State of GnuBee support in 2023?

[P Hsing]

Hello,

I am planning a new NAS, and am super interested in the GnuBee PC-1 and PC-2 because they run on completely free (as in freedom) software with even the schematics published. However, I see that they were both released years ago. Some questions:

1. Are the GnuBee products still supported and/or developed in any way?

2. Are the PC-1 and PC-2 *generally* considered to be reliable NAS devices?

3. Is there mainline Linux kernel support? How complicated is it to get Linux with a relatively recent kernel working on it?

4. Is it complicated getting a recent build of OpenMediaVault working?

5. Is it relatively easy to hot-swap and replace failed drives and rebuild RAID?

Thanks!!

[Neil Brown]

1 - no ongoing hardware development.  Software (above the boot-loader) is all open-source, which is of course developed independently of the particular hardware

2 - I'm not a general (:-) but they do seem reliable and I haven't heard any horror stories.

3 - Yes, mainline kernel support. Building a boot image (to store in flash) is easy using github.com/neilbrown/gnubee-tools. I occasionally publish pre-built images on neil.brown.name/gnubee/

4 - I cannot comment on OpenMediaVault as I don't use it.  there are various discussions in the group that you could look for.  Some people do seem to struggle.  I don't think MIPS gets top-level support from the OMV community, but it can be made to work.

5 - With proper configuration, pulling out a drive and plugging a new one should trigger a rebuild.  I haven't actually done this myself but md/raid certainly has that ability.

[Miles Raymond]

I agree with everything except getting the kernel to compile! Haha. I'm still stuck just trying to get just a kernel module.

For a bit more of my experience:

1. The original developers haven't responded to any attempts at contact, so no updates since ~2018?

2. Seems reliable for me, but I've only had mine for ~1yr.

3. Only thanks to Neil! With Neil's firmware it's super easy to get modern debian installed and running.

4. OMV is terrible, even older versions are difficult to get running.

5. I would say no, mostly because each drive is screwed into the sides and all need to be removed and reinstalled for a failed drive. I RAID6, so I could try this, I guess. WIth 2TB drives it already takes hours to do a rebuild, so using something larger will become a much larger headache.

[Brett Neumeier]

On Thu, Sep 14, 2023, 7:32 PM Miles Raymond <reuk...@gmail.com> wrote:

I agree with everything except getting the kernel to compile! Haha. I'm still stuck just trying to get just a kernel module.

I built a 6.5.1 kernel and firmware using Neil Brown's repository last week, and added a couple of additional kernel modules for my own purposes. What module is it you are trying to add? I can provide a step-by-step breakdown of the process I followed, and build a firmware that includes the module you're interested in if you would like, and make it available for download.

Only caveat is, I don't have any working GnuBee PC1 units, just PC2, so I won't be able to do a test boot of both variants.

cheers,

Brett

[Miles Raymond]

I've been trying to build the zram module so I can use the zswaptools package, as it greatly increases usability without swapping to disk, especially on constrained systems like the Gnubee. Even if keeping disk swap, still helps the system greatly.

[Pen-Yuan Hsing]

Quick note to thanks to all who responded to my thread! Good to know
that it's at least relatively painless to get a modern kernel with the
latest Debian running.
That said, I am concerned that there has been no updates from the
developer since 2018, and that they can't be contacted...

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