The device in various iterations ships with its own
Universal Plug and Play protocol for distribution of
multimedia stored on the device. It can also be configured as a variety of different media servers
TwonkyVision Media server, a
SlimServer/
SqueezeCenter server, an
iTunes server using the
Digital Audio Access Protocol, a
Samba server, an
LIO iSCSI target,
MLDonkey client, as well as a
Network File System server for
Posix-based systems. For use as a backup server, it can be modified to use
Rsync to back up or synchronize data from one or many computers in the network pushing their data, or even having the LinkStation pulling the data from remote servers—beside the use of the Buffalo-provided backup software for
Windows. It has also found use in a number of other ways, notably through its
USB interface which comes configured as a
Print server but can also use the
Common Unix Printing System to act as such for a USB Printer. Users have managed to get it to use a number of other USB devices with the version 2.6
Linux kernel's enhanced USB support. Additionally, because the
Apache HTTP Server software is already installed for the purpose of providing the Buffalo configuration screens, the device is easily converted to be a lightweight web server (with the Buffalo content deleted) that can then serve any content of the operator's choice. ==Achievements==