The Cubieboard was mentioned here last October: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg00528.html
back when this Indiegogo funded project was about halfway to reaching their goal. Apparently they've since met and exceeded the funding threshold, and the boards are now available for purchase for $50: http://www.element14.com/community/community/knode/single-board_computers/blog/2013/05/03/cubieboard-offers-hackers-another-low-cost-high-performance-arm-board-option This board, designed by Tom Cubie and friends who almost doubled up on their crowd-funding goal last year, offers DIYers a completely hackable board capable of running Android, Ubuntu, and other Linux distributions. [...] To begin the list of specs, the Cubieboard contains a Cortex-A8 ARM processor operating at 1 GHz speed with a Mali400 OpenGL ES GPU. [...] The Cubieboard comes with 1080P HDMI output support, 10/100M Ethernet capability, 2 USB hosts, 1 microSD slot (with SDHC support), 1 SATA connection, an IR [receiver] interface, and a 2x48 extend pin for external headers. [...] Some of the team's Cubieboard project suggestions include: an Android TV multimedia powerhouse, a home network file server, a lightweight Linux desktop, and a network accessible home automation device. It distinguishes itself from most SBC by including a SATA port, and apparently one that actually works, as they ship it with a SATA cable, and the unboxing video at the above pages shows it being hooked up to a laptop drive. They do answer the question of whether the SATA port supports port multipliers: http://linux-sunxi.org/Cubieboard/FAQ#Does_the_Cubieboard_support_SATA_port_multipliers_and_what_is_the_max_limit_of_a_SATA_hard_disk_drive.3F and the answer is no. So not exactly a cost effective NAS, unless you only need one drive. The Indiegogo page claimed it was an open design, but didn't back it up with anything. I see their site now has links to the board schematic: http://cubieboard.org/download/ software tools and OS images can be found on the same page. But I don't see board layout files. Manufacturer: http://cubieboard.org/ Store: https://cubieboard.myshopify.com/products/cubieboard-1gb A $30 expansion board is also available from another vendor: http://www.iotllc.com/joomla/index.php/what-is/72-what-is-a-baseboard which adds VGA, LCD, and touch screen connectors, voltage regulator, audio amp, and easier access to the Cubieboard's I/O pins. -Tom _______________________________________________ Hardwarehacking mailing list [email protected] http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/hardwarehacking
