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November 6, 2023November 24, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

ZimaCube 6+1-bay NAS offers 2.5GbE, PCIe slots, with either Intel Processor N100 or Core i5-1235U SoC (Crowdfunding)

IceWhale Technology, the company behind the line of ZimaBoard x86 SBCs, has now introduced the ZimaCube (Pro) 6+1-bay NAS equipped with either an Intel Processor N100 Alder Lake-N processor or a more powerful Intel Core i5-1235U Alder Lake-P CPU with additional 2.5GbE ports, PCIe expansion slots, and M.2 sockets. Both models support up to six 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA drives, support for M.2 NVMe SSDs, offer 2.5GbE networking, six USB ports, and one or more PCIe expansion with either PCIe Gen3 (Processor N100) or PCIe Gen4 (Core i5-1235U) enabling the addition of a graphics card, high-speed network cards, and more. ZimaCube (Pro) specifications: SoC ZimaCube – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ up to 750 MHz; TDP: 6W ZimaCube Pro – Intel Core i5-1235U 10-core/12-thread Alder Lake U-Series processor with 2x Performance cores @ 1.3/4.4GHz, […]

October 25, 2023June 11, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

AOOSTAR R1 – An Intel N100 2-bay NAS, mini PC, and 2.5GbE router

AOOSTAR R1 Intel N100 mini PC triples as a 2-bay NAS thanks to two bays for 3.5-inch SATA drives and as a router through two 2.5GbE network interfaces. It’s a lower-cost version of the Ryzen 5-powered AOOSTAR N1 Pro that was introduced last June. It ships with up to 16GB DDR4 RAM, an optional 512 GB NVMe SSD, offers WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity, supports up to three displays via HDMI, DisplayPort and USB-C ports, and comes with five USB ports. AOOSTAR R1 (also called WTR R1) specifications: SoC – Intel Processor N100 quad-core Alder Lake-N processor @ up to 3.4 GHz (Turbo) with 6MB cache, 24EU Intel HD graphics @ 750 MHz; TDP: 6W System Memory – Optional 16GB DDR4-3200 via SO-DIMM socket Storage Optional 512GB M.2 2280 NVMe SSD 2-bay NAS compatible with 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA drives MicroSD card slot Video Output 4Kp60 video output […]

May 16, 2023July 8, 2023 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 56 Comments

Beelink EQ12 Review – An Intel Processor N100 mini PC tested with Windows 11, TrueNAS, pfSense, Ubuntu, and more

Beelink’s new EQ series of mini PCs form their base product range and feature low-powered Jasper Lake and Alder Lake-N processors with relatively basic port and memory/storage configurations. Perhaps more importantly, they are also the cheapest mini PCs they offer. Having recently announced the EQ12 mini PC featuring an Intel Processor N100 ‘Alder Lake-N’ CPU with up to 16GB RAM, Beelink have now sent one for review. Whilst I’ll cover the basic Windows operation and performance, I’ll also explore how this new mini PC performs when used as an integrated router and NAS. Beelink EQ12 specifications Beelink list the EQ12 specifications as: It is worth noting that the Processor N100 processor only supports a single memory channel and that according to Intel’s specification for the processor, the maximum memory supported is only 16 GB. Intel’s specification for the number of graphical execution units (EUs) also states 24 however software such […]

March 29, 2023 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 9 Comments

iKOOLCORE R1 review – A quad 2.5GbE mini PC tested with Windows 11, Ubuntu 22.04, Proxmox

When I first saw the iKOOLCORE R1 I was fascinated that a mini PC of similar size to the smallest fully functional ones available (think Chuwi LarkBox, GMK NucBox or ECS LIVA Q Series) could be equipped with four 2.5 gigabit Ethernet (2.5GbE) ports. I approached iKOOLCORE who kindly provided an R1 for review and I’ve looked at performance running both Windows 11 and Ubuntu 22.04 and dabbled with using hypervisors on this mini PC through Proxmox virtual environment. iKOOLCORE R1 specifications iKOOLCORE list the R1 specifications on their website as: Of note are the ‘EC, FCC, RoHS’ certifications indicating both European conformity and approval for use in the US. Technically ‘EC’ refers to an ‘EC declaration of conformity’ which is not a certificate, however, the ‘EC declaration of conformity’ is called a ‘CE statement’ or ‘CE certificate’ which is why you often see this abbreviated as ‘CE’. The rest […]

February 23, 2023February 23, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

TrueNAS Mini R rack-mountable system supports TrueNAS CORE or Debian-based TrueNAS SCALE

iXsystems’ TrueNAS Mini R rack-mountable system powered by an Intel Atom C3758 processor running TrueNAS CORE or the new TrueNAS SCALE and equipped with up to 64GB RAM and twelve lockable and hot-swappable 3.5-inch drive bays for more than 200TB of capacity when populated with 18TB drives and 2.5-inch SSD adapters can be provided as well. The TrueNAS Mini R also offers two 10GbE RJ45 interfaces and an optional dual 10GbE SFP+ card can also be added to the system., an IPMI out-of-band management interface, and the company says it’s mostly suitable for small and home offices, as well as enterprise deployments for remote sites, backup, labs, and non-critical departmental applications. TrueNAS Mini specifications: SoC – Intel Atom C3758 octa-core Denverton processor clocked at up to @ 2.2 GHz with 16MB cache; 25W TDP System Memory – 32 or 64GB ECC RAM Storage 12 x 3.5-inch hot-swappable bays (can […]

February 20, 2023February 21, 2023 by Ian W MORRISON (Linuxium) - 16 Comments

ODROID-H3+ SBC review with “Unlimited Performance” mode and 2.5GbE Net Card

ODROID-H3+ Review with Net Card and Case Type 7

Hardkernel have added Intel Jasper Lake mini PCs to their ODROID-H series and they are known as the ODROID-H3 and ODROID-H3+. Like the discontinued ODROID-H2/H2+, this new series also supports the Net Card which will add four extra 2.5 gigabit Ethernet ports. Hardkernel kindly sent an ODROID-H3+ together with a selection of accessories for review and I’m going to look at the effect on performance when changing the Power Limit values in the UEFI (BIOS) together with the network performance of the Net Card. ODROID-H3+ hardware overview The ODROID-H3+ physically consists of a 110 x 110 mm (4.33 x 4.33-inch) motherboard complete with an Intel Pentium Silver Jasper Lake mobile N6005 processor which has 4 cores and 4 threads and can boost to 3.3 GHz and also includes Intel UHD Graphics. The processor, and nearly the entire motherboard, is covered by a large metal heat sink: The front of the […]

January 23, 2023January 26, 2023 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 30 Comments

Storaxa is a 3-in-1 5-bay NAS, WiFi 6 router, and 4K media center (Crowdfunding)

The Storaxa is a multi-purpose device powered by an Intel Celeron N6005 Jasper Lake processor which works as a 5-bay SATA NAS, which also happens to take up to four NVMe SSDs, a 4K media center with HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces, and a WiFi 6 router equipped with four 2.5GbE ports. The solution is fitted with 16GB RAM, comes with four 10 Gbps USB 3.2 ports and two USB 2.0 ports, and runs Proxmox VE to handle both TrueNAS SCALE and OpenWrt for the NAS and router functions respectively. Storaxa specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N6005 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 3.3GHz (Turbo) with 32EU Intel UHD graphics @ 450 / 900 MHz (Turbo); 10W TDP System Memory – 16GB (2x 8GB) DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory Storage 128 GB SATA SSD for OS 5x 3.5-inch SATA bays 4x M.2 2280 sockets for NVMe SSDs (connected via ASMedia ASM2812X PCIe […]