Re: Rockchip RK3399 based board for server use?
On 2020-01-12 09:14, Andrei POPESCU wrote:
On Sb, 11 ian 20, 19:42:24, David Pottage wrote:
The RockPro64, is a bit larger and more expensive. It has a full size
PCIe
x4 socket, so I can fit an NVMe drive using a simple adapter. I can’t
find
any pre-built cases, so I would have to make something myself, though
I have
done that before.
https://store.pine64.org/?product=rockpro64-metal-desktopnas-casing
https://wiki.pine64.org/index.php/NASCase
Thanks. I must have seen that case and blanked it from my memory because
it is so ugly!
I think that I can build a case myself, based on the 2 Piece Acrylic
Open Enclosure design, but using larger sheets of Acrylic, so I can
mount an M.2 ssd. I found this PCIe x4 ribbon cable, which will allow me
to mount the PCI-e X4 to M.2/NGFF NVMe SSD Interface Card flat on the
Acrylic base plate.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33042097815.html
There is an installation guide on the Debian Wiki, though
it is not clear if the process is easy.
https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDebianOn/PINE64/PINEA64
The guide is for this board:
https://store.pine64.org/?product=pine-a64-board-2gb
Thanks. I though it would be. Presumably the same images will work with
the 4Gb version of the board?
As far as I can tell support for the RockPro64 in mainline Linux (which
is what Debian uses) is reasonably good. It might be necessary to use a
more recent kernel than the 4.19 in stable (e.g. 5.3 currently in
backports) and/or recompile the kernel with some additional options
enabled.
https://kernel-team.pages.debian.net/kernel-handbook/ch-common-tasks.html#s4.2.3
I am already using the backported 5.3.0-0.bpo.2-armmp-lpae kernel on my
Cubietruck, so I am comfortable with that.
For (de)bootstraping Debian you can always use the images provided by
PINE64. Having a serial adapter could make your like significantly
easier (I didn't and wasted a lot of time because of it).
Good advice! I brought a USB to serial adapter about 10 years ago, when
I was trying to debug another dev board, and back then they where harder
to find. It has saved me a lot of trouble over the years.
I have realised that one of the services I run on my current 32bit
Cubietruck is a closed source 32bit binary. Can the RK3399 CPU and
Debian kernel run 32 binaries? (Similar to how you can run old 32bit x86
on a modern 64bit intel CPU)
I think I will probably buy a ROCKPro64 4GB board, as it looks better
supported than the alternatives. Thanks for your advice.
--
David Pottage
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