Orange Pi is releasing a new single-board computer called the Orange Pi AIpro. This single-board computer is equipped with a Huawei Ascend processor specifically designed for on-device AI tasks. The SBC is being developed jointly with Huawei. While it is slightly larger than a Raspberry Pi and comes with a higher price tag, it is better suited for tasks that can take advantage of its AI capabilities.

The Orange Pi AIpro is currently available for pre-order in China, starting at 889 CNY ($126). It comes with either 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR4x-3200 memory and 32GB to 256GB of eMMC 5.1 storage. Additionally, it features an M.2 2280 slot that supports SATA or NVMe SSDs, as well as a microSD card reader.

The standout feature of the Orange Pi AIpro is its Huawei Ascend processor. While the specific model is not mentioned, it is a quad-core chip with an AI processor that offers 8/20 TOPS of performance. This AI processor is particularly useful for machine learning and computer vision tasks such as image recognition.

Other notable features of the Orange Pi AIpro include support for WiFi 5 and Bluetooth 4.2, MIPI-CSI and MIPI-DSI camera and display connectors, a 40-pin GPIO header, and a range of ports including Gigabit Ethernet, HDMI 2.0, USB 3.0 Type-C and Type-A, micro USB, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The board measures 107 x 68mm.

Source: Liliputing.

For those interested in server-grade AMD Ryzen 5000 series motherboards, the ASRock Rack X570D4U micro-ATX motherboard is a compelling offering, and developer Renze Nicolai is working on OpenBMC support as an alternative to its proprietary BMC software. Nicolai has posted revised patches adding Device Tree bindings for the ASpeed baseboard management controller (BMC) found in this motherboard.

The goal is to make this motherboard a supported OpenBMC platform for Linux-based, open-source BMC software. Although the patches are not directly from ASRock Rack, they are currently undergoing review on the kernel mailing list. The ASRock Rack X570D4U motherboard is ideal for those building an AMD Ryzen 5000 series server or looking for a micro-ATX system with ECC memory support. It retails for around $330 US dollars on Amazon.com.

Source: Phoronix.

AOOSTAR, a Chinese mini PC manufacturer, has unveiled the AOOSTAR PRO 4 Bay NAS, a new network-attached-storage system. The device, set for pre-order availability in early January 2023, provides users with a choice of three different processors. The NAS system boasts a metal chassis and offers options for barebones or fully configured models. Configured versions come with pre-installed memory and storage.

While the company has not yet disclosed the price of the AOOSTAR PRO 4-Bay NAS, some specifications have been provided:

• Processor options: N100, N305, or Ryzen 7 5700U
• RAM: DDR4-3200 single-channel or DDR4-3200 dual-channel
• HDD storage: 4-bays for 2.5 or 3.5" hard drives
• SSD storage: Up to 2 x M.2 NVMe
• Ethernet: 2 x 2.5 GbE
• Wireless: WiFi 6 and BT 5.2
• USB: 1 x USB Type-C, 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, and 2 x USB 2.0 Type-A

More details about the AOOSTAR PRO 4-Bay NAS are expected to be revealed closer to the launch date.

Source: Liliputing.

The Raspberry Pi 5 is a new single-board computer from Raspberry Pi, featuring an updated processor that is twice as fast as the chip in the Raspberry Pi 4. One of the notable changes in the new board is the inclusion of a single-lane PCIe 2.0 connector, which allows users to add a PCIe NVMe SSD. However, the Raspberry Pi 5 itself does not have an M.2 connector, so additional hardware is required for this functionality. While Raspberry Pi plans to release its own daughter boards next year to add M.2 SSD support, third-party companies have already started offering options.

Pineberry Pi recently introduced the HatDrive! Top and Bottom add-on boards for the Raspberry Pi 5, providing support for PCIe NVMe SSDs. The bottom board supports M.2 2232/2242 cards and is priced at €20 ($22), while the top board, which supports up to an M.2 2280 SSD, costs €26 ($28).

Now, Pimoroni has unveiled the NVMe Base, which is a cheaper option at just over $14. Although it is not yet available, Pimoroni says the base will be released soon, and interested customers can sign up to be notified when it becomes available.

The NVMe Base is designed to be mounted to the bottom of a Raspberry Pi 5 and connects to the computer via a flex cable. It supports M.2 2232, 2242, and 2280 SSDs with speeds up to 800MB/s, thanks to its support for PCIe 3.0. It is important to note that the Raspberry Pi 5 officially supports only PCIe 2.0, which delivers approximately half the speed. However, adding an NVMe SSD to the Raspberry Pi 5 should still provide significantly faster read/write speeds compared to a microSD card and support for drives up to 4TB.

Source: Liliputing.

In this week’s issue of README Highlight (#48, 2023), we are taking a look at the following project: Traefik.

Traefik is a modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer that simplifies the deployment of microservices. It seamlessly integrates with various infrastructure components such as Docker, Swarm mode, Kubernetes, Consul, Etcd, Rancher v2, and Amazon ECS, and automatically configures itself. This makes Traefik the only configuration step you need to connect your microservices to the outside world.

Traditional reverse-proxies require manual configuration of each route connecting paths and subdomains to microservices. However, in an environment where services are frequently added, removed, upgraded, or scaled, maintaining these routes becomes a tedious task. Traefik solves this problem by dynamically generating routes based on the service registry or orchestrator API. This means that Traefik continuously updates its configuration without the need for restarts.

