Odroid

That's great news. I was thinking more along the lines of the newer chipsets - Odroid-XU, etc. Still, thanks for the info.
 
Well - I ended up with an Odroid C1 to start with. I'm typing this on my Odroid C1 w/NetBSD. Would be great to be able to use FreeBSD too! I wonder if there's any news on this front?
 
You can use FreeBSD on Odroidc1. However dwc ethernet driver is not adapted to work for Odroidc1. But on the other hand, if you check arm@freebsd.org mailing list, you can see Daisuke-san's email about Nas4free on Odroidc1. His FreeBSD image has Ethernet driver.
 
ganbold@: Thanks for the quick reply. With the Odroid C1 on NetBSD, I'm using the RTL8188 USB wifi stick without trouble. Is that likely to work on the FreeBSD Odroid port at the moment?

From dmesg:

Code:
urtwn0: Realtek 802.11n WLAN Adapter, rev 2.00/2.00, addr 4
urtwn0: MAC/BB RTL8188CUS, RF 6052 1T1R, address 7c:dd:...
 
Thanks for the quick reply again. Well - I'll give it a try. I'm running my C1 as a sort-of-kind-of homemade tablet with NiMH batteries, and luvin it. It's too bad that the XU3 and XU4 are completely different chips than the C1. I'd love to get the XU4 running on one of the BSDs as well. NetBSD's port is not quite working yet for the XU4. The C1 port is nice though.
 
Thanks for the quick reply again. Well - I'll give it a try. I'm running my C1 as a sort-of-kind-of homemade tablet with NiMH batteries, and luvin it. It's too bad that the XU3 and XU4 are completely different chips than the C1. I'd love to get the XU4 running on one of the BSDs as well. NetBSD's port is not quite working yet for the XU4. The C1 port is nice though.

FYI: Commit r278599 MFC'ed support for the Exynos 5420 to the kernel, which then made it in to 10.2-RELEASE. The XU3 and XU4 are Exynos 5422-based, and as far as I can tell the only major difference is the amount of RAM. There's no pre-built image for the EXYNOS5420 kernel config on FTP, but a custom kernel build w/ minor patches (<10 lines) and some boot loader tinkering got me a working serial console boot on my XU4. I'll keep prodding at it, and hopefully submit patches once I can get HDMI output working. In short: the XU3 and XU4 aren't too far away.
 
I'll keep prodding at it, and hopefully submit patches once I can get HDMI output working. In short: the XU3 and XU4 aren't too far away.

That sounds good. I love using the C1 (AMLogic 805), and now have a C1+ as well. Both work very nicely with NetBSD and also with NAS4Free. They are workable tools due to their speed and higher capacities relative to rpi/rpi2/ and beagle. XU4 is even better. Hey - maybe FreeBSD can have the XU4 before they do!
 
FYI: Commit r278599 MFC'ed support for the Exynos 5420 to the kernel, which then made it in to 10.2-RELEASE. The XU3 and XU4 are Exynos 5422-based, and as far as I can tell the only major difference is the amount of RAM. There's no pre-built image for the EXYNOS5420 kernel config on FTP, but a custom kernel build w/ minor patches (<10 lines) and some boot loader tinkering got me a working serial console boot on my XU4. I'll keep prodding at it, and hopefully submit patches once I can get HDMI output working. In short: the XU3 and XU4 aren't too far away.
Hi, do you have any news on the XU4 front? I'll have a new XU4 and I would absolutely LOVE having freebsdFreeBSD on it...
 
Thanks -ronaldlees- for bringing this board to my attention. I bought a C1+ and it is deluxe. I am especially interested in your NiMh battery details. Is there onboard charging capability? Are you doing power monitoring? I noticed the Android build "Pocket Rocket" has a battery app which would work i think. My first non-phone Android encounter and it is dazzling. I am thinking of rigging up a 17" touch screen for it.
 
Your best bet would be the Turris Omnia board if FreeBSD ever gets support, you also have the Beagleboard x15 board but it also lacks FreeBSD support. If it shares similarities with the single core Sitara SoC it might not be that hard to port however.
//Danne
 
Thanks -ronaldlees- for bringing this board to my attention. I bought a C1+ and it is deluxe. I am especially interested in your NiMh battery details. Is there onboard charging capability? Are you doing power monitoring? I noticed the Android build "Pocket Rocket" has a battery app which would work i think. My first non-phone Android encounter and it is dazzling. I am thinking of rigging up a 17" touch screen for it.

I think I'd be overwhelmed by a 17 inch TS! I guess it depends on your usage pattern. My display measures only 9 inches. In response to getopt: I have the VU 9-inch touchscreen+HDMI display accessory. It seems to work OK. I don't know about the other items. In terms of the battery, I'm using eight NiMH "C" cells (fully charged, they supply ~10.5VDC to ~11VDC) - and I run that into a high-to-low voltage DC-DC converter that has 97% efficiency in order to supply the required 5VDC for the SoC board and the VU display. Everything is fused and has over/under protection, etc. Together, they run a little over 5 hours, with moderate use of the graphics. I have an extra external pack (another eight cells + DC-DC converter) - in a small plastic case for backup. That way, I can operate all day long (10+ hours).

