7 ms·

Building a tiny ARM-based server

106 points by ttsiodras 13y ago

spiznnx 13y ago
nas-central.org is full of useful information about hacking with different NAS hardware. It helped me install debian with a custom kernel on my Lacie NAS without even opening it up.
ah- 13y ago
After being not very satisfied with OpenWRT on a router as a fileserver (it's great overall, but file transfers are just too slow), I'm now using an IFC6410 as my home server. It doesn't use much more power than the linked NAS device, but comes with basically the same hardware as the Nexus 4, on a nice board with all those useful connectors. Quad-core 1.5 Ghz CPU, 2GB of RAM, SATA and Gigabit ethernet.
- jsundquist 13y ago
  This is something I am looking for to experiment with. Where did you buy your IFC6410? I keep looking for a source of ARM based machines where I can play with Linux or Android...but in a different form factor than a phone (Something I could put on top of my rack), and a little more power than a Raspberry PI.
  - ah- 13y ago
    I bought mine directly from inforce (http://www.inforcelive.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=ifc6410&product_id=53 http://www.inforcelive.com/index.php?route=product/product&f...). There are a few similar boards like the odroid-xu, but the IFC6410 is currently the only one with both SATA and real gigabit ethernet, not something attached via USB. And it uses the GPU with the best open source driver support (https://github.com/freedreno/freedreno/wiki/Ifc6410 https://github.com/freedreno/freedreno/wiki/Ifc6410), so it runs the full Gnome 3 desktop and even weston/wayland. There's a small community forming around the board, so there's some degree of support available. But currently it's not comparable to what's available for the Raspberry PI, you still need decent linux skills to set it up. But that's half the fun anyways.
    - voltagex_ 13y ago
      Thank you! I've been looking for something to replace my Dreamplug for a while and this might do it
    - jsundquist 13y ago
      Thanks for the info...really appreciate it. That is exactly what I was looking for.
zachwill 13y ago
Great post, OP. Always love this type of HN content the most.
- ttsiodras 13y ago
  Thanks! I really enjoyed building the thing :-)
aduitsis 13y ago
Always agreeable to see a link from softlab.ntua.gr high in the HN front page!
- atmosx 13y ago
  any .gr would do the job for me :-P
cpg 13y ago
This is pretty cool and (disclaimer) the reason I started Amahi: running a low power home server for my media. If you are interested in this space, join the Amahi community! People interested in building hardware are especially welcome https://www.amahi.org https://www.amahi.org Edit: one person asked how to join - there's the forums and there are the github repos to contribute[2]. There is also the developer mailing list[3] [1] https://forums.amahi.org https://forums.amahi.org [2] https://github.com/amahi https://github.com/amahi [3] http://sourceforge.net/p/amahi/mailman/amahi-devel/ http://sourceforge.net/p/amahi/mailman/amahi-devel/
gwu78 13y ago
Well done, OP. I forsee Apple and Google (and Microsoft?) devices will increasingly be aimed solely at consuming content. This will be the "interactive television" of the future. If you haven't noticed, it is not easy is it to turn an iPad into a router/server. Perhaps it was not meant to be. It is an "interactive TV", for sharing and consuming content. These type of devices are not under the control of users; they are ultimatly controlled by large corporate interests, in the same way that TV is the medium of government and large corporations. That is not "revolutionary", just business as usual. As such, I posit that it is another computer -- the computer that retrieves data from the internet and sends the content to your TV-like device -- that is the most interesting, and hence the most "revolutionary". That is your router/server. The OP, a programmer, calls it "one of [his] best hacks." This I believe is the "PC" of the future. The "PC" was at one time a revolutionary device that brought the power of computers, once reserved only for those who could purchase and administer mainframes, to the home and business. Where would Apple, Google if not for the PC revolution? I believe the home router/server (not your beautiful form factor, high priced device) is, going forward, the "PC" of the future. This is the device that you can program for free, that can run open source software, including an open source OS of your choice, that you the user can fully control, and where real innovation can occur. This is where the "PC revolution" can continue. The OP says he does not see why there should be a separation between programming and administration (e.g., a subset of programming that, allong with basic networking know-how, allows the user to install and configure her own "server" at home). As a user, if I could only master one and had to choose between the two, I'd pick administration over programming. This is because I feel it is more useful to me as a user (like the OP, "one of my best hacks"). As such, I am biased toward administration and believe if there is to be another "PC revolution" I believe it should be focused on the home server/router and, if so, must be lead by those who can at least administer computers performing these crucial functions.
- pjmlp 13y ago