Traefik offers a wide range of features, including support for multiple load balancing algorithms, HTTPS with Let’s Encrypt wildcard certificates, circuit breakers, retry mechanisms, a clean web UI, and compatibility with Websocket, HTTP/2, and gRPC protocols. It also provides metrics and access logs, supports REST APIs, and is packaged as a single binary file. Traefik is available as an official Docker image, making it easy to deploy.

Traefik supports various backends, including Docker, Swarm mode, Kubernetes, and File. It also provides a straightforward quickstart guide in its documentation, which requires Docker to get started.

The web UI of Traefik provides a simple HTML frontend for easy management and monitoring.

The complete documentation of Traefik v2 can be found on their website. There is also a collection of contributions around Traefik available for further exploration.

Community support for Traefik can be obtained through the Traefik community forum. For commercial support, Traefik.io offers assistance via email.

To download Traefik, you can get the latest binary from the releases page or use the official Docker image. Alternatively, you can clone the Traefik repository to get the source code.

Traefik also provides introductory videos on their website for those who want to learn more about its capabilities.

The maintainers of Traefik promote a philosophy of openness and sharing, making it accessible for anyone to contribute to the project. The contribution guidelines and code of conduct can be found in the project’s repository.

Traefik follows a release cycle of approximately 3 to 4 new versions per year. Release candidates are available before the final release, and bug-fixes are released as needed. Each version is supported until the next one is released, following the principles of Semantic Versioning.

Mailing lists are available for general announcements and security announcements.

Overall, Traefik is a powerful tool for managing microservices and simplifying the deployment process. Its wide range of features and seamless integration with various infrastructure components make it a valuable asset for DevOps professionals and home lab enthusiasts.

Source: Traefik README.

Here are the new additions to the awesome-selfhosted repository during the month of November 2023:

• ZOT OCI Registry - A production-ready vendor-neutral OCI-native container image registry. (Demo, Source Code) Apache-2.0 Go/Docker
• mikochi - Browse remote folders, upload files, delete, rename, download and stream files to VLC/mpv. MIT Go/Docker/K8S
• Digimindmap - Create simple mindmaps (documentation in French). (Demo, Source Code) AGPL-3.0 Nodejs/PHP
• Piler - Feature-rich email archiving solution. (Source Code) GPL-3.0 C
• OpenTrashmail - Complete trashmail solution that exposes an SMTP server and has a web interface to manage received emails. Works with multiple and wildcard domains and is fully file based (no database needed). Includes RSS feeds and JSON API. Apache-2.0 Python/PHP/Docker
• Digiwall - Create multimedia collaborative walls for in-person or remote work (documentation in French). (Source Code) AGPL-3.0 Nodejs
• Digibunch - Create bunches of links to share with your learners or colleagues. (Demo, Source Code) AGPL-3.0 Nodejs/PHP
• Digiview ⚠ - View YouTube videos in a distraction-free interface (documentation in French). (Demo, Source Code) AGPL-3.0 Nodejs/PHP
• Slash - An open source, self-hosted bookmarks and link sharing platform. GPL-3.0 Docker
• Docuseal - Create, fill, and sign digital documents (alternative to DocuSign). (Demo, Source Code) AGPL-3.0 Docker
• Librum - A modern e-book reader and library manager that supports most major book formats, runs on all devices and offers great tools to boost productivity. (Source Code) GPL-3.0 C++
• Suroi - An open-source 2D battle royale game inspired by surviv.io. (Demo, Source Code) GPL-3.0 Nodejs
• Homebox Inventory - An inventory and organization system built for the home user with a focus on simplicity and ease of use. (Demo, Source Code) AGPL-3.0 Docker
• ESMira - Run longitudinal studies (ESM, AA, EMA) with data collection and communication with participants being completely anonymous. (Demo, Source Code) AGPL-3.0 PHP
• LanguageTool - Proofread more than 20 languages. It finds many errors that a simple spell checker cannot detect. (Source Code, Clients) LGPL-2.1 Java/Docker
• Kestra - Event-driven, language-agnostic platform to create, schedule, and monitor workflows. In code. Coordinate data pipelines and tasks such as ETL and ELT. (Source Code) Apache-2.0 Docker
• Digitools - A set of simple tools to accompany the animation of courses in person or remotely. (documentation in French). (Demo, Source Code) AGPL-3.0 PHP
• SentryShot - Video surveillance management system. GPL-2.0 Docker/Rust
• Otter Wiki - Simple, easy to use wiki software using markdown. MIT Docker
• Digiscreen - Interactive whiteboard/wallpaper for the classroom, in person or remotely (documentation in French). (Demo, Source Code) AGPL-3.0 Nodejs/PHP
• StartOS - Browser-based, graphical Operating System (OS) that makes running a personal server as easy as running a personal computer. (Source Code) MIT Rust
• DocKing - Document management service/microservice that handles templates and renders them in PDF format, all in one place. (Demo, Source Code) MIT PHP/Nodejs/Docker
• Flyimg ⚠ - Resize and crop images on the fly. Get optimised images with MozJPEG, WebP or PNG using ImageMagick, with an efficient caching system. (Demo, Source Code) MIT Docker

awesome-selfhosted is a repository on GitHub, which contains ton of software for you to self-host. The repository describes itself as “a list of Free Software network services and web applications which can be hosted on your own servers.”

If you need a server on which to host your own applications, consider a Raspberry Pi or a mini PC.