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April 10, 2026April 14, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments

Feature-rich Raspberry Pi CM5 carrier board offers dual Ethernet, quad RS485, 4G LTE/5G connectivity, and more

Waveshare CM5-ETH-RS485-4G-BASE Raspberry Pi CM5 carrier board offers plenty of features such as GbE and 2.5GbE RJ45 jacks, optional 4G LTE/5G connectivity, terminal blocks for RS485, relay, and digital outputs, and more. The board also features a 4K-capable HDMI output, an M.2 Key-M socket for an NVMe SSD or AI accelerator, two MIPI DSI/CSI connectors, ten status and user LEDs, and a wide 7-36V DC power input. Waveshare CM5-ETH-RS485-4G-BASE specifications: Supported system-on-modules – All Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 variants with up to 16GB RAM, 64GB eMMC flash, Wireless Storage Optional NVMe SSD via M.2 Key-M socket MicroSD card socket for Compute Module 5 Lite only Video Output HDMI 2.0 port up to 4K resolution 2x MIPI DSI connectors (multiplexed with MIPI CSI) Camera I/F – 2x MIPI CSI connectors (multiplexed with MIPI DSI) Networking Gigabit Ethernet RJ45 port 2.5GbE RJ45 port Optional WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 5.2 on Raspberry […]

April 3, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

SupTronics X1208 – A UPS + M.2 NVMe SSD HAT for the Raspberry Pi 5

SupTronics X1208 Raspberry Pi 5 UPS + M.2 HAT

The SupTronics X1208 is a UPS and M.2 NVMe SSD HAT for Raspberry Pi 5 designed to offer fast storage and protect the system against data loss during power outages for Edge Computing, NAS, data logging, and other always-on applications. The HAT draws up to 5V/5A from the USB-C port, which charges a 21700 lithium-ion battery (1.5A) and powers the Raspberry Pi 5 directly through the 40-pin GPIO header, eliminating the need for extra cables. It also features an M.2 M-key NVMe slot supporting 2230/2242/2280 SSDs up to 4TB with PCIe 2.0/3.0 speeds. The UPS supports power switching, auto power-on, safe shutdown on low battery, and GPIO-based power/charging control, along with power loss detection. The X1208 board is also equipped with a Maxim fuel gauge I2C chip for battery voltage and capacity monitoring. SupTronics X1208 UPS + M.2 HAT specifications: Compatibility – Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Storage – M.2 M-key […]

March 28, 2026March 28, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

TerraMaster F2-425 Plus NAS review – Part 2: Configuration, benchmarks, and AI-enhanced media storage

I received the TerraMaster F2-425 Plus 3+2 Hybrid NAS for review last month, and after checking out the hardware in the first part of the review, I’ve finally had time to test the Intel N150 NAS. After installing two 4TB SATA drives and an M.2 NVMe SSD, I’ll report my experience setting up the system with the TNAS Android app, before running some benchmarks, and testing features like photo backup with AI search capabilities. Hard drive installation I already had an old, but little-used, 4TB HGST SATA drive, and I bought a “new” 4TB SATA drive online for a pretty good deal (2979 THB or a little over $90 US). It turns out the HPE MB4000GVY2K drive I got was refurbished, having been manufactured in 2017. However, it’s an enterprise-grade drive, and the TNAS app reports it has been used “only” for 2,517 hours, so I don’t feel too bad […]

February 19, 2026March 28, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

TerraMaster F2-425 Plus 3+2-bay hybrid NAS review – Part 1: unboxing, teardown, drives installation, and first boot

TerrasMaster F2-425 Plus Review TOS initialization

TerraMaster has sent us a sample of the F2-425 Plus 3+2-bay NAS for review. It’s powered by an Intel Processor N150 CPU paired with 8GB of RAM, with two 3.5-inch SATA bays and three M.2 NVMe sockets for storage, as well as two 5GbE RJ45 jacks, and a few USB ports. Since we’ve already written the specifications in the previous article, we’ll focus the first part of the review on an unboxing and a teardown to check out the hardware design, before showing how to install the drives, and giving it a quick first try. TerraMaster F2-425 Plus NAS unboxing We received the F2-425 Plus “All new 2-Bay Hybrid NAS” in its retail package. UPS took nearly two months to deliver it from Hong Kong to Thailand, mostly due to customs issues, but I digress. The package includes an accessories box with a Quick Installation Guide, a Limited Warranty brochure, […]

