Contents

  1. Cheap serverbox Hardware
    1. Recommended
      1. NAS
      2. Cheap
    2. Adequate
    3. TODO
    4. Promising
    5. Unsuitable
    6. Related resources
      1. Kernel
      2. Wiring
      3. Licensing
        1. OSHW
      4. Misc

Cheap serverbox Hardware

Boxes matching or surpassing the (no longer produced) DreamPlug in price and core features:

Boxes known to use high quality components and wiring for essential parts.

NAS

Name

Speed

arch

RAM

disk

battery

SATA

Wifi

Ethernet

OSHW

price

stability

Banana Pro

1x2

armhf/sunxi

1

-

-

(./)

n

1000

{X}

55

stable

Cubieboard3/Cubietruck

1x2

armhf/sunxi

2

8

(./)

(./)

n

1000

{X}

86

stable

ESPRESSObin V7

1.2x2

arm64/armada

2

-

-

(./)

-

1000x3

{X}

79

OLinuXino A20 LIME2

1x2

armhf/sunxi

1

-

(./)

(./)

-

1000

(./)

51

stable

Cheap

Name

Speed

arch

RAM

disk

battery

SATA

Wifi

Ethernet

OSHW

price

stability

BeagleBone Green

1

armhf/omap

½

4

-

-

-

100

(./)

54

OLinuXino A10 LIME

1

armhf/sunxi

½

-

(./)

(./)

-

100

(./)

36

stable

OLinuXino A20 LIME

1x2

armhf/sunxi

½

-

(./)

(./)

-

100

(./)

44

stable

OLinuXino A64-1G

1.2x4

arm64/sunxi

1

-

(./)

-

-

1000

(./)

47

Adequate

Boxes less ideal - either more expensive or possibly using less than ideal components or wiring for essential parts.

Name

Speed

arch

RAM

disk

battery

SATA

Wifi

Ethernet

OSHW

price

stability

APU.2e0

1x4

amd64

2

-

-

(./)

-

1000x2

{X}

131

BeagleBone Black C

1

armhf/omap

½

4

-

-

-

100

(./)

65

BeagleBone Enhanced 512

1

armhf/omap

½

4

-

-

n

1000

(./)

62

BeagleBone Enhanced 1G

1

armhf/omap

1

4

-

-

n

1000

(./)

79

Cubieboard1

1

armhf/sunxi

1

4

(./)

(./)

-

100

{X}

56

stable

Cubieboard2

1x2

armhf/sunxi

1

4

(./)

(./)

-

100

{X}

64

stable

Cubieboard5/Cubietruck+

2x8

armhf/sunxi

2

8

(./)

( (./) )

n

1000

{X}

117

untested

CuBox i1

1

armhf/imx

½

8

-

-

-

1000

{X}

80

CuBox i2

1x2

armhf/imx

1

8

-

-

-

1000

{X}

90

CuBox i2eX

1x2

armhf/imx

1

8

-

(./)

-

1000

{X}

100

CuBox i4Pro

1x4

armhf/imx

2

8

-

(./)

n

1000

{X}

120

CuBoxTV 1GB

1x4

armhf/imx

1

-

-

(./)

-

1000

{X}

100

CuBoxTV 2GB

1x4

armhf/imx

2

-

-

(./)

-

1000

{X}

130

HummingBoard Edge Solo

1

armhf/imx

½

8

-

(./)

-

100

{X}

132

HummingBoard Edge Dual-lite

1x2

armhf/imx

1

8

-

(./)

-

100

{X}

156

HummingBoard Gate Solo

1

armhf/imx

½

8

-

-

-

100

{X}

117

HummingBoard Gate Dual-lite

1x2

armhf/imx

1

8

-

-

-

100

{X}

141

Intel NUC 7CJYH

2

amd64

+8

4

-

(./)

n

1000

{X}

126

MiraBox

1

armhf/armada

1

1

-

(USB3)

n

1000x2

{X}

149

ODroid C1+

1.5x4

armhf/amlogic

1

-

(./)

-

-

1000

{X}

40

ODroid C2

1.5x4→2x1

armhf/amlogic

2

-

(./)

-

-

1000

{X}

51

OLinuXino A20 MICRO

1x2

armhf/sunxi

1

-

(./)

(./)

-

100

(./)

56

stable

OLinuXino A642Ge8G-IND

1.2x4

arm64/sunxi

2

16

(./)

