On Friday, 28 February 2020 05:07:07 GMT james wrote: > On 2/27/20 9:53 PM, Dale wrote: > > james wrote: > >> 5G + gentoo + embedded toys, is going to be FUN FUN FUN. > >> > >> > >> Then I'll be off to other states, via a hacked out Redneck > >> camper...... and too many microProcessors.... > >> > >> > >> Thanks Rich, your insights and comments are always most welcome. > >> > >> > >> James > > > > Off topic a bit but a question.� Would one of these Rasp-Pi-4 thingys > > make a NAS hard drive server? > > Sure, but, there may be a better solution, something all ready out there > and it really depends on refining your needs, current and in the future. > So lets refine your specifications (centric to your needs + growth) and > figure out what and how much you need. Then we can survey the > embedded-thingies, that meet your specs, with a bit of room for growth, OK? > > >I have a Cooler Master HAF-932 case > > Wow, that's big. What the number and capacity (TB) of > your existing hard-drives? > > How much more storage do you want? Replacing drives with larger > capacity, might be all you need to do? > > > but > > even it is running out of hard drive space.� I'm thinking about building > > a NAS box, taking sheet metal and bending it until it looks like a box. > > OK, so we first spec out options, then let you decide. Then you can > 'bargain shop' for appropriate housing/rack/open chassis, etc. > > > Thing is, it needs a small puter to take data from the drives to the > > network and vice-versa. > > embedded are not only small, they can have extended temperature ranges > of tolerance, use drastically less power and many other features. If > it's purposed hardware, that is only a few things todo, then yes > embedded uP (abbrev for microProcessor) are the way to go. Running off > of 12VDC, means an old car battery and a connection to your solar panels > (assuming you have those) and it's zero on your electric bill. There is > usually a vast array of tax and other incentives, particularly with > solar in Ag businesses. > > > I've never even seen one of those things, except on my monitor, so I > > have no idea what all they are capable of. > > Dale, you are pretty strong with Gentoo Linux, so putting a stripped, > purposed, minimized gentoo derivative stack, with far less ebuilds, to > work for your operations, is going to be quite fun. On a farm or ranch, > there are a myriad of things you can do with embedded boards and > gentoo-stripped. You can replace many of those expensive (vendor) > systems with embedded boards +sensors +controls codes and lots of wires > to do most anything. Let's focus on your NAS for now. > > > I figure a lot of SATA connectors and a ethernet connection > > plus enough CPU power and memory to get the job done. > > SATA, was great years ago. Still it makes sense to use, if you already > have them. Storage going forward is the process of faster and cheaper > and leaving SATA behind, like ide. Still useful, but a power hog. So > we'll start out with interfacing your existing SATA drives to the > embedded board, and look/decide on options for newer Solid State Data > storage options. > > > � https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB > > You might not even need many sata ports. usb3 and the upcoming usb4 have > tons of bandwidth (date/time). Mechanical Hard drives are on the way > out. Too expensive and failure prone. SSd and other types of storage, > might be right for you, or a mixture. USB stick memory > can be huge, very low power draw and very inexpensive. > > A hybrid of several types of memory storage may be useful to experiment > with. You may want to categorize your long term storage: some accessed > often, others maybe once a year? > > > For data storage, long term important stuff, you should employ RAID > (1-10). We can get into that later, duplication of important data, via > backups or extra storage is a good idea too. Backups are an old > technology, but may help, but backups do can get old too and fragmented. > For now, lets not worry so much about long term bit integrity, but focus > on your next FUN gentoo rig. I'm hoping other join in to so you have > more than my prospective on your solution. > > > If those things are capable of doing that fairly > > easily.� After all, I'm me.� :/ > > OK, so let's survey some system, you can just purchase > with gentoo preinstalled, or a very easy pathway to embedded gentoo. > Let's look at a few, have some of the other guys jump in, and find you a > solution, to start with. Most will be expandable, and you can figure out > the casing, mounting, power and such. > > At this stage, it mostly a research effort and then deciding your > features/price. If you do not have massive bandwitdh requirements, I'm > sure we can find you > a very cost effective, DC powered solution. > > Just so you know, I use that fancy $300 OPtima 12vdc charger, and Optima > batteries. the charger reconditions most batteries, if they are not > beyond saving, even cheap lead-acid batteries. Every Farmer should have > one, imho. The Digital 1200 is just awesome. > > https://www.optimabatteries.com/en-us/battery-charger > > If you like, you can read up on blue, red and yellow top versions and > their intended duty-cycle. > > Take some time and look at these gentoo embedded boards, before we > diverge to other offerings: > > https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Embedded_systems/ARM_hardware_list > > > https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-4-model-b/ > > > Just curious. > > Dale > > > > :-)� :-) > > Dale, embedded gentoo is about the most fun thing you'll ever do. A > hardware guy like yourself, that is already an accomplish part of the > great gentoo community, dude, > your going to have a lot of fun, and save money on that farm. So let's > get started! > > Post back and I, or others, will try to answer your questions. Be > specific about what you do currently and where you want to end up. > > Just so you know, imho, (2) of the finest humans and accomplished Gentoo > devs are listed in gentoo-embedded. > Actually, all the members are just totally awesome humans, so you, my > friend, are in for the ride of a lifetime! > > > https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Embedded > > > https://developer.arm.com/tools-and-software/open-source-software/developer-> > tools/gnu-toolchain/gnu-rm > > More boards to look at (the features). > > https://www.embeddedarm.com/products/category/single-board-computers > > https://freaklabs.org/chibiarduino/ > > https://www.reddit.com/r/Gentoo/comments/7oxoln/question_about_gentoo_on_ras > pberry_pi/
Since we're talking about a home NAS and since Dale's always running his PC 24-7, the incremental cost of hanging a few more controllers/drives off it and using it as a NAS on top of its daily duties, may be the quickest/easiest/most cost effective approach.
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