nchip (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} nchip) wrote,@ 2006-02-02 21:27:00 |
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Allnet ALL6500: Next Debian/Arm porting machine?
Finding arm machines is not hard. In fact, everyone of you probably owns some of them. However, finding something suitable for Debian infrastructure usage is harder. For example Buildd load pattern requires not only a decent CPU, but above all good IO performance. Most ARM systems do not have a hard drive, and if they do like on personal media players like Archos pma400, the drives are slow and optimized to minimize power consumption.
Therefor, the logical place to look for machines would the NAS devices, like the already-being-Debianized Linksys nslu-2. NAS machines tend to (relatively) cheap, well available and need good IO performance. The main problem with NAS devices is the lack of RAM (to minimize costs they tend to have 32MB or something soldered to mainboard), so I was more than happy to spot a NAS with 256MB of ram:
*overclocked
The real shocker came when reading "Manual englisch": (arrows by me)
This bloody thing seems to have a DIMM socket!
GPL sources seem to be well available. Can someone from .de confirm if the memory is really there? (Why does so many cool hardware never end OEM'ed this north?) IOP80219 supports up to 1GB so it really seems quite promising :)
Finding arm machines is not hard. In fact, everyone of you probably owns some of them. However, finding something suitable for Debian infrastructure usage is harder. For example Buildd load pattern requires not only a decent CPU, but above all good IO performance. Most ARM systems do not have a hard drive, and if they do like on personal media players like Archos pma400, the drives are slow and optimized to minimize power consumption.
Therefor, the logical place to look for machines would the NAS devices, like the already-being-Debianized Linksys nslu-2. NAS machines tend to (relatively) cheap, well available and need good IO performance. The main problem with NAS devices is the lack of RAM (to minimize costs they tend to have 32MB or something soldered to mainboard), so I was more than happy to spot a NAS with 256MB of ram:
| Linksys NSLU2 | Allnet ALL6500 |
|---|---|
| 266Mhz* ixp420 | 400/600Mhz IOP80219 |
| 32MB ram | 256MB ram |
| USB 2.0 | 2xSATA & USB 2.0 |
| 100Mbit ethernet | 2x 1000Mbit ethernet |
| 95€ | 350€ |
*overclocked
The real shocker came when reading "Manual englisch": (arrows by me)
This bloody thing seems to have a DIMM socket!
GPL sources seem to be well available. Can someone from .de confirm if the memory is really there? (Why does so many cool hardware never end OEM'ed this north?) IOP80219 supports up to 1GB so it really seems quite promising :)
