When the folks at Quad Micro Works dropped this off, I thought this was just another NAS device. Boy was I wrong. Aside from the 320GB drive that you can use as a file server, the Square One has everything you can imagine to keep your home network running in tip-top shape. For one, it has a wireless 802.11g router built-in, complete with rabbit ears; it functions as an Apache web server and FTP server; it has a printer port for print server functions; and to top it all off, it has an 8-in-1 media card reader that you can share across your network.

Vista Capable?

The whole experience wouldn't be complete if I didn't tell you I was upgrading my entire network of PCs to Windows Vista. And the best Vista networking scenario I can think of was to put the Square One right in the middle.

This is a major overhaul for me---fresh installs of Windows Vista Ultimate on 3 PCs and adding all these network capabilities with the Square One. I won't go into details about setting up Vista, but to say the least, the move to the new OS went pretty smoothly. The next step was to fortify my network. Since the Square One has an 802.11g router built-in, I went ahead and got rid of my 802.11b router. I know--I can't believe it took me that long. The router worked right away with my cable modem, and I was surfing the net within minutes. The wireless worked like a charm, but I would've liked to see better encryption instead of the WEP-only option.

I've been slowly running out of storage space on my PC, too. Plus, I've been looking for a better back-up solution than my measly 20GB USB hard drive. The 320GB hard drive is a good size for this purpose. If you understand network appliances, the ideal way to set things up is by mapping drives. There were some issues with drive mapping in Vista. Basically, Vista hasn't been playing nice with Linux, specifically Samba. There's a good fix that you can get here. I also ran into problems using Vista's Backup and Restore utility. Microsoft hasn't found a way to backup files to a NAS device. This goes back to Samba, and it's a Vista problem, not a limitation on the Square One. The unit comes with a copy of Memeo's AutoBackup, which works fine in Windows XP. The company says they're also working on a video streaming module similar to the AppleTV.

The media card reader is the icing on the cake and can also be shared via drive mapping in Vista. I popped out the SD card from my camera, and every one of my PCs had access to all the photos in the card. This solves my printer problem, too. My home has one printer, and my computer usually has to stay on for sharing purposes. The printer server gives me the flexibility to shut my system down. I didn't get a chance to play with the web server and FTP server yet, but if all goes smoothly, I should have my website running within days. The Square One is fairly priced($399), and if you're not big on space consuming network appliances, then check out an all-in-one solution, like the Square One.