In fact, the Seagate Dockstar is considered an interesting alternative to the NSLU2. Low in electrical power consumption (5 to 8 watts, they say), small, fanless, and quite fast. Its hardware is compatible to the SheevaPlug, but it's built as a NAS device specifically. The original firmware is rather restricted, but the good thing is that this device can run a regular Linux distribution (compiled for the ARM platform) from USB memory stick or even completely from internal flash if it's small enough. A pre-compiled Debian distribution is available, also Ubuntu, and of course it runs Plugbox Linux (Arch Linux based, originally for Sheevaplug) as well, and even OpenWRT, if you like.
Sounds like advertising, I guess. Probably I forgot about some downside: Unlike the NSLU2, the Dockstar's RTC is not equipped, so the device doesn't know what time it is. If you're not afraid to wield a soldering iron, this can be fixed, though. And it doesn't look quite as good as the NSLU2 if there is no hard disk attached to the docking port.
But still, the Dockstar became hugely popular here in Germany - so popular that it's sold out almost everywhere, and the remaining few have at least tripled in price. Rumors say that Seagate initially considered the product a failure - which it pretty much was, with its original firmware - and sold it cheaply. Then some tech-savvy people realized the hardware's potential, and as a result, Seagate raised the price substantially.
I think there are still ways to get a cheap Dockstar in the US, though. If you decide to buy one, take care: Don't let it connect to the internet before you have gained access to it - otherwise the default root password will be lost.
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