Marvell Armada 370 Processor Datasheet Released, Mainline Linux Kernel Supported on Netgear ReadyNAS 102/104

Free Electrons has been working on porting several ARM SoC to the Linux kernel (mainline), including Marvell XP and 370 SoCs, and they’ve been informed by Marvell that the company finally released Marvell Armada 370 processor publicly without requiring NDA nor registration. Marvell Armada XP dual and quad core processors datasheet found in higher-end NAS and cloud servers has not been released (yet), but we’ve been told many peripheral blocks are very similar, so Marvell Armada 370 datasheet can also be used for Armada XP processors to some extend. Two documents have actually been released for Marvell Armada 370: the functional specification and the hardware specification (datasheet). The first document is actually the one with the most information with 1148 pages providing details about peripherals, against 164 pages for the latter providing details about pins and electrical characteristics. So we’ve got an ARM SoC with mainline kernel support, and decent […]

QNAP TS-x51 NAS Supports Up to 16 Drives, On-the fly HD Video Transcoding, HDMI Output, Virtualization and More

QNAP has introduced their latest TS-x51 NAS family at Computex 2014 with four NAS supporting between 2 to 8 drives, expandable to a total of 16 drives via expansion enclosures. The storage devices powered by an Intel Celeron J1800 dual core processor boast video transcoding capability that’s 18 times faster than earlier Atom based solutions, feature an HDMI port, and support virtualization to allow you to run two operating systems such as Linux and Windows 8. QNAP TS-x51 specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron J1800 dual core processor @ 2.41 GHz (burst frequency: 2.58) with Intel HD graphics System Memory – 1GB SO-DIMM DDR3L-1333 or 4GB SO-DIMM DDR3L-1333 (Each model listed above has 1GB or 4GB RAM options), expandable to 8GB RAM via a second RAM slot Storage 512 MB flash (DOM – Disk On Module) Hot swappable 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA drives @ 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s. Expansion enclosures – UX-800P, or UX-500P RAID […]

EzeeCube is a Modular XBMC Media Hub with Up to 9TB Storage (Crowdfunding)

EzeeCube is a media hub that automatically synchronizes photos, videos and contacts from your iOS and Android phones or tablets. The hardware is based on Freescale i.MX6 Dual SoC, includes a 1 TB hard drive upgradable to 9TB with 4 extra drives, can be upgraded with hardware modules, and runs a custom version of XBMC on top of Linux built with the Yocto Project. EzeeCube specifications: SoC – Freescale i.MX6 Dual with two ARM Cortex A9 cores @ 1 GHz and Vivante 3D GPU System Memory – 1GB DDR3 @ 1066MHz Storage – 4GB eMMC,  1TB 2.5″ hard drive @ 5400rpm, and SD/SDXC card slot Connectivity – Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n Wi-Fi (2.4GHz), and Bluetooth 3.0 Video Output – HDMI 1.4 with CEC support Audio Output – HDMI and optical S/PDIF Video Containers – AVI, MPEG, WMV, ASF, FLV, MKV/MKA, QuickTime, MP4, M4A, AAC, NUT, OGG, RealMedia RAM/RM/RV/RA/RMV8, OGM, 3gp, VIVO, […]

Popcorn Hour A-410 Linux Based Networked Media Jukebox is Now Available for Pre-order for $259

CloudMedia, previously known a Syabas, has announced the available of Popcorn Hour A410, a networked media jukebox (NMJ) powered by Sigma Designs SMP8911 dual core processor with 1GB RAM, Gigabit Ethernet, support for 2.5″ and 3.5″ SATA drives, USB 3.0, and numerous audio / video ports. It can be used as a media player, as well as a NAS (Networked Access Storage). Popcorn Hour A410 specifications: SoC – Sigma Designs SMP8911 Dual-Core 800Mhz processor (MIPS) with 512KB L2 Cache and VXP Video Processor System Memory – 1024MB DDR2 Storage – 256MB SLC NAND Flash, SD Card reader, 2.5″ and 3.5″ SATA HDD bay, and eSATA connector. Audio/Video I/Os – HDMI, Component, CVBS, Stereo Audio, optical and coaxial S/PDIF. Audio DAC – ESS Sabre Audiophile class DAC (24-bit, 192 Khz sampling rate) Video containers – MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V),MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG, DAT, VOB),MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, […]

