Hardware Review: Bubba - The Linux-Based Mini Server - Page 3

While Microsoft's Home Server is looking like a very nice product, its pricing is still unknown, and it's potentially not going to be a great fit for non-Windows environments. Linux desktops, or even Mac OS based computers, would probably get along much better with Bubba. Philosophically at least, I can see Mac and Linux users being happier with Bubba sitting under their desk than a Home Server (it's a Microsoft product, after all). In fact, it surprises me that Apple haven't made anything like Bubba as of yet; a device that plugs straight into your network and offers you easy file backups, email, and all Bubba's other features would make a lot of sense. That said, there's a good chance it would be a lot less flexible than Bubba. However, Home Server does have its own brand of fault tolerance in its favour, which is something that Bubba doesn't have. If you store a set of files on Bubba and the disk dies, chances are you're going to lose that data. As a result, Bubba is perhaps best used for storing non-essential files, and as a second home for your most important data such as family photos, videos, and documents.

To achieve this, it's easy to use a tool (such as Microsoft's free SyncToy) to automatically mirror folders from your computers onto Bubba. Used like this; as a transparent, invisible backup of your most essential documents, Bubba could save your bacon. I tested this configuration during my time with the device, and it worked flawlessly.

Bubba doesn't do anything a full-sized PC can't; you can implement every single feature, including all the web management, by installing a Linux distribution and throwing in a few apps. But there are a few important things to consider: the first I've already mentioned; Bubba does all of this out of the box, with little or no config. There's no setup to work through, no packages to install, and no command line to master (unless you want to).

I've mentioned the second thing too: it's quiet. Whisper quiet would probably be an accurate way of describing it.

Thirdly, and probably most importantly, Bubba does all this while consuming under 10 watts of power. While downloading a few torrents, my Bubba was using about 8 watts. To put this in perspective: my desktop computer, a Core 2 Duo Intel machine, uses about 150 watts of power while doing the same thing. My old Dell 8400 uses more. And my server (a big old IBM beastie) consumes 200 - 250 watts of power while doing its thing. That's a huge difference, with serious environmental and financial implications. I've convinced myself in the past that I need that IBM monster for a variety of things, most significantly Push Email, but knowing that Bubba can do many of the same things using so little power has really made me start to re-evaluate the situation. In other words, I've started to think about ways to get rid of the power hungry beast in my garage.

Article Author: Daniel Woolstencroft

Daniel Woolstencroft is the brains behind Is There Food? - containing topics as diverse as zombies, Apple, technology, film, and other assorted strangeness. Also follow him on Twitter.

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