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Am Mon, Aug 29, 2022 at 12:49:56AM -0500 schrieb Dale: |
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> > I run a raspi with some basic services, most importantly a pihole DNS filter |
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> > and a PIM server. But I find it hacky-patchy with its flimsy USB power cable |
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> > poking out of the side. I’d prefer a more sturdy construction, which is why |
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> > I bought a NAS-style PC (zotac zbox nano with a passive 6 W Celeron). But |
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> > that thing is so fast for every-day computing that I actually put a KDE |
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> > system on it and now I don’t want to “downgrade” it to a mere server. |
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> |
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> I googled that little guy and that is a pretty neat little machine. |
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> Basically it is a tiny puter but really tiny, just not tiny on |
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> features. The Zotac systems, even some older ones, are pretty nifty. I |
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> think I read they have a ITX mobo which is really compact. |
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ITX (or rather miniITX) is 17×17 cm: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mini-ITX |
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Those NUC-types are much smaller. I don’t quite know whether that board form |
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factor has a name of its own (aside from NUC, but that’s a marketing name |
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from Intel). |
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> It sort of reminds me of a cell phone. Small but fast CPUs, some even |
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> have decent amounts of ram so they can handle quite a lot. Never heard of |
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> this thing before. I wouldn't mind having one of those to work as my |
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> OpenVPN server thingy. I'd just need to find one that has 2 ethernet |
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> ports and designed for that sort of task. |
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Many of the ZBoxes have dual NICs, which is what makes them very popular |
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among server and firewall hackers because they are also very frugal. My |
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particular model is the CI331: |
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https://www.zotac.com/us/product/mini_pcs/zbox-ci331-nano-barebone |
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It has one 2,5″ slot and one undocumented SATA M.2 which can only be reached |
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by breaking the warranty seal. That’s where zotac installs a drive if you |
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buy a zbox with Winblows pre-installed. |
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After updating the BIOS, which allowed the CPU to enter lower C states, it |
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draws 6 W on idle. It’s not a record, but still not so much for a 24/7 x86 |
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system. |
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> >> I have a old computer that I might could use. It is 4 core something |
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> >> and I think it has 4GBs of memory, maxed out. I think it will perform |
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> >> well enough but wish it had a little more horses in it. |
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> > An Intel Celeron from the Haswell generation (i.e. 8+ years old) did not |
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> > have AES-NI yet, and it reached around 160 MB/s encryption speed. I tried |
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> > it, because I had dealings with those processors in the past before I built |
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> > my own NAS. Your old tech may still be usable, but please also consider |
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> > power cost and its impact on the environment if it runs 24/7. |
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> |
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> I'm not real sure what that old machine has. I have Linux, can't recall |
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> the distro tho, on it. Is there a way to find out if it supports the |
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> needed things? |
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|
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cat /proc/cpuinfo and look for aes or the like. Or enter the processor name |
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into wikipedia, which will redirect you to the “List of processors by |
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<Manufacturer>” with huge tables of comparision and general info on an |
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architecture’s improvements over its predecessor, like AES. |
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> >> I may use actual NAS software too. |
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> > What is “actual NAS software”? Do you mean a NAS distribution? From my |
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> > understanding, those distros install the usual services (samba, ftp, etc.) |
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> > and develop a nice web frontend for it. But since those are web |
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> > applications, there isn’t much to be gained from march=native. |
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> |
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> I've seen TrueNAS, OpenNas I think and others. Plus some just use |
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> Ubuntu or something. Honestly, almost any linux distro with no or a |
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> minimal GUI would work. |
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OK, but then you don’t run those on Gentoo. And those NAS distros are so |
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small and light-weight, they can be run from a USB stick if you so choose. |
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My NAS’s mainboard has a USB-A socket on-board for that reason. |
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> >> I'm sure Gentoo would work to with proper tweaking but then I need to |
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> >> deal with compiling things. Of course, no libreoffice or anything big so |
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> >> it may not be to bad. Thing is, the NAS software will likely be more |
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> >> efficient since it is designed for the purpose. |
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> > More efficient than what? |
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> I figure something like OpenNAS or TrueNAS would work better as it is |
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> built to be user friendly and has tools by default to manage things. |
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Yeah, I was thinking of using one of those, too. But I liked the idea of |
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being more flexible with some ZFS voodoo which the web interfaces won’t |
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allow. Like creating a downgraded pool because I don’t have enough HDDs, filling |
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that up and adding the missing disk later. Sometimes I wish for the bigger |
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ease of use of a web interface. |
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> I'm pretty sure they support RAID and such by default. It is likely set |
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> up to make setting it up easier too. |
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They do, naturally. And yes, the frontends hide lots of the gory details. |
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-- |
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Grüße | Greetings | Salut | Qapla’ |
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Please do not share anything from, with or about me on any social network. |
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Even baldies do have streaks of luck. |