03-16-2021, 04:42 PM
(03-16-2021, 03:21 PM)dsimic Wrote: It could be the reason. Actually, I really hope you're right. However, their lack of communication with the community is bad for everyone, and nobody knows when the pandemic will be over so the manufacturing and parts availability could start returning to normal. Thus, simply ignoring the messages isn't a very good solution.
Well, if people are asking the same question over and over, it seems like it's a good time to invest some time to automate the handling of such queries. I think they now have a Telegram chat or something that advises when products are about to drop, but I guess they really need something else too.
(03-16-2021, 03:21 PM)dsimic Wrote: I'm not sure that the BL602 (block diagram) has a NAND flash interface? The BL602 specification states that it contains an Intel IP core for the SPI flash interface, intended for storing firmware (hence the XIP/execute-in-place feature), which would be too slow for a storage device. However, I think that it shouldn't be a problem to select an appropriate low-cost microcontroller with an ARM Cortex-M0 core, a NAND flash interface, and a USB interface.
Well I was initially looking at using NAND SPI flash with quad SPI: https://nz.mouser.com/datasheet/2/949/w2...608377.pdf
That gives you up to 50MB/s and you could then pick up some extra speed with the RAID format. I suspect the latency between read request and reply to be constant for example (and most of these devices support artificial delay in the worst case), so you would just need to be smart about chip select and could multiplex whilst each chip is busy. If you were doing mirroring for example, I wonder if you could even chip select two identical flash units at the same time.
These are the sorts of cool things that an open source device allow us to look into anyway!
(03-16-2021, 03:21 PM)dsimic Wrote: Another possibility for the partial source of parts could be to use an appropriate commercially available USB flash drive to harvest a couple of key parts, the flash IC and the case. Sourcing those two parts in very low quantities would drive their prices very high.
I would try to stay away from this, I imagine this will just end up being a headache in the long run. There's no reason why a flash drive company might not run several revisions based on what parts are cheapest at the time, so components may not even match up even if we buy the same device.
(03-16-2021, 03:21 PM)dsimic Wrote: Exactly, the goal of OpenSSD is to provide a platform for research, development and education, with no intentions of creating an actual product for end users.
Right, and it's the project that most people point towards when you suggest 'open source storage'. This is why I think this project is so important - because there really isn't anything out there being actively worked on.