Xiaomi MiWiFi 802.11ac NAS Powered by Broadcom BCM4709 SoC

Last month, Xiaomi teased the public with pictures of a new device, but gave very few details. The company have now provided further details, and the box shown below turns out to be an 802.11 NAS (Network Access Storage) powered by Broadcom BCM4709 dual core Cortex A9 Wi-Fi 802.11ac SoC. Xiaomi provided the following technical specifications for MiWiFi NAS: SoC – Broadcom BCM4709 dual-core Cortex A9 processor @ 1 GHz System Memory – 256MB DDR3 Storage – SATA interface with 1TB Hard drive Connectivity 2x Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 ports Dual band WiFi 802.11ac (2.4/5GHz) NFC (at the top of the device) USB – 1x USB 2.0 host port Misc – Fan for cooling The company will launch a sale for Beta units on the 19th of December, for the Chinese market only, and the NAS will come disassembled in a wooden case with a TB harddrive, a power supply, cables, […]

Zyxel NSA310 / NSA320 Hackable Network Access Storages Run Debian Linux

Yesterday, we saw how to make a NAS enclosure for the Cubieboard, but DesertF0x commented “Better take a NSA-310 or NSA-320. It is easy to install Debian and it has Gigabit!”, and I decided to have a look. The 2 devices appear to have been released at the end of 2011, and are powered by a Marvell ARMv5 compatible processor. Many NAS are expensive kits, but NSA310 (1 bay) is currently available for $88.50 and NSA320 (2 bays) for $95.34 on Amazon, which is just a little cheaper than the DIY Cubieboard NAS solution (~100 USD). Price looks attractive, now let’s have a look at some technical details, and instructions to install Debian. Both NAS more or less share the same hardware specifications except for a few details: Processor – Marvell Kirkwood 88f6281 ARMV5-TE compliant processor @ 1.2 GHz (Hardware datasheet) System Memory – 256 MB (NAS310) or 512 MB […]

DIY NAS Enclosure for The Cubieboard

The Cubieboard with a 1GHz processor, 1GB RAM, a SATA port and its low price ($49) is probably one the best available options if you want to make your own ARM based NAS. The hardware is easy to get, most of the software components (Linux, SAMBA/NFS server, Bittorrent client, etc…) are available, but there are no NAS enclosure available for the Cubieboard, so this part may be a little tricky. Cubieforums user Vustus has a pretty neat and cost- effective solution for an enclosure based on off-the-shelf parts. If you want to try it yourself, you’ll need the following parts: 3.5″ USB 2.0 aluminum external dual SATA HDD enclosure ($15) – http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?InvtId=ET-3541S 10″ Flat SATA cable ($2.49) – http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812119365 SATA Y cable for power ($4.99) – http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812198015 Power cable for th Cubieboard (taken from PSP power supply, as a cable would cost about $7 according to vustus) ($4.29) – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002TK3GH8 […]

Pogoplug Series 4: Linux Based NAS with Cloud Storage

One month after launching Pogoplug Cloud, Pogoplug announces the Pogoplug Series 4, a new version of Pogoplug that adds more local storage options, including two USB 3.0 ports and a SATA/USM port. The device is based on Marvell 88F6192 chip with ARM V5 CPU clocked at 800Mhz with 128 RAM and runs Linux. Pogoplug Cloud service gives 5GB of free online cloud storage optimized for mobile phones and tablets, and you can greatly expand this by connecting a hard disk or SSD to Pogoplug Series 4. Pogoplug also plans to offer premium account with 50 and 100 GB of cloud storage. Key Pogoplug features include: Storage: Automatically upload photos and videos from your mobile device to Pogoplug Cloud. Sharing: Instantly share anything in your cloud through email, Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Create shared folders to collaborate with friends and colleagues. Streaming: Stream HD videos, photos and music from Pogoplug Cloud to your phone. […]

EDATEC Raspberry Pi 5 fanless case