Despite not having any referral or Ambassador program, I´ve been in contact with the people from Geekworm to try and make them create a OoB package for everybody that wants to operate an SNO.
Right now I´m trying to lower the price a bit, but I think it´s quite good.
It just needs to be added SD card and 3.5" HDD.
I´ve been running it for 3 months now, and I think it has minimum hassle after being configured properly, there´s proper documentation for it, and it´s very smooth to run it on a leaving room without having “the wife” nagging about it
At this point I would no longer go with the Pi 3B+ though. The limited RAM is not ideal. A similar kit based around a Pi 4 with 2GB would likely be a better option. But again, the idea is great to get new people started quickly. Especially if someone would create a plug and play OS tailor made for storj v3 that automatically pulls the latest node image and walks you through a simple setup wizard to get everything working.
I didn’t advise the pi4 due to extreme warm on the chip. This setup is easy to assemble and almost hassle free after configured.
The purpose is exactly to onboard extra people that are not that IT orientated. And there’s already documentation easy to follow. I onboard already 3 snos with this setup and they all were able to setup.
Geekworm is contacting me regarding this.
And I added the bundle without hdd and sd card as people might have them laying around.
The heat issue is indeed a bit worrying. You would have to include at least a heat sink on a Pi 4 package.Perhaps it’s ok to stick with a Pi 3B+ for now until more Pi 4 kits and peripherals are available on the market. But it would be nice if there is an option that doesn’t require you to dial back some of the concurrency and memory settings.
I don’t have the memory setting on mine and it works perfectly.
Accordingly with my testing, and maybe I’m wrong, the concurrent connections is also indexed to bandwidth and hdd speed, so it’s a bit tricky to have a one number to all.
Out-of-Box, I’d say the default concurrent connections is ok overall.
So, would you say that it’s good to keep that bundle and recommend it as domestic SNO?
I testing another Quick SNO solution - USB drive with everything pre configured.
This USB drive can be used on any x86 hardware, operator just need create node via guide and add any data drives.
I used to had 5 of them with USB SATA Adapters, and the failed and rejected pieces were enormous.
I´d say SATA connections is the way to go, to be reliable, not losing data and therefore risk a desqualification.
Also, with a external USB drive, you need 2 separate pieces at least. The solution above is a All-in-One enclosure, and you could also use Wifi with it, despite I don´t advise it at all.
In addition, tipically, domestic routers are at the living rooms, and this “box” allows to be put in a confined space, hidden enough to be connected via ethernet, minimizing the failure due to Wifi connection. Also, it has the Always-On feature, meaning that after a power loss, it will automatically boot up again.
I have several of their expansion boards and I’d love to see them come out with more Pi4 expansion options. Interested to see where they can go with these new options as I have four of these setup…
I have a similar interest and I’m working with NanoPi’s. FriendlyElec Just released a V2 of their M4 platform which you can see here.
It is size-compatible with Raspberry Pi (before you put on the enormous heatsink), has 4GB DDR4, 1Gb ethernet, 6 core Rockchip RK3399, PCIe and many other cool features. Combined with this case (which includes this M2 adapter) and an M2 SSD, it’s pretty hard to beat for price/performance.
The only reason why I prefer the pi3 b+ over the 4, is just the enormous amount of heat that the chip produces. It could lead to reliability issues or hardware failure. That could be resolved with a heat dissipator and a fan, but then the enclosure won’t work.
This a closed box that’s proven work, and the purpose is to onboard those that are not IT oriented.
I like the idea of using the case as a heatsink. But the idea here was to have an all in one solution. So we’d need something that will also house a sata board and HDD. There’s not as much available for the pi4 just yet, but I’m sure that’ll get better soon.
