SBC with SATA and GbE - the Olimex A20-SOM-EVB

[Delta]

https://www.olimex.com/Products/SOM/A20/A20-SOM-EVB/open-source-hardware

Does anyone have any experience with this range of SBCs?

I've had a RasPi2 chugging away in my loft for a while now, with an old USB HDD attached and running Ubuntu Server.  It was really just a learning / for the hell of it project, but having a shared drive on a "home network" has been really handy.
As expected, I've now become frustrated with the network and HDD bottlenecks, so am looking to upgrade.  Will this Olimex SBC do the job?  Will I be able to get Ubuntu Server running on it?

[ealex]

hello

i'm using one of those as a local boinc client / ftp / file server ( the a20-lime )

compared to RPI:
- better documentation if you want to make some mods : i've added an ultracap to the AXP209 power management IC, so it will keep my custom LiPo charging parameters
- 1 cell LiPo charger integrated - it will run the entire board, including the hard-drive form one cell
- linux-sunxi mail list and community is quite active
- more IO's if you need them
- native SATA in the A20 chipset, so no usb-sata converter is needed
- gigabit ethernet on the A20 lime2 boards(some revisions are not working properly)
- seems very stable: with the latest armbian releases i've never had a crash / freeze

- lower power CPU's -> it will get sluggish if you need some serious processing
- the video stuff is not working under mainline kernel - at least not in the official builds
- it's not able to push the SATA interface to it's limits - the A20 chipset is not able to

- some things from the mainline kernel need to be better organized - especially the device tree configuration files.
 the good part is that you can submit patches and the guys will accept them quickly if they are correct, etc

=> if you want a low power headless server then it's ok, with the advantage of an included UPS - the LiPo charger part
if you want to use it as a media platform, then no, i don't think it will make it, in that regard a rpi3 is much better.
for example it's not usable as a SDR radio decoder, a rpi3 can do the same stuff with 20% cpu load.

if you need extra info i can run some benchmarks when i get home.
i have a sata hard-drive and it's in a 100Mb network - so i can try pushing it to the limit

a list of what's working in mainline kernel:
http://linux-sunxi.org/Linux_mainlining_effort

and a link to armbian builds(for my board):
https://www.armbian.com/olimex-lime-2/

[Delta]

Hi, thank you for your detailed reply!

I have taken a punt on one, for £40 it is worth a shot.

From your info and further research, I think I should be able to get Armbian installed and then install Apache etc as needed.  I see there is also an older version of Ubuntu Server available for this SoC, so maybe that is an option.  I really do like Ubuntu Server (and RasPi for that matter) because there is a huge about of info online available.  For an idiot like me, being able to Google and find enough info the bodge my way though is very useful indeed!

My plan is to have it running as an FTP and Web server, with NFS and Samba shares, and run a Torrent client, so I'm sure it's up to the job.  Do you think this is up to the job of acting as a firewall / router for a home network?  (I have no idea how much CPU grunt routing needs, but realise the RasPi is not suitable for this due to the weak Ethernet performance, however with this A20 having GbE......?

[ealex]

hello

i'm using it as a ftp server and torrent client and for that task is ok.

i don't know how good it will be for a router / firewall but i think it will handle it.
generic routers have lower speed CPU's and still work, and cheap ones don't have any hardware acceleration.

you'll have to add another ethernet interface : some usb-ethernet adapter.