  > The "PC" was at one time a revolutionary device that brought the power of computers, once reserved only for those who could purchase and administer mainframes, to the home and business. Where would Apple, Google if not for the PC revolution? Not really, there were other platforms already. What PC brought was commoditization of hardware instead of proprietary extensions used by other competing home computers.
joosters 13y ago
Great post. I've got an old WD MyBook lying around, I should try and get some use out of the thing. You don't have to hack it too much in order to get a 'full' linux on there. You can enable SSH access on the system via the web UI. From there, you can set up a simple packaging system to install most other common binaries (and a functioning build environment to add anything else) Take a look at: http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/optware http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/optware for instructions.
riobard 13y ago
Great post! On a side note, for the newer (not the newest) edition of the WD My Book Live (and its 2-disk brother My Book Live Duo) NAS device, the OS is a full-featured Debian already, and you can easily enable SSH to login and `apt-get` almost everything you want. The processor is a MIPS one, though, not an ARM one, which might affect the availability of Debian packages. However, I've heard the newest edition called WD My Cloud NAS runs on an dual-core ARM processors. People who are less hardware-hack-oriented (like myself) should definitely give those a try.
- joezydeco 13y ago
  Or you could buy a Beaglebone Black. I did the exact same project above, with more memory and way faster speed for $49. I just nfs-mount my drive instead of using the onboard SATA.
  - riobard 13y ago
    I looked at the alternative ARM boards too, but unfortunately they are only 100Mbps ethernet, which is really slow for a media server :( Any ideas of boards with gigabit ethernet?
    - vjoel 13y ago
      Yup. Utilite: http://utilite-computer.com/web/utilite-specifications http://utilite-computer.com/web/utilite-specifications. Dual GbE, though one is limited to around 470Mbps because of a limitation of the board. I have one. Great specs, but I am not totally happy with the ubuntu 12.04 that comes with it. GCC is broken, for one thing: http://www.utilite-computer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1455&sid=e6fb9102b3a5bdbaa140efa56fbf1507 http://www.utilite-computer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1.... Hoping this gets fixed soon.
    - codequickly 13y ago
      Cubieboard 3 (aka Cubietruck) will do 1gbit as well as 1 sata port.
    - makomk 13y ago
csense 13y ago
As someone who doesn't own a soldering iron, I've found the $35 Raspberry Pi board [1] [2] [3] to be an excellent choice as a low-cost low-power general-purpose ARM-based server. It also has a number of GPIO pins, UART, i2c and SPI, which may be of interest to those who do own soldering irons :) [1] http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs [2] A model with no Ethernet is available for $25, but Ethernet is kind of non-optional for a server :) [3] The price doesn't include power supply, case or boot media.
- stusmall 13y ago
  While we are plugging fun toys I'm going to piggie back on your comment, for those who don't own a soldering iron the Weller WES51 [1] is great! Extremely high quality, great selection of tips, very durable and reliable. You get by far the most for your money with it. The price is low enough for a hobbyist but the quality is high enough for some professional work. [1] http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BRC2XU/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=27113928363&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2823871302008355468&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_4h0bek3vqx_b http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BRC2XU/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=...
- voltagex_ 13y ago
  I'm not quite the target market for the Pi, and I love how much attention it's got but even with a home-server workload you may find that you need something a bit beefier. I had a plug-computer before they were cool (the Globalscale Dreamplug) and it's been pretty good for almost 3 years now.
- ttsiodras 13y ago
  Unless I am mistaken, though, there's no SATA connector on the Pi - is there?
h2o2 13y ago
FYI the freedom box project had a list of hardware you can buy for this type of thing. It sounds like raspberrypi 's raspbian project isn't really considered a Debian in their eyes, and instead the ones on list run a purer Debian than the pi. https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/TargetedHardware https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/TargetedHardware
phaer 13y ago
Are there any suggestions for a low-energy (possibly arm) server with raid 1? I guess software raid over USB would not be very satisfying, right?
- joosters 13y ago
  Synology NAS servers will do that. Many of them are ARM-based, they run Linux - albeit a cut-down version, but there are add-on package managers to install more stuff (and SSH access is available without any hacks). They are quality IMO. However, they are not cheap hardware.
jotm 13y ago
This is all very cool, but I can't help but think that it would be easier to get a used 12" HP 2530p for ~$150, install 2 hard drives inside it, install whatever distribution of Linux you want and connect it via its fast Gigabit port. Less headache (though not as fun!), more storage space, less latency, more processing power at a still very low power consumption :-)

