Linux on a NAS device [closed]

"I recently bought a QNAP NAS that I'm happy with. They have a few fanless models (like my TS-119) and it runs some kind of Linux. I don't know exactly what it is, but I know you can install stuff to it through SSH.

It has all the basic stuff, like HTTP and FTP servers, a bittorrent client, MySQL and all kinds of stuff."

For the maximum flexibility you're really looking at a PC. For small and silent you could build a nas around an atom based mini-itx board then you could install your preferred flavour of linux. Being lazy I'd go with ubuntu because of it's simplicity then install webmin so you can administer it over the network without having to have a keyboard and mouse attached.

"I was experimenting with the ""SLUG"" a while back, flashed it with Debian. No noise at all, a bit underpowered for my needs but certainly usable.

It seems discontinued though, maybe you can pick up one on ebay?"

I haven't tried it yet, but Amahi seems to be an interesting Linux based "home server" software product based on Fedora. I've considered installing it on my Intel SS 4200.