Ugoos X2 Cube is a tiny Android 9.0 TV box powered by the latest Amlogic S905X2 processor coupled with 2GB RAM and 16GB flash storage. The new Amlogic processor happens to have a USB 3.0 port which provides good storage performance, and the box is also equipped with a Gigabit Ethernet port, which should make the device especially suitable for network storage beside the usual 4K HDR video playback or streaming offered by any typical Amlogic S905X2 TV box. However in most cases, the firmware provided for such TV boxes does not offer an option to easily configure a SAMBA server (aka Windows network share), so you’d need to either mess up with the firmware configuration yourself, or install a paid app. Ugoos is different since they long have had the option to enable NFS & SAMBA client and/or server in the settings, and Ugoos X2 Cube is no different. […]
M.4 SSD with PCIe 3.0 x8 Interface Showcased at Computex 2019
M.2 SSD’s are now pretty common and rely on either SATA or PCIe interface, but apparently there’s a new form factor with an M.4 SSD showcased at the recent Computex 2019 exhibition, and with Silicon Motion SM2270 controller leveraging a PCIe 3.0 x8 interface for up to 3,200 MB/s sustained sequential reads, 2,800 MB/s sustained sequential writes, as well as up to 800K/200K IOPS for respectively 4K read/write random operations. Spotted by Anandtech at the event, Agylstor’s M.4 NVMe SSD come with the following specifications: Silicon Motion SM2270 controller with a three dual-core Arm Cortex-R5 processors with 2KB LDPC error correction and 16 NAND channels with 8 CE per channel (128 CE in total) Host Interface – PCIe Gen3 x8 Command Protocol – NVMe 1.3 Max Capacity – 16TB Anandtech explains the M.4 SSD is essentially two M.2 SSDs glued together with (8) NAND packages on each side of the […]
Silicon Motion SM3282 is a Single Chip Solution for Portable USB SSD Sticks
Portable USB SSD drives are nothing new, but they are usually implemented using a stand-alone SSD with its own SSD controller combined with a USB to SATA or PCIe bridge chip in order to interface the SSD drive with the host computer or board. Silicon Motion has recently unveiled SM3282 SSD controller that also comes with an on-chip USB 3.2 Gen 1 interface providing a complete single-chip hardware and software solution for portable USB SSD sticks. This should enable smaller and cheaper USB SSD drives. Some of the key features of the SM3282 controller include: Peak sequential read and write transfer speeds of over 400MB/sec Supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 type A and type C Crystal-less design for bill-of-materials cost savings Built-in 3.3V/2.5V/1.8V/1.2V voltage regulators Supports LED for indicating access status 68-pin QFN package Compatible with Windows 10, Mac OS 10.x and Linux kernel v2.4 and greater The chip also […]
NODE Mini Server V2 is a Raspberry Pi Based Storage Server for the Decentralized Web
We’ve previously covered networked hard drive enclosures with Ethernet and/or WiFi running OpenWrt or Ubuntu that allows you to easily and fairly cheaply connect SATA drives to your local network with models such as Blueendless X3. NODE has done something similar with a DIY project featuring a Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. NODE Mini Server V2 connects the popular SBC to a 2.5″ SATA hard drive over USB and is designed to build out the physical infrastructure for the decentralized web (e.g. IPFS) that would allow users to replace remote servers with nodes that they themselves own and operate. Having said that nothing would prevent you from using this as a simple NAS although performance will not be as optimal as the aforementioned products due to the lack of SATA or USB 3.0 interface, as well as having “Gigabit” Ethernet limited to 300 Mbps. Having said that the design could […]
Embedded Linux Conference & Open Source Summit 2019 Schedule
In the last few years, I covered the Embedded Linux Conference and IoT Summit schedules since both were happening at the same time and in the same location. But the Linux Foundation have recently announced the Embedded Linux Conference will combine with the Open Source Summit, so the IoT Summit appears to have been phased out. The full schedule for the events taking place on August 21 – 23, 2019 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront, USA, has also been released, so I’ll create a virtual schedule with some of the sessions most relevant to this blog. Wednesday August 21, 2019 11:30 – 12:05 – What’s New with U-Boot? by Simon Glass, Google LLC U-Boot is a widely used bootloader in embedded systems. Many users are unaware of the wide feature-set of U-Boot, particularly features added in the last few years. This talk aims to bring users (and prospective users) […]
Blueendless X3 Networked “HDD NAS Case” Runs Ubuntu on Marvell ARMADA 3720 SoC
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 […]
NXP QorIQ LayerScape LX2160A is a 16-core Arm Cortex A72 Communication Processor with 100 Gbit/s Ethernet
NXP Semiconductors has been working on a high-end communication processor with their QorIQ LayerScape LX2160A SoC equipped with 16 Arm Cortex A72 cores, 16 Ethernet ports supporting 1 to 100 Gbit/s, as well as 24 PCIe Gen4 lanes, and four SATA 3.0 ports. NXP LX2160A key specifications / features: Processor – 16x Arm Cortex-A72 CPU cores, running up to 2.2GHz with 8MB L2 cache, 8MB platform cache Memory I/F – 2 x DDR4 72b including ECC, up to 3200 MT/s, maximum capacity of 256 GB Storage – 4 x SATA3.0 Ethernet Up to 16 Ethernet ports Supported Ethernet speeds include 1, 2.5, 10, 25, 40, 50, and 100 gigabits per second 130Gbps Layer 2 Ethernet switch PCIe – Up to 24 PCIe Gen4 lanes, supporting ports as wide as x8 24 SerDes lanes, operating up to 28GHz Acceleration Engines – 50Gbps security accelerator, 100Gbps data compression/decompression engine Security – Secure […]
ORICO 1088USJ3 Multi-Bay SATA to USB3.0 Enclosure Supports up to Ten 3.5″ Hard Drives
USB expansion drives and multi-bay NAS devices are both very common form of storage which have different applications, but I had never thought or seen multi-bay USB expansion drivers until I came across ORICO NS200U3 “2-bay USB 3.0 hard drive dock” on GearBest (~$82) that can handle two 3.5″ hard drives. This piqued my interest, so I went to ORICO website looking for models supporting more hard drives, and found ORICO 1088USJ3, a 10-bay USB 3.0 to SATA enclosure that can provide up to 80TB of local storage with 8TB drives. ORICO 1088USJ3 specifications: Storage – 10x SATA III slots up to 6 Gbps for 3.5″ HDD / SSD drive (up to 8TB per drive) Output Interface – USB 3.0 device port up to 5 Gbps Power Supply – 100-240V AC 50-60Hz Protection – Over-current, over-voltage, short circuit, overheat, and power leakage. Dimensions – 389(L) x 203(W) x 501(H)mm (aluminum […]