SolidRun ClearFog GTR A385 NVR Platforms Feature Up to 8 Gigabit Ethernet PoE Ports

SolidRun ClearFog GTR A385 NVR

A Networking Video Recorder (NVR) is designed to record and playback videos from multiple IP cameras usually connected over Ethernet, and in many cases powered over Ethernet (PoE). The main purpose is for security applications allowing caretakers to monitor multiple cameras at the same time on a mosaic screen. There are plenty of turnkey NVR solutions on the market, but SoliRun, an embedded systems company known for its modules and single board computers, recently introduced the ClearFog GTR A385 family that supports up to eight PoE/PoE+ Gigabit Ethernet Ports. The ClearFog GTR A385 family currently includes two modules with GTR S4 supporting up to four cameras, and GTR L8 up to eight cameras. Specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA A385 dual-core Armv7 (Cortex A9 class) up to 1.3Ghz System Memory – Up to 2GB on-board DDR3L Storage – 8GB eMMC flash (default),  2x 7 pin SATA (optional replacement for 2 x […]

Winston Privacy Filter Lets You Browse the Web Anonymously, Ad-free & Tracking-free (Crowdfunding)

Winston Privacy Filter

More and more people are worried about their privacy online, so products and solutions aiming to protect people against tracking, targeted ads, cookies, and various other threat have been popping up. Fingbox and Firewalla are such devices, but their hardware may be limited, and software solutions like PiHole are also an option, but  may not be suitable for everyone. Winston privacy filter is another plug-and-play solution, but based on an actual network processor, namely a Marvell ARMADA dual core Arm Cortex-A53 SoC, that should make sure your network performance is not impacted, and even provides a boost of performance for most visited websites due to the resources that are being blocked out. Winston “privacy filter” hardware specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA dual core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.0 GHz with security and data acceleration engines System Memory – 1GB DDR4 @ 800 MHz Storage – TBD Networking – Dual Gigabit […]

Blueendless X3 Networked “HDD NAS Case” Runs Ubuntu on Marvell ARMADA 3720 SoC

Blueendless X3 2.5-inch HDD enclosure

We’ve previously covered inexpensive Kimax’ Ethernet & WiFi HDD enclosures for 2.5″ SATA drives, powered by MediaTek processor and running OpenWrt. If you need something more powerful and versatile yet still affordable, the easiest way is now likely to go with SBC based solutions such as ODROID-HC1/HC2 or dual SATA NAS enclosure for RockPro64. There may be another interesting option, as I’ve just been informed about another model of those networked HDD enclosure called Blueendless X3 “HDD NAS case” with Ethernet only (no WiFi), and that is equipped with the same Marvel ARMADA 3720 dual core Cortex-A53 processor as found in Marvell ESPRESSOBin board. Blueendless X3 specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA 3720 (88F3720) dual core Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.1 GHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR3 Storage – 16GB eMMC flash for OS, SATA 3.0 interface for 2.5″ drives based on ASMedia ASM1092R port multiplier Networking – 1x […]

Cubbit Aims to Crowdsource the Cloud for Improved Privacy (Crowdfunding)

Cubbit Cell

Storing data in the cloud is convenient since you have access it from anywhere with an Internet connection, but there are privacy concerns, and you may have to pay a monthly fee if you exceed you storage limit. Cubbit aims to reinvent the cloud by not  storing files in corporate datacenters, but instead relying on a swarm of “Cubbit Cells” to deliver fully private and reliable cloud storage without monthly. You’d just need to pay for the boxes and potentially extra local storage, and then it’s basically free to use afterwards. Cubbit Cell hardware specifications: Processor – Dual core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ up to 1.2 GHz (possibly Marvell Armada 3700) System Memory – 1GB DDR4 Storage – Built-in SATA drive Networking – 1x Gigabit Ethernet port USB – 1x USB 3.0 port Power Supply – 12V Dimensions – 160 x 142 x 56mm The hardware looks like a basic […]

$89 Sheeva64 Plug Computer is Powered by Marvell ARMADA 3720 Armv8 Processor

Sheeva64 plug computer

Sheevaplug is a Linux plug computer powered by Marvell Kirkwood 6281 ARM9 processor that was launched in 2009 with Ubuntu 9.04. As the name implies, Sheevaplug looks like a power adapter that’s plug directly into your mains socket, but it’s actually a headless computer, i.e. without video output, and instead coming with a USB port, Gigabit Ethernet, and an SD card slot. The device got fairly popular at the time, so it ended up in several hardware projects, and was supported by a long list of open source software projects as you’ll find out in the Wikipedia page. Ten years have passed, and Globalscale Technologies has just introduced an upgraded version with the Sheeva64 plug computer based on the same Marvell ARMADA 3720 dual core Armv8 processor as found in ESPRESSOBin board. Sheeva64 plug computer specifications: SoC – Marvell ARMADA 3720 dual core 64bit Arm processor up to 1.2GHz System […]

Linux 4.20 Release – Main Changes, Arm and MIPS Architectures

Linux 4.20 Changelog

After Greg K-H handling Linux 4.19 release, Linus Torvalds is back at the helm, and released Linux 4.20 just before Christmas: Let’s face it, last week wasn’t quite as quiet as I would have hoped for, but there really doesn’t seem to be any point to delay 4.20 because everybody is already taking a break. And it’s not like there are any known issues, it’s just that the shortlog below is a bit longer than I would have wished for. Nothing screams “oh, that’s scary”, though. And as part of the “everybody is already taking a break”, I can happily report that I already have quite a few early pull requests in my inbox. I encouraged people to get it over and done with, so that people can just relax over the year-end holidays. In fact, I probably won’t start pulling for a couple of days, but otherwise let’s just […]

ClearFog CX 8K ARMADA 8040 Networking Board Complies with COM Express type 7 Specifications

ClearFog CX LX2K

After ClearFog GT 8K earlier this year, SolidRun has now launched another variant of their Marvell ARMADA based ClearFog networking boards: ClearFog CX 8K. The new single board computer features the same ARMADA 8040 quad core Cortex A72 processor as found in the GT 8K model, but complies with COM Express type 7 standard, and takes the company’s  CEx7 A8040 module, and in the future any compatible COM Express type 7 module that may be launched by the company, or others. ClearFog CX 8K specifications: Supported COM Module – CEx7 A8040 Marvell ARMADA A8040 quad-core Arm Cortex A72 Memory –  Up to 16GB DDR4 DIMM Storage – M.2b & M 2280 SSD, microSD slot, on-module eMMC flash, SATA 3.0 port Networking – 4x SPF+ cages including 2x 10GbE SFP, 1x 1GbE copper (RJ45) USB – 1x USB 3.0 Expansion 2 x mPCIe 1 x PCIe x4 Gen 3.0 I/O – […]

Linux 4.19 Release – Main Changes, Arm and MIPS Architectures

Linux 4.19 Changelog

With Linus Torvalds taking a leave from the Linux kernel project, Greg Kroah-Hartman was the one to release Linux 4.19 last Sunday: Hi everyone! It’s been a long strange journey for this kernel release… While it was not the largest kernel release every by number of commits, it was larger than the last 3 releases, which is a non-trivial thing to do. After the original -rc1 bumps, things settled down on the code side and it looks like stuff came nicely together to make a solid kernel for everyone to use for a while. And given that this is going to be one of the “Long Term” kernels I end up maintaining for a few years, that’s good news for everyone. A small trickle of good bugfixes came in this week, showing that waiting an extra week was a wise choice. However odds are that linux-next is just bursting so […]