106 points by ttsiodras 13y ago

nas-central.org is full of useful information about hacking with different NAS hardware. It helped me install debian with a custom kernel on my Lacie NAS without even opening it up.

ah- 13y ago

After being not very satisfied with OpenWRT on a router as a fileserver (it's great overall, but file transfers are just too slow), I'm now using an IFC6410 as my home server. It doesn't use much more power than the linked NAS device, but comes with basically the same hardware as the Nexus 4, on a nice board with all those useful connectors. Quad-core 1.5 Ghz CPU, 2GB of RAM, SATA and Gigabit ethernet.

jsundquist 13y ago
This is something I am looking for to experiment with. Where did you buy your IFC6410? I keep looking for a source of ARM based machines where I can play with Linux or Android...but in a different form factor than a phone (Something I could put on top of my rack), and a little more power than a Raspberry PI.
- ah- 13y ago
  I bought mine directly from inforce (http://www.inforcelive.com/index.php?route=product/product&filter_name=ifc6410&product_id=53 http://www.inforcelive.com/index.php?route=product/product&f...). There are a few similar boards like the odroid-xu, but the IFC6410 is currently the only one with both SATA and real gigabit ethernet, not something attached via USB. And it uses the GPU with the best open source driver support (https://github.com/freedreno/freedreno/wiki/Ifc6410 https://github.com/freedreno/freedreno/wiki/Ifc6410), so it runs the full Gnome 3 desktop and even weston/wayland. There's a small community forming around the board, so there's some degree of support available. But currently it's not comparable to what's available for the Raspberry PI, you still need decent linux skills to set it up. But that's half the fun anyways.
  - voltagex_ 13y ago
    Thank you! I've been looking for something to replace my Dreamplug for a while and this might do it
  - jsundquist 13y ago
    Thanks for the info...really appreciate it. That is exactly what I was looking for.

zachwill 13y ago

Great post, OP. Always love this type of HN content the most.

ttsiodras 13y ago
Thanks! I really enjoyed building the thing :-)

aduitsis 13y ago

Always agreeable to see a link from softlab.ntua.gr high in the HN front page!

atmosx 13y ago
any .gr would do the job for me :-P

cpg 13y ago

This is pretty cool and (disclaimer) the reason I started Amahi: running a low power home server for my media. If you are interested in this space, join the Amahi community! People interested in building hardware are especially welcome https://www.amahi.org https://www.amahi.org Edit: one person asked how to join - there's the forums and there are the github repos to contribute[2]. There is also the developer mailing list[3] [1] https://forums.amahi.org https://forums.amahi.org [2] https://github.com/amahi https://github.com/amahi [3] http://sourceforge.net/p/amahi/mailman/amahi-devel/ http://sourceforge.net/p/amahi/mailman/amahi-devel/

gwu78 13y ago

Well done, OP. I forsee Apple and Google (and Microsoft?) devices will increasingly be aimed solely at consuming content. This will be the "interactive television" of the future. If you haven't noticed, it is not easy is it to turn an iPad into a router/server. Perhaps it was not meant to be. It is an "interactive TV", for sharing and consuming content. These type of devices are not under the control of users; they are ultimatly controlled by large corporate interests, in the same way that TV is the medium of government and large corporations. That is not "revolutionary", just business as usual. As such, I posit that it is another computer -- the computer that retrieves data from the internet and sends the content to your TV-like device -- that is the most interesting, and hence the most "revolutionary". That is your router/server. The OP, a programmer, calls it "one of [his] best hacks." This I believe is the "PC" of the future. The "PC" was at one time a revolutionary device that brought the power of computers, once reserved only for those who could purchase and administer mainframes, to the home and business. Where would Apple, Google if not for the PC revolution? I believe the home router/server (not your beautiful form factor, high priced device) is, going forward, the "PC" of the future. This is the device that you can program for free, that can run open source software, including an open source OS of your choice, that you the user can fully control, and where real innovation can occur. This is where the "PC revolution" can continue. The OP says he does not see why there should be a separation between programming and administration (e.g., a subset of programming that, allong with basic networking know-how, allows the user to install and configure her own "server" at home). As a user, if I could only master one and had to choose between the two, I'd pick administration over programming. This is because I feel it is more useful to me as a user (like the OP, "one of my best hacks"). As such, I am biased toward administration and believe if there is to be another "PC revolution" I believe it should be focused on the home server/router and, if so, must be lead by those who can at least administer computers performing these crucial functions.

