Adorama has Pogoplug Classic Media Sharing Device in
Price Research: Our research indicates that Pogoplug Classic Media Sharing Device in Pink (POGO-B01) is $10 lower (40% savings) than the next best available price from a reputable merchant with prices ranging from $25 to $30. - yuugotserved Retweet This Deal




Basically my needs are having a drive connected to it and share files back and forth (like dropbox) without paying any other fees besides this box.
Also, are there any other untapped potential for this device that I am missing?
If all you want is Dropbox-like functionality, you should be fine with using it straight out of the box. I strongly advise that you do this, as you'll continue to get manufacturer support, should anything go awry.
There's a short video on the What is Pogoplug [pogoplug.com] page that explains what it can do.
On the other hand, installing Arch lets you do pretty much anything a low-powered Linux machine could do. Print server, AirPlay receiver, IRC bouncer, Transmission (BitTorrent client), etc.
Only downside is that it takes quite a bit of time to set it all up.
There aren't any detailed all-in-one instructions for what I've done. Getting Arch set up on the Pogoplug E02 is straightforward [archlinuxarm.org]. Beyond that, your mileage may vary.
Looking back at my notes, I have down that Hamachi requires TUN before it can be activated (ExecStartPre=modprobe tun) and that I used systemctl/systemd for automatic startup... and that all the guides I found online were useless.
it takes some time for device to scan through the hard drive depending on how much data you have, i would say approx 7/8 hours then all the data on the hard drive is accessible from the internet, of-course after logging into your pogoplug account.
yes you can share the pics or other documents with your friends or family ( however there are better options available for that then this)
I did go through the process of enabling SSH first. Something you first have to do through the Pogoplug website I believe. If you don't you may not be able to flash these up. It was just insurance in case Pogoplug stops support or goes away at some distant point in the future.
Basically my needs are having a drive connected to it and share files back and forth (like dropbox) without paying any other fees besides this box.
Also, are there any other untapped potential for this device that I am missing?
Arch is a full linux distro so by replacing the os with arch you are giving you access to many more applications.
For me I use mine to serve videos across my network to my blu ray players, tablet, computer via DLNA.
I can also have it setup as an SSH server so I can remote in to my network from somewhere else encase I need to access something or just want to say do some banking but dont want to risk doing it over open wifi.
A few other things I have seen people do: set up as a simple web server, torrent box, file server (via samba).
I installed Arch and samba and minidlna and it works GREAT. I don't need the cloud options that much since I have a VPN my devices connect to and can get to the share locally.
it makes absolutely no sense - females aren't even the majority or even close to the majority of Pogoplug's device customers