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April 11, 2025April 11, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Radxa Dual 2.5G Router HAT adds 2.5GbE networking and M.2 NVMe storage support to Raspberry Pi 5-compatible SBCs

The Radxa Dual 2.5G Router HAT is an expansion board adding 2.5GbE networking and an M.2 PCIe x1 socket for NVMe SSD storage to the Raspberry Pi 5 and compatible SBCs with a PCIe FFC connector. We had previously seen Raspberry Pi 5 HATs with 2.5GbE such as the Pineberry HatNET! 2.5G, or even one with 2.5GbE and NVMe SSD (52Pi W01 U2500 HAT), but the Radxa Dual 2.5G Router HAT is the first to implement two 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports to enable routing, and also features an NVMe SSD as a bonus. Radxa Dual 2.5G Router HAT specifications: Supported SBCs – Raspberry Pi 5, Radxa ROCK 2F, Radxa ROCK 2A, Radxa ROCK 5C, the upcoming Radxa 4D (RK3576), and potentially others PCIe Switch – ASM2806 PCIe 3.0 switch chip with PCIe Gen3 x2 upstream and four PCIe 3.1 lanes downstream up to 8GT/s Storage – 1x M.2 M-Key socket […]

April 3, 2025April 3, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

PocketCloud – Battery-powered, portable NAS takes up to 16TB of storage (Crowdfunding)

Firefly’s PocketCloud is a battery-powered, portable NAS powered by a Rockchip RK3568B2 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 SoC with 4GB LPDDR5 of RAM and a 32GB eMMC flash for the OS, and supports up to 16TB of NVMe SSD storage. It’s comprised of the battery-powered PocketCloud itself with WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, and an optional dock with 2.5GbE networking and an additional M.2 NVMe socket. Since I’m unable to find a 16 TB M.2 NVMe SSD for now, I suppose the 16TB claim only works with an 8TB + 8TB configuration with one SSD in the main unit, and the other in the dock. PocketCloud specifications: SoC – Rockchip RK3568B2 (as found in ODROID-M1 SBC) CPU – Quad-core Cortex-A55 processor @ up to 2.0 GHz GPU – Arm Mali-G52-2EE AI Accelerator – 1TOPS NPU System Memory – 4GB LPDDR4 Storage 32GB eMMC 5.1 flash M.2 PCIe Gen3 socket for M.2 […]

March 30, 2025March 31, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments

Radxa Orion O6 Preview – Part 2: Debian 12 – What works, what doesn’t

I went through an unboxing and Debian 12 installation on the Radxa Orion O6 at the end of January, but decided to work on other reviews since software support still needed to be worked on. Since then, there’s been some work done, but no new image released. After waiting for almost two months, I’ve decided to carry on with the review by testing the Debian 12 image in a way similar to the Rock 5B SBC preview I did with Debian 11 in 2022 to check what works and what doesn’t on the Orion O6 at the time of the review. That will involve testing all ports, including 5GbE networking and the PCIe slot with an (old) NVIDIA graphics card, running some benchmarks, and also trying the Debian 12 image with a self-built Linux 6.13 kernel using ACPI instead of UEFI for the default image. Orion O6 SBC benchmarks on […]

March 6, 2025March 6, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

LincStation N2 and S1 6-bay HDD/SSD NAS systems ship with Intel N100/N97 CPU, UnRaid OS (Crowdfunding)

LincPlus LincStation N2 and S1 are two 6-bay NAS systems taking SATA or SSD drives based on Intel Processor N100 or N97 CPU, and running UnRaid OS Linux distribution by default. The LincStation N2 features an Intel N100 CPU coupled with 16GB LPDDR5 and 128GB eMMC flash, two SATA bays for 2.5-inch drives, four M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slots, and 10GbE networking. The LinStation S1 has a larger design with an Intel N97 CPU, 8GB DDR5 (SO-DIMM, upgradeable), 64GB flash, four SATA bays for 3.5-inch drives, two M.2 2280 NVMe SSD slots, and two 2.5GbE ports. Both models also come with USB ports for expansion. LincStation N2 NAS Specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core processor up to 3.4 GHz with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD Graphics Gen 12 @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – 16GB LPDDR5 (soldered on mainboard) Storage 128GB eMMC flash 2-bay SATA3.0 slots for […]