pjmlp 13y ago
> The "PC" was at one time a revolutionary device that brought the power of computers, once reserved only for those who could purchase and administer mainframes, to the home and business. Where would Apple, Google if not for the PC revolution? Not really, there were other platforms already. What PC brought was commoditization of hardware instead of proprietary extensions used by other competing home computers.

joosters 13y ago

Great post. I've got an old WD MyBook lying around, I should try and get some use out of the thing. You don't have to hack it too much in order to get a 'full' linux on there. You can enable SSH access on the system via the web UI. From there, you can set up a simple packaging system to install most other common binaries (and a functioning build environment to add anything else) Take a look at: http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/optware http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/optware for instructions.

riobard 13y ago

Great post! On a side note, for the newer (not the newest) edition of the WD My Book Live (and its 2-disk brother My Book Live Duo) NAS device, the OS is a full-featured Debian already, and you can easily enable SSH to login and `apt-get` almost everything you want. The processor is a MIPS one, though, not an ARM one, which might affect the availability of Debian packages. However, I've heard the newest edition called WD My Cloud NAS runs on an dual-core ARM processors. People who are less hardware-hack-oriented (like myself) should definitely give those a try.

joezydeco 13y ago
Or you could buy a Beaglebone Black. I did the exact same project above, with more memory and way faster speed for $49. I just nfs-mount my drive instead of using the onboard SATA.
- riobard 13y ago
  I looked at the alternative ARM boards too, but unfortunately they are only 100Mbps ethernet, which is really slow for a media server :( Any ideas of boards with gigabit ethernet?
  - vjoel 13y ago
    Yup. Utilite: http://utilite-computer.com/web/utilite-specifications http://utilite-computer.com/web/utilite-specifications. Dual GbE, though one is limited to around 470Mbps because of a limitation of the board. I have one. Great specs, but I am not totally happy with the ubuntu 12.04 that comes with it. GCC is broken, for one thing: http://www.utilite-computer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1455&sid=e6fb9102b3a5bdbaa140efa56fbf1507 http://www.utilite-computer.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=1.... Hoping this gets fixed soon.
  - codequickly 13y ago
    Cubieboard 3 (aka Cubietruck) will do 1gbit as well as 1 sata port.
  - makomk 13y ago

csense 13y ago

As someone who doesn't own a soldering iron, I've found the $35 Raspberry Pi board [1] [2] [3] to be an excellent choice as a low-cost low-power general-purpose ARM-based server. It also has a number of GPIO pins, UART, i2c and SPI, which may be of interest to those who do own soldering irons :) [1] http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs http://www.raspberrypi.org/faqs [2] A model with no Ethernet is available for $25, but Ethernet is kind of non-optional for a server :) [3] The price doesn't include power supply, case or boot media.

stusmall 13y ago
While we are plugging fun toys I'm going to piggie back on your comment, for those who don't own a soldering iron the Weller WES51 [1] is great! Extremely high quality, great selection of tips, very durable and reliable. You get by far the most for your money with it. The price is low enough for a hobbyist but the quality is high enough for some professional work. [1] http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BRC2XU/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=27113928363&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=2823871302008355468&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_4h0bek3vqx_b http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000BRC2XU/?tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=...
voltagex_ 13y ago
I'm not quite the target market for the Pi, and I love how much attention it's got but even with a home-server workload you may find that you need something a bit beefier. I had a plug-computer before they were cool (the Globalscale Dreamplug) and it's been pretty good for almost 3 years now.
ttsiodras 13y ago
Unless I am mistaken, though, there's no SATA connector on the Pi - is there?

h2o2 13y ago

FYI the freedom box project had a list of hardware you can buy for this type of thing. It sounds like raspberrypi 's raspbian project isn't really considered a Debian in their eyes, and instead the ones on list run a purer Debian than the pi. https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/TargetedHardware https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox/TargetedHardware

phaer 13y ago

Are there any suggestions for a low-energy (possibly arm) server with raid 1? I guess software raid over USB would not be very satisfying, right?

joosters 13y ago
Synology NAS servers will do that. Many of them are ARM-based, they run Linux - albeit a cut-down version, but there are add-on package managers to install more stuff (and SSH access is available without any hacks). They are quality IMO. However, they are not cheap hardware.

jotm 13y ago

This is all very cool, but I can't help but think that it would be easier to get a used 12" HP 2530p for ~$150, install 2 hard drives inside it, install whatever distribution of Linux you want and connect it via its fast Gigabit port. Less headache (though not as fun!), more storage space, less latency, more processing power at a still very low power consumption :-)