It is really helpful to have a well made hardware platform you can just buy and plug-in. Working together with a hardware vendor like Olimex is good for both FreedomBox and Olimex.
However, it would be nice to have more documentation and technical details regarding the actual hardware. I really want to know what Olimex parts are in the FreedomBox.
Description
Please provide a detailed description of of the hardware parts used in the FreedomBox. A user manual would be helpful explaining the different connections (I am not able to read the schematics). Hardware vendors like HP often write a user manual for there hardware products. However, they also describe software and have sometimes too much marketing slang in the documents.
Proposed Solution
Do the following:
Product description
Technical description (with all technical details, such as number of cores, processor, CPU extensions, power consumption, SATA and USB type etc.)
Write a user manual for the actual FreedomBox Pioneer with pictures and some hints on where to extend the FreedomBox or what storage to add to the box and where.
@olimex thanks for pointing out the BAY-HDD option. I got mine today. However, there are no instructions on how to assemble it. I have 4 screws I do not know where to put, from the images I have an idea on where to put the other 8. In total there are 12 screws and 4 little rubber feeds.
The FreedomBox-HSK server comes pre-assembled. The steps are slightly different.
The first step is to open the FreedomBox-HSK (remove top screw), then remove the rubber feeds and screws from the bottom of the FreedomBox-HSK. Once you removed the screw from the bottom the single board computer (lime2) can fall out. So, you have to be careful and fix it with your hand, while working on the screws with your other hand.
In the next step, you have to position the top of the hard drive bay to the bottom of the FreedomBox-HSK. From there it is the same as the Lime2 server manual.
However, after following the rest of the manual instructions. I am having 4 M3x4 screws and 8 rubber feeds left. The rubber feeds do not fit into the bottom of the Bay-HDD case, the holes on the bottom are too big and they fall off easily once I put them in the bottom holes. Basically, the hard drive enclosure sits on the metal screws. The metal screws sit on the surface. This is less than perfect, because the case (Bay-HDD + FreedomBox-HSK) can easily slide around. In addition, the metal screws can damage the surface the FreedomBox is sitting on.
Can you please clarify the issue with the rubber feeds? Do I miss something there or is this really an issue? The rubber feeds are missing from the manual completely.
I got my BAY-HDD with 8 M3x4, 4 M3x10 and 4 rubber feed. I reused 4 M3x4 holding the Lime2 board after I attached the top of the BAY-HDD to the bottom of FreedomBox-HSK. I used 4 M3x4 to hold the SSD. I used the 4 M3x10 for the bottom of the BAY-HDD. At the end I was left with 8 rubber feeds and 4 M3x4 screws.
My question to @olimex is still, why so many rubber feeds are left? Maybe I missed something or it is an issue with the current version of their BAY-HDD product?
Hi,
BAY-HDD comes with it’s own set of rubber feets as we don’t know to what box it will be attached to.
Ths very first box release had too big openings and rubber feets has to be sealed with glue. We are going to change the opening size to smaller when we run next batch of metal boxes.
It’s true if you have already Pioneer-FreedomBox-HSK some screws and rubber feets will be duplicated, but you can use them as spare.