's routing capabilities so I'd just disable the routing on the D-Link.

Its a great price but the device is not the top of the line anymore.

It does not have simultaneous B/G A/N channels, its only 2.4 GHz, not 2.4GHz and 5.O GHz. That means if you have any B/G devices connected to the network it will default to those speeds.

Take note that A/N 5.O GHz band is touted as a shorter range video channel, meant for Hi Def video streaming. The 5.0 GHz band is meant to handle the heaver demands of pushing Hi Def video content to your wifi home theater system.

And also its meant to give us more options to get away from the crowded 2.4GHz G/B channel.

This device has a built in NAS feature and USB ports on the back, thats cool. But apparently the device is not and has to use a very loud fan, being that its also to be used as a picture frame a loud fan is a pain.

Woot has a great price and its a heck of a deal, but the item is kinda lacking and no longer state of the art.

elition wrote:Cheapest on ebay is $175 (so quite a bit of profit margin.) However, looking at the top 3 sellers last 200 feedbacks, none have sold one recently.

The profit is there, just not willing to sit on $300 for so long.

Thanks for the huge discount though woot =D

I suspect this product is going to be discontinued like so many of the others we've seen on Woot. At least it's made by a company that will continue to provide support.

NightGhost wrote:There is some suggestion that it might:

D-Link native support of IPv6 announced--anyone tried it yet?

IPv6 at home or office, part 4.0: tunnelbroker.net, IPv6 routers

I always think of this article when I think of D-Link, Netgear, Belkin, Linksys etc. claiming IPv6 support.

http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/11/03/04/2224257/Most-IPv6-certified-Home-Network-Gear-Buggy

quantamm wrote:Actually, by using the Nyquist and Shannon-Hartley theorems, you can convert a frequency into the maximum available bandwidth at that frequency.

Nyquist has little to do with it. The frequency is the carrier frequency and although that may determine the upper limit, none of the data throughput frequencies provided by typical home wireless approach the upper limit of 2.4 GHz.

The carrier frequency is also an analog signal and not digital. Digital can be supported directly on wires because they are inherently segregated from each other.

If you tried to transmit wireless signals by some digital method, everything would interfere with everything else immediately.

And back to the topic, there is nothing about 2.4 GHz itself that limits throughput vs. 5 Ghz when they are both running 'n' throughput limits. Its the likelihood of interference with other devices that causes issues and the ability of your network to be dragged down to the speed of a 'g' or 'b' device if it connects to your access point running at 2.4 GHz and causes your access point to switch from 'n' protocol to 'g' or 'b' protocols.

It contains BitTorrent and an FTP server? It sounds like that'd take a full-blown operating system. Does this contain Linux or something?

I'd also love to see the interface for BitTorrent. How do you tell it where to get the .torrent files from?

Mysterious device.

PS. From what I'm seeing in video reviews, this thing isn't so much a "Router/Picture Frame", but more of a router with a touch LCD for navigating its firmware without logging in from a PC. Which, as someone who's constantly needing to log in to routers to view and tweak their secrets, is actually pretty neat in my mind. The slideshow display is just an extra.

bmw66x wrote:Seems silly that they call it a storage router but do not include any on-board storage.

Supports up to 1TB HD (not included)

+1

equazcion wrote:It contains BitTorrent and an FTP server? It sounds like that'd take a full-blown operating system. Does this contain Linux or something?

I'd also love to see the interface for BitTorrent. How do you tell it where to get the .torrent files from?

Mysterious device.

PS. From what I'm seeing in video reviews, this thing isn't so much a "Router/Picture Frame", but more of a router with a touch LCD for navigating its firmware without logging in from a PC. Which, as someone who's constantly needing to log in to routers to view and tweak their secrets, is actually pretty neat in my mind. The slideshow display is just an extra.

The BitTorrent interface is very sparse:



crunchgear

Also, an ftp server can be tiny.

Reviews from newegg.com (not selling there now).

Maybe if this thing had some hacked firmware like many routers do it would be a good device? Otherwise the reviews generally don't like it. Also it's pretty old as electronic gizmos go, approaching 2 years since first retailed.

gnarf wrote:anyone know if this will take DD-WRT firmware?

No- model currently not supported.

Ranish wrote:I am sorry to inform you but you are not correct. 2.4GHz is a Radio frequency and not a speed.

The Reason you see 2.4GHz and 5Ghz is not a speed factor but an option that is given to the consumer. The idea is that 2.4GHz is a frequency that is used by alot more devices in the house other than things that connect wifi, which can create interference. So 5.0Ghz was introduced to help alleviate the problem, because it is a less common frequency. Dual band routers exist for the sole purpose of giving your devices the freedom of choosing which is the best signal in the current enviroment the devices are in. So that you have the least interference possible thus the best signal possible.

