After hemming and hawing for a while, I finally gave in and put DroboApps on the Drobo.
The result:
$uname -a
Linux DroboShare 2.6.12.6-arm1 #1 Fri Sep 12 16:36:22 PDT 2008 armv5tejl unknown
So the droboshare is actually an ARM system? Interesting.
yes, you can run SSH and BASH on it, making it a good emergency system and the /bin directory is populated nicely.
this also allows Jumbo Frames for Gigabit, setting the MTU at around 9000 or so. which I notice has really sped up network communications between my main box and the drobo.
The developer community has not exploded like I thought it would. This may be due to the relatively low number of drobo users, but that number is getting bigger with time. I have no idea about how easy the SDK is to use, but I am tempted to take a look. Folding at home for Droboapps anyone?