February 10, 2026March 24, 2026 by Debashis Das - 8 Comments

Beelink ME Pro 2-bay Intel N95/N150 NAS and mini PC supports 5GbE networking, up to 3x M.2 MVMe SSDs

Beelink ME Pro is a compact 2-bay hybrid NAS and Windows 11 mini PC built around Intel N95 (Alder Lake-N) or N150 (Twin Lake) SoC, and equipped with two 3.5-/2.5-inch SATA bays and three M.2 2280 NVMe slots for storage. It also features a “DIY drawer” design that lets users swap the motherboard for upgrades. The system also features up to 16 GB of LPDDR5 memory, 5 GbE and 2.5 GbE networking, Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.4, and various I/Os, including USB-C (10 Gbps), USB-A, HDMI 2.0, and a 3.5 mm audio jack. An internal blower-based cooling system, an aluminum chassis with thermal pads, and anti-vibration drive mounts help with improved thermals and noise control. Target applications include home NAS, media server, Proxmox/TrueNAS host, small office file server, lightweight virtualization, backup appliance, and compact desktop PC. Beelink ME Pro specifications: SoC(one or the other) Intel Processor N95 quad-core “Alder Lake-N” processor […]

January 22, 2026March 28, 2026 by Debashis Das - 2 Comments

TerraMaster D1 SSD Pro – A Thunderbolt 5 fanless SSD enclosure with 80Gbps bandwidth, 7GB/s practical performance

TerraMaster D1 SSD Pro connected to MAC Mini

TerraMaster has recently launched the D1 SSD Pro Thunderbolt 5 fanless enclosure, an update to the previous Thunderbolt 4-based TerraMaster D1 SSD Plus. The new version features an 80Gbps Thunderbolt 5 port, supports M.2 2280 NVMe SSDs with up to 8TB capacity, and has been tested at up to 7,061MB/s read and 6,816MB/s write speeds, nearly doubling Thunderbolt 4 performance. The enclosure uses a fanless, CNC-machined aluminum design that enables silent operation through passive heat dissipation. It also features smart LED indicators for connection speed, and offers compatibility with Thunderbolt 5/4/3, USB4, and USB 3.2 across Windows, macOS, and Linux, including boot support on macOS. With various protection features (short-circuit, surge, ESD) and a compact, rugged design, it is suited for 8K/4K video editors, power MacBook users, gamers who need real-time editing, ultra-fast transfers, and reliable external boot or workspace storage. TerraMaster D1 SSD Pro specifications Performance (claimed) – Up […]

January 8, 2026January 9, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 13 Comments

MUSE Book laptop review – Testing an octa-core RISC-V Linux laptop in 2026

SpacemiT sent me a sample of the MUSE Book RISC-V Linux laptop for review. It’s based on the SpacemiT K1/M1 octa-core 64-bit RISC-V SoC, ships with up to 16 GB of RAM, eMMC flash and/or NVMe SSD, and features a 14.1-inch IPS display with 1920×1080 resolution, WiFi 6 connectivity, a few USB ports, and more. I won’t go through all the hardware specifications since Leo already did that when he wrote about the MUSE Book Laptop in April 2024, along with a teardown, and additional details about the SpacemiT K1/M1 SoC. I’ll still do an unboxing and quickly check the hardware, but I’ll focus on the software part to show the progress with Bianbu OS 2.3 (Ubuntu 24.04-based) on RISC-V hardware, as I just did for the low-end StarFive JH7110S-based VisionFive 2 Lite SBC. It’s quite a long review, so if you are short on time, you can jump directly […]

December 31, 2025January 4, 2026 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 12 Comments

VisionFive 2 Lite SBC Review – Ubuntu 24.04 on a low-cost RISC-V SBC in 2026

VisionFive 2 Lite RISC-V SBC Ubuntu Review 2026

StarFive has sent me a sample of the VisionFive 2 Lite RISC-V SBC for review. It’s a low-cost credit card-sized board based on the StarFive JH7110S quad-core RISC-V SBC and designed to get started with Linux RISC-V on the cheap. When I first tested the earlier VisionFive 2 SBC with a StarFive JH7110 RISC-V SoC in February 2023, I didn’t call it a review, but rather a hands-on experience, since, at the time, many features still didn’t work properly. Almost three years have passed since then, so reviewing the VisionFive 2 Lite SBC with Ubuntu 24.04 will allow us to see how much progress has been made on the software side. If you are in a rush, you can jump to the what works, what doesn’t section. VisionFive 2 Lite unboxing I received the board in a plastic box with a cover reading “VisionFive 2 Lite Your Gateway to RISC-V”. […]