-

-

1000

(./)

83

pcDuino 3S

1x2

armhf/sunxi

1

4

-

-

-

100

{X}

89

untested

Pine64 PINE A64-LTS

1.2x4

arm64/sunxi

2

-

(./)

-

-

1000

{X}

40

untested

Pine64 ROCK64 1GB

1.5x4

arm64/rk

1

-

(./)

(USB3)

-

1000

{X}

33

Pine64 ROCK64 2GB

1.5x4

arm64/rk

2

-

(./)

(USB3)

-

1000

{X}

43

Pine64 ROCK64 4GB

1.5x4

arm64/rk

4

-

(./)

(USB3)

-

1000

{X}

53

ROCK Pi 4 A 1GB

1.8x2+1.4x2

arm64/rk

1

-

-

(M.2+USB3)

-

1000

{X}

44

ROCK Pi 4 B 1GB

1.8x2+1.4x2

arm64/rk

1

-

-

(M.2+USB3)

n

1000

{X}

54

ROCK Pi 4 A 2GB

1.8x2+1.4x2

arm64/rk

2

-

-

(M.2+USB3)

-

1000

{X}

54

ROCK Pi 4 B 2GB

1.8x2+1.4x2

arm64/rk

2

-

-

(M.2+USB3)

n

1000

{X}

64

ROCK Pi 4 A 4GB

1.8x2+1.4x2

arm64/rk

4

-

-

(M.2+USB3)

-

1000

{X}

70

ROCK Pi 4 B 4GB

1.8x2+1.4x2

arm64/rk

4

-

-

(M.2+USB3)

n

1000

{X}

80

Rock960 4GB

1.8x2+1.4x4

arm64/rk

4

32

-

(M.2+USB3)

ac

1000

{X}

139

unstable-untested

Rock960c 1GB

1.8x2+1.4x4

arm64/rk

1

-

-

(M.2+USB3)

ac

1000

{X}

69

Sheeva64

1.2x2

arm64/armada

1

4

-

.

-

1000x2

{X}

89

Up Board A10-0116

1.9

amd64

1

16

-

(USB3)

-

1000

{X}

107

Up Board A10-0232

1.9

amd64

2

32

-

(USB3)

-

1000

{X}

127

Utilite Value

1

armhf/imx

½

4

-

-

-

1000

{X}

134

Wandboard Solo

1

armhf/imx

½

-

-

-

-

1000

{X}

98

Wandboard Dual

1x2

armhf/imx

1

-

-

-

n

1000

{X}

118

Wandboard Quad

1x4

armhf/imx

2

-

-

(./)

n

1000

{X}

138

Legend:

TODO

Boxes working with mainline linux and mainline u-boot, but needing changes to Debian packages:

Name

Speed

arch

RAM

disk

battery

SATA

Wifi

Ethernet

OSHW

price

notes

Cubieboard2-Dual

1x2

armhf/sunxi

1

-

(./)

(./)

-

100

{X}

58

needs custom-configured u-boot

ITEAD Core EVB + AW2041

1

armhf/sunxi

1

4

-

(./)

-

1000

{X}

82

needs u-boot

ITEAD Core EVB + AW2042

1x2

armhf/sunxi

2

4

-

(./)

-

1000

{X}

97

needs u-boot

Pine64 SOPINE A64

1.2x4

arm64/sunxi

2

-

(./)

-

-

1000

{X}

43

needs u-boot

Promising

Upcoming boxes looking promising, but not yet available for general sale:

Name

Speed

arch

RAM

disk

battery

SATA

Wifi

Ethernet

OSHW

price

notes

Caninos Loucos Labrador

1.3x4

armhf/amlogic

2

16

-

-

n

100

{X}

possibly ~40)

Unsuitable

Raspberry Pi boards might become usable if alternative firmware works and gets packaged for Debian.

Devices too expensive not listed here (that'd be a looong list). Some such options are described at a mailinglist post.

Kernel

Wiring

Licensing

OSHW

A hardware equivalent of Debian Free Software Guidelines (DFSG) is OpenSource Hardware (OSHW).

Beware of similar looking labeling like "Open hardware". Might be just a typo, but is often used when e.g. publishing a PDF but not sources for board schematics.

Also beware of boards (correctly) labelled as OSHW, where System-on-Chip is on a non-OSHW daughter board.

Misc

CategoryHardware