The iKOOLCORE R2 is a compact mini PC that offers impressive performance and networking capabilities. With its palm-sized design, it is perfect for home server enthusiasts and those in need of a versatile networking device.

Here are the key specifications of the iKOOLCORE R2:

• Intel Core i3-N300 octa-core processor
• Up to 16GB of RAM
• M.2 2242 slot for solid state storage
• Four 2.5 GbE Ethernet ports
• HDMI port and USB Type-C port for dual display connectivity
• Choice of 15-watt Intel N95 quad-core processor or 7-watt Intel Core i3-N300 octa-core chip
• 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR5-4800 memory
• Support for PCIe NVMe or SATA SSDs
• E-Key socket for optional WiFi 6E wireless card

The iKOOLCORE R2 builds upon the success of its predecessors, the iKOOLCORE R1 and R1 Pro, by incorporating improved cooling features and updated processor options. The new model offers better performance and efficiency with the Alder Lake-N family of processors, resulting in significant gains in CPU and graphics performance compared to the previous generation.

In terms of connectivity, the iKOOLCORE R2 provides a range of ports including two USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A ports, one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C port, an HDMI 2.0 port, and four 2.5 GbE Ethernet ports. The USB Type-C port on the side supports DisplayPort 1.4a Alt Mode for high-resolution displays, while the USB-C port on the back is dedicated to power input.

The iKOOLCORE R2 is compatible with various operating systems such as Windows, Linux, and custom-purpose software like pfSense, OPNsense, Proxmox, and OpenWrt. This makes it a versatile choice for a wide range of server and networking applications.

The iKOOLCORE R2 is currently available for pre-order and is expected to start shipping worldwide in October.

Overall, the iKOOLCORE R2 is an impressive mini PC that offers powerful performance and extensive networking capabilities. Its compact size and versatile features make it an interesting choice for home server use and those in need of a reliable networking device.

Source: Liliputing.

AMD has introduced its first hybrid chips featuring a combination of Zen 4 and smaller Zen 4c CPU cores. This marks the first time AMD has mixed two different types of CPU cores on the same chip. The new architecture is similar to ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture and Intel’s use of Performance and Efficiency cores.

The Zen 4c cores take up less space and have some modifications that may result in lower performance in certain situations. The new chips that feature this hybrid architecture include the Ryzen 3 7440U, Ryzen 5 7540U, and the Ryzen Z1. The Zen 4c cores support hyperthreading, but tend to be paired with fewer graphics compute units and may have less L2 cache memory. A more powerful variant of the Ryzen Z1, the Ryzen Z1 Extreme, is used in the ASUS ROG Ally, which doesn’t use a hybrid chip.

Based on the chip model numbers, it is expected that the new Phoenix 2 processors will deliver lower performance compared to their original Phoenix counterparts. A report analyzing the performance of the Ryzen Z1 processor seems to confirm this.

Source: Liliputing.

Starting from today, I will be posting a monthly roundup of the new additions to the fantastic awesome-selfhosted repository, which contains a lot of interesting software for you to host yourself. The repository describes itself as “a list of Free Software network services and web applications which can be hosted on your own servers.”

Here are the new additions for August 2023:

• Forgejo ⚠ - A lightweight software forge focused on scaling, federation, and privacy (fork of Gitea). (Demo, Source Code, Clients) MIT Docker/Go
• Cerbos - A self-hosted, open source user authorization layer for your applications. (Demo, Source Code) Apache-2.0 Go
• Watcharr - A free and open source content watch list. Add and track all the shows and movies you are watching. Comes with user authentication, modern and clean UI and a very simple setup. (Demo) MIT Docker
• Review Board - Extensible and friendly code review tool for projects and companies of all sizes. (Demo, Source Code) MIT Python
• Janus - General-purpose, lightweight, minimalist WebRTC Server. (Demo, Source Code) GPL-3.0 C
• RSSHub - An easy to use, and extensible RSS feed aggregator, it’s capable of generating RSS feeds from pretty much everything ranging from social media to university departments. (Demo, Source Code) MIT Nodejs/Docker Serverless computing, Function as a Service (FaaS) and Platform as a Service (Paas) management software.
• Graphweaver - Turn multiple data sources into a single GraphQL API. (Source Code) MIT Nodejs
• Sunshine - Remote game stream host for Moonlight with support up to 120 frames per second and 4K resolution. (Source Code) GPL-3.0 C++
• Fasten Health ⚠ - Fasten is an open-source, self-hosted, personal/family electronic medical record aggregator, designed to integrate with 100,000’s of insurances/hospitals/clinics in the United States. GPL-3.0 Go/Docker

If you need somewhere to run your self-hosted software, the Raspberry Pi 4 8GB is now in stock in most places!

In the future, these articles will be posted on the first of each month. I hope you will enjoy this new feature on the site! ☺️

I’ve now added a comments system to the site, which means all articles will allow for discussion of its contents. The solution is using GitHub Discussions in the backend, utilizing the fantastic giscus project. You can see it in action below.

I look forward to feedback and discussion on how articles and the site can be improved. ☺️

If you find any issues with the comments system, please let me know via email.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I’ll be adding hardware-related content as well, in addition to the software-tutorial type of content that the site has been made up until now. I’ll also be adding news articles and possibly hardware reviews. The ability to comment on articles is also coming and should be available next week. The site will also get other new functionality, but more on that later.

I’ve updated the language and phrasing in all the articles and corrected many spelling mistakes, incorrect commands, and the like. The posts should be in a better state now. 😊

Until now, the content on this site has mostly been related to software, but in the coming weeks, hardware content will also be produced and added. The hardware content will discuss deciding what hardware you need and how to source the components needed. The content will also deal with customizing servers and may include some 3D printing-related posts. 😊

The software articles on the site will also be updated over the coming months, with posts being revised for newer software versions and similar.

Feels good to be back!