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Whilst I'm at it, I've been meaning to ask this here for ages. Anyone got a solid suggestion for a >RPi3 single board ARM computer suitable for a DIY NAS/multipurpose system? I've spent ages looking over the RPi, BananaPI, Pine64, Helios4 and countless other similar offerings trying to find the sweet spot for power/performance/size/capabilities. I've bought (and sold) a lot of RPi based gadgets over the last few years - they make fantastic single use devices for VPN endpoints, 1 or 2 disk low-traffic NAS/backup machines, pihole adblockers, DIY Apple TimeCapsules, HTPCs, admin sandboxes, you name it. Where the RPis fall over is trying to push them a little bit further unsurprisingly - even my newest model 3 type B+ units are still fatally compromised for ethernet+external disk throughput once you lean on them a little bit. So I have a lengthy wish list for the 'perfect' (-ish) ARM board to start housing bigger and more capable systems: primarily multi-disk NAS but ideally they'd serve multiple simultaneous duties. If you're thinking it looks like I'm trying to spec a build to create a DIY NAS that outperforms but undercuts on price a commercial low end QNAP or Synology type NAS unit then congratulations, you've seen right through me. That's _exactly_ what I'm aiming to do. Out with the overpriced, underpowered and crappy proprietary OS driven rubbish on the NAS market and in with the ARM board, a bunch of COTS disks and a regular Linux OS: I'll do all the rest of the config magic myself. I'm even ok to hack up the power delivery and 3D print a case if necessary. For example, one of the best I've seen so far is the Helios4 but that was a crowd-funded thing that has sold out already, has zero availability and an entirely uncertain future: also a bit expensive for my liking. https://www.open-electronics.org/helios4-the-1st-diy-arm-board-computer-designed-for-nas/ https://shop.kobol.io/ Typical usage case will be to act as a drop-in single-box solution for an entire OU: SOHO basically. I'd expect larger commercial entities or super heavy users like myself to shell out for 'proper' gear that can take the punishment. Small businesses would drop it in their network cabinet/cupboard and home users would probably tuck it in to their home entertainment stack by the TV. My "not-unreasonable-but-aiming-high-considering-it's-2018" wishlist also includes: 1: ARM64, obviously 2: *must* run standard ARM Linux distros - Arch preferred, but also Debian. No custom-only hacked up board specific distros 3: Ideally, would also run BSD depending on my mood and the situation 4: at least 4 SATA ports, preferably more 5: at least 1 gigabit ethernet port, preferably more 6: multiple USB ports, preferably at least v3 7: USB > serial out would be nice 8: HDMI out, preferably at least v2.x for 4K capability 9: wifi (I'd settle for a wifi USB adaptor though) 10: enough power to run additional containerized services via docker/chroot/jails 11: ECC RAM (the Helios4 has/had it after all) 12: Bluetooth (again, I'd settle for a wifi USB adaptor though) 13: eMMC storage would be nice 14: separate audio out 15: low power! must be better than equivalent x86/64 solutions 16: low price! must beat out second hand commercial NASs or low end DIY x86/64 competition (otherwise what's the point?) 17: durable - must be "set and forget" in terms of hardware. tuck it in a corner and ignore it for 2 or 3 years 18: quiet, if not completely silent (not including disk noise, that's another issue) 19: tough - has to withstand idiot users accidentally unplugging it without corrupting entire array for example 20: I could go on... Now that admittedly looks like quite a shopping list, until you think that any old piece of crap 10 year old x64 motherboard + CPU found in the back of your cupboard can do all of that without breaking a sweat, and then some. But it will also be massive, ugly, noisy and will suck power from the wall 24/7. A cheap Ebay QNAP or Synology can do most of it but they're awful proprietary crap and are automatically out. A HP Microserver isn't that bad a fit, and I've even made several multi-purpose boxes on that platform but again: size, power requirements, price... and I hate HP Microservers. There are many specific low power SoC SKUs from Intel and AMD that target this exact market (e.g., Atom C3000) but the prices are crazy and availability poor. I can actually do almost everything with a trusty RPi, even an older model - base Arch install with docker containers for OpenVPN, DNS+DHCP+firewall, Kodi HTPC, home automation, backup server, NAS, TimeCapsule, etc, etc. It only falls apart when you want more disk + network. From extensive research online I know I am far from the only person desperate for a multi-talented ARM SoC to step in to pick up the slack. So, apologies for the lengthy post - anyone got any ideas? Cheers -- The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG https://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/listfaq