You are correct that it is a rf signal. However even then it is speed reference. Frequency is a state of oscillation in a given time. I.E. in the US power oscillates 60 times/sec for AC power. RF signals in your example at 5.0 GHz are carrier waves that oscillate that many times in a given timeframe. It is a reference to speed in both cases.
Higher frequencies are able to utilize higher speed transmissions as data is able to be incorporated into the "fasster signals" also they are less affected by "noise" within the rf signal.
Speed is good, but higher frequencies require more power to transmit at greater distances.

jshuehn wrote:You are correct that it is a rf signal. However even then it is speed reference. Frequency is a state of oscillation in a given time. I.E. in the US power oscillates 60 times/sec for AC power. RF signals in your example at 5.0 GHz are carrier waves that oscillate that many times in a given timeframe. It is a reference to speed in both cases.
Higher frequencies are able to utilize higher speed transmissions as data is able to be incorporated into the "fasster signals" also they are less affected by "noise" within the rf signal.
Speed is good, but higher frequencies require more power to transmit at greater distances.

No, no - it's "greed is good" and "speed kills"!

CIS7CHIMES wrote:Does this thing do IPV6 addresses?

Tick, Tock, Tick Tock!

Seriously though, we're still a few years from actually getting to IPv6. Once the addresses run out, the first thing that will happen is that the ISPs will start being more stingy with their allocations. Small business customers who have a /31 or /30 subnet block, but are only using 1 address will have their allocation cut. At my school, the NOC recently changed their IP address policy - it used to be that every machine had a static IP. Now, it is dynamic by default and you have to provide a rationale (like "it is a server") in order to get a static IP.

Then, companies and schools that got a /8 block in the early days of the Internet will be compelled and coerced to release some of their address space.

Next, ISPs will turn to large scale NAT. Your cable/dsl modem is on 24 hours a day, but you might use the Internet for 3-4 hours. Using NAT, you can cluster groups of customers together, while still maintaining the illusion of one customer per IP.

Finally, once every other possibility has been exhausted, will ISPs send out new modems that will support IPv6. And only once this happens will you actually need IPv6.

jpm100 wrote:Nyquist has little to do with it. The frequency is the carrier frequency and although that may determine the upper limit, none of the data throughput frequencies provided by typical home wireless approach the upper limit of 2.4 GHz.

The carrier frequency is also an analog signal and not digital. Digital can be supported directly on wires because they are inherently segregated from each other.

If you tried to transmit wireless signals by some digital method, everything would interfere with everything else immediately.

And back to the topic, there is nothing about 2.4 GHz itself that limits throughput vs. 5 Ghz when they are both running 'n' throughput limits. Its the likelihood of interference with other devices that causes issues and the ability of your network to be dragged down to the speed of a 'g' or 'b' device if it connects to your access point running at 2.4 GHz and causes your access point to switch from 'n' protocol to 'g' or 'b' protocols.

I knew when I posted that someone would one-up my nerdiness. Thank you JPM!

quantamm wrote:I knew when I posted that someone would one-up my nerdiness. Thank you JPM!

Nerds! Geeks! Dweebs!

mchapin wrote:Don't do it! IME Dlink is complete crap.

IME?

I don't have experience with this router but I do have past experience with several D-Link products and they've always been solid. Just my .02c

cherman1 wrote:Ok - Router + Harddrive makes sense.

Router + Harddrive + Photo frame is just silly, Why not Router + Toaster + Airfreshener

The photo frame, I agree, is silly. But not the hard drive.

There's a growing list of Networked Attached Storage devices that have been hacked to provide a very low power (5-10 watts) Linux server running 24/7 offering peer-to-peer (e.g. bit torrent), ftp, http, proxy services, mail services, audio- and video-streaming...and of course LAN attached storage. Here's my list of desirable features in such a device...this one has several features on my list but seems to be badly implemented.

• Idle power consumption 5-10 watts
  
• fanless
  
• Wireless N protocol
  
• 1000 Mb/s Ethernet, 4-6 ports
  
• two USB2.0 and two USB3.0 or eSATA ports
  
• IP6 fully capable
  
• 2 SSIDs, one for owner use, one for guests (throttleable, turn on/off separately, encrypt or not separately)
  
• No proprietary OS changes (mainstream Linux)
  
• Many options accessible via onboard website, remote command line login via SSH or similar
  

Does anyone know if you need to install software in order for a computer (let's say PC) to access it via the LAN?

The Netgear SC101 (horrible device, never buy one or look it straight in the eyes) required that and it was a real pain. Plus it only worked for PC's.

for 99 I think it'd be a good NAS alternative.

shroud2 wrote:Ohhh, then it could server up my internet and toast! All while smelling springtime fresh!

Springtime fresh? Ewwww! Summer rain or nothing! And it darn well better have bagel-size openings~

cherman1 wrote:Really Decent Review says "PASS"

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/30864-smashed-mash-up-d-link-dir-685-reviewed

A Must Read

You have to read further; the quote from the review is an overall negative, and says:

Unfortunately, some poor design decisions result in a product that we definitely recommend you take a pass on.

buffaloed wrote:I suspect this product is going to be discontinued like so many of the others we've seen on Woot. At least it's made by a company that will continue to provide support.

I beg to differ. I own a D-Link DNS-321 NAS and they have abandoned it. Almost identical to the DNS-323 but no further firmware updates are coming for the 321. We just need support for the new advanced format drives (4K sectors) without having to jump through hoops.