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