February 27, 2025March 1, 2025 by Debashis Das - 4 Comments

PCIe x1 slot adapters let the Raspberry Pi 5 SBC interface with standard PCIe cards

Waveshare has recently launched the PCIe TO PCIe x1 Board (C) which is a PCIe FFC connector to standard PCIe x1 slot adapter board for the Raspberry Pi 5. But while searching for more details about the board, I also found out about other solutions from 52Pi and Spotpear, which are a bit older, but still worth taking a look because of their unique features and low cost. These Raspberry Pi PCIe x1 slot adapters allow users to connect expansion cards such as network cards, storage controllers, and other PCIe peripherals to the Raspberry Pi 5. Additionally, the board features a dedicated 12V power header and DC jack, which supplies power to the 12V pins of the PCIe slot, for power-hungry devices. These features allow for applications like AI acceleration, high-speed networking, and storage expansion. Waveshare PCIe TO PCIe x1 Board (C) The Waveshare PCIe FFC to PCIe x1 Adapter […]

February 13, 2025February 14, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

CWWK X86-P6 Pocket NAS / PC features Intel N150 or Core 3 N355 CPU, four NVMe SSD sockets, dual 2.5GbE, dual HDMI 2.0

CWWK X86-P6 is a pocket-sized mini PC and NAS powered by either an Intel Processor N150 or Core 3 N355 Twin Lake processor, and equipped with four M.2 Key-M sockets slot for NVMe SSDs or AI accelerators. The Twin Lake mini PC supports up to 48GB DDR5 memory, features two 2.5GbE ports, two HDMI 2.0 video output, and two USB 3.0 ports, and can take Intel AX211 or BE200 WiFi 6/7 wireless modules. CWWK X86-P6 specifications: Twin Lake SoC (one or the other) Intel Processor N150 quad-core processor @ up to 3.6 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel UHD graphics @ 1.0 GHz; TDP: 6W Intel Core 3 N355 octa-core processor @ up to 3.9 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 32EU Intel UHD graphics @ 1.35 GHz; TDP: 15W System Memory – Up to 48GB DDR5 4800 MHz via SO-DIMM socket Storage – 4x M.2 M-key 2280 (PCIe 3.0 […]

January 27, 2025February 16, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - No Comments

GEEKOM A6 Ryzen 7 6800H mini PC review – Part 1: specifications, unboxing, and teardown

GEEKOM A6 is a mid-range mini PC powered by an AMD Ryzen 7 6800H octa-core/sixteen thread processor with AMD Radeon Graphics 680M, up to 64GB dual-channel DDR5, up to 2TB NVMe (PCIe 4.0 x4) SSD storage, 2.5Gbos Ethernet, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2. It also features several USB4, USB 3.2, and USB 2.0 ports, supports up to four separate 4K monitors via HDMI 2.0 ports and USB Type-C ports, and comes with Windows 11 Pro pre-installed. GEEKOM sent us a sample of the A6 mini PC for review, and we’ll start with a look at the specifications, an unboxing, and a teardown in the first part of the review, before testing Windows 11 and Ubuntu 24.04 in more detail in the next parts. As its name implies, it should offer a middle ground between the Ryzen 7 5800H-powered GEEKOM A5 and the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS-based GEEKOM A7 mini PCs […]

January 23, 2025January 23, 2025 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

MAIWO K2024 USB4 M.2 enclosure takes up to four M.2 NVMe SSD, serves as a 1-to-3 SSD duplicator

There are many M.2 USB4 or Thunderbolt enclosures on the market, but the MAIWO K2024 USB4 enclosure is a little different as it takes up to four M.2 NVMe 2230 to 2280 SSDs and features a button to use the device as 1-to-3 SSD duplicator. Based on the ASMedia ASM2464PDX USB4 controller, the MAIWO K2024 is suitable for people needing lots of NVMe SSD storage with high-performance random I/Os, for instance for video editing, and users needing to duplicate SSDs quickly and easily, e.g. to duplicate a Raspberry Pi OS installation on several SSDs. MAIWO K2024 key features: Chipset – ASMedia ASM2464PDX USB4/Thunderbolt 3 to PCIe/NVMe controller with USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 backward compatibility Storage Up to 4x M.2 NVMe M-Key SSDs 2230/2242/2260/2280 sizes supported Up to 32TB storage when using 4x 8TB SSDs Transfer rate of 16 Gbps with one SSD (PCIe Gen4 x1), 10 Gbps each with […]