Most people use lithium cells, since the NiMH C cells are a little big (in terms of form-factor). C size batteries take up more space in the enclosure, but my tablet case is big, and it works OK. I'm beginning to see the NiMH cells many places (even department stores). So - they're very easy to replace, and there's no vendor lock-in like might happen with LiPo. The trick is to keep the battery side current low.

The output v*i of the DC-DC converter is the same as the input v*i, less the inefficiency of the converter. So, in my case, the output v*i variables are fixed: the Odroid + VU units draw whatever current they draw at 5VDC. On the input side, I can play all day. I'm no battery or circuit expert, so look for that kind of advice elsewhere. Add a bit of hobbyist's salt to all of this. Really, I wasn't quite sure where to set the ratio. The way I have it now, I have twice the voltage on the input as the output. Thus, my output (which is fixed) runs at 1.45A, and my input runs roughly half of that, since the efficiency is so close to 100%. So, the battery current is .75 A.

I took a cue from some of the laptop people, who use about 20 volts on the input side. They have two or three times more current draw on the consumer side of the converter than my setup does. It doesn't exactly level out, but it gave me a starting place. A flashlight runs about .50 A through its batteries, and a digital camera about 1.25 A through its batteries. Thus, my .75 A of draw is fairly light, and that's why I can get 5+ hours on each battery set. The capacity of a battery drops with current (more than just linearly). A 5Ahr battery which is drawn down at 5A probably won't deliver the full rating. The high current makes them inefficient. So - for the maximum run time, you minimize the battery current. Again - add that hobbyist's salt. I play with these hardware things as a non-expert, experimenter, tinkerer, etc. and it's not my area. Otherwise am a dummy. I'm sure you can come up with a better mouse trap.
 
Thanks. That was the power detail I was looking for. I considered the official UPS2 module but the wiring solution seems bulky compared to my Beaglebone Power Cape. The 3.7V Lipo batteries seem popular.
The NAS4Free install is really nice too. I am using an 128GB SSD via USB2.
 
Is your 9" Screen a touchscreen? HDMI?
My 17" TS had only VGA or DVI and no HDMI. It also weighed a ton since it was an Digital Signage type with heavy stainless bezel.
I am using a 23" Vizio monitor currently with HDMI.
 
Thanks. That was the power detail I was looking for. I considered the official UPS2 module but the wiring solution seems bulky compared to my Beaglebone Power Cape. The 3.7V Lipo batteries seem popular.
The NAS4Free install is really nice too. I am using an 128GB SSD via USB2.

Yeah - the NAS4Free performance is decent, and it's a FreeBSD derivation :) I hear FreeBSD is moving ARM to tier 1.

The official UPS2 module supplies enough juice for the SoC board, since that can work with 3.7 volts. I've run my C1 down to about 2.8V actually, but don't recommend it :) The VU LCD display and the USB devices need the 5V though, and to get that from 3.7v requires a booster - and I've found those to be grossly inefficient. I stay away from boosters, because they really crank up the current drain on the batteries, and exhaust them quickly (partially that's because you're expecting way too much from just one or a small number of batteries at that point LOL). For backup purposes on only the Odroid itself, I guess the UPS2 module works for a couple hours because the droid only pulls about 400 mA current. At very low currents such as that, the booster might be OK, but I usually just use a DC-DC up-to-down converter anyway. That way I can kick up the juice if I like, and not buy anything else. You have to watch the USB peripherals you use. Mine draw (in total) less than a couple hundred mA, but some others can pull more, and might make the booster infeasible even when using only the Odroid, because of the high consumption USB devices.

But yeah - if you're saying even the UPS is bulky, you ain't gonna like NiMH!

BTW: the VU display I'm using has a regular HDMI connector (which is good, since that's most of my cables :) )
 
if you're saying even the UPS is bulky, you ain't gonna like NiMH
Well I spent the $45 and bought the UPS2 along with all the accessories I want. The cord looks soldered on so i will put a proper length cord with angle plug for minimal footprint.

Do you know of any ARM boards with SATA supported on NAS4Free? Looks like Banana Pi might?
 
Well I spent the $45 and bought the UPS2 along with all the accessories I want. The cord looks soldered on so i will put a proper length cord with angle plug for minimal footprint.

Do you know of any ARM boards with SATA supported on NAS4Free? Looks like Banana Pi might?

Well, the Cubieboard looks to have a physical SATA port, but there's no image yet for NAS4Free. I've been hankering to try the Cubieboard or Cubietruck, but haven't done it yet. The FreeBSD/ARM collection has cubie though (but I'm not sure what shape that's in).
 
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Since we are on the topic of NAS I found a document which seems to capture the current state of the AllWinner cpu line. Sorry if it is off topic and Linux.
http://linux-sunxi.org/Sunxi_devices_as_NAS


A couple things stand out in that report:

Slow SATA write performance (if this problem could be solved A20 based devices would be able to easily outperform most cheap GBit capable NAS)

And, relative to Orange Pi Plus and Banana Pi M3:

Their SoCs no longer support SATA directly.

Still, in that report I think they're saying about 50/200 MB/s (write/read) with a physical SATA port enabled A20 like Cubieboard (much more than what a SATA+USB might do). If I'm reading that correctly, then that's pretty OK. I noticed a mail-list post where someone claimed a 35MB/s (read rate) for the Odroid C1, and I'm guessing that was mostly a USB bottleneck. For my usage, it's really a non-issue. What speeds are you looking for, and for what application?
 
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