Re: Looking for NAS Hardware

[<rjs%fdy2.demon.co.uk@localhost>]

>On Fri, Apr 08, 2011 at 04:29:57PM +0100, rjs%fdy2.demon.co.uk@localhost wrote:
>> Some of the Synology boxes should work using NetBSD/evbarm with the
>> SHEEVAPLUG kernel.
>> 
>> The manufacturer doesn't list which model uses which processor on
>> their main website but the DS411j and DS211j look as if they are using
>> the Marvell Kirkwood. There is more info in their support fora though.
>
>Assuming it is, how would one boot NetBSD one it? Just install it on
>one of the harddisks?

Basically yes, the Linux firmware that they supply uses the built in
NAND flash for the OS but we don't have drivers for that yet. You
would need to just put the NetBSD kernel into flash. It would need
some hacking but there seems to be a fair bit of documentation.

On poking around a bit more, QNAP <http://www.qnap.com> make similar
systems that do document which processor is used, have more DRAM and
in some models a faster CPU. They are all a bit more expensive though
and all the 4-bay ones have hot swap drives which increases the cost
too.

Robert Swindells