QNAP TS-101 - Any update

[Paul_B]

A few weeks have passed since the last update from Paul @ Progressive and RoamingStudio, so:

- Any news on the TS-101 Slave device to use as a eSATA caddy in the same form-factor as the full TS-101?

- Any further update on memory upgrades for TS-101?

- Any update on the self install / up[grade package for the TS-101?

Many thanks,

Paul

[roamingstudio]

Hi Paul_B and others...

Yeah your right - I have not updated a while - ive also been busy trying to work and on sick leave. Like london buses; nothing happens for a while and then too much comes along at once!

Along with a few others we have been spending time looking at rebuilding the firmware (U-Boot) and GPL source code which is now available (ftp site). Takes a while to set up and configure the cross compiler under cygwin...

Last week I also installed a JTAG interface connector... and we discovered that V1600 of the TS101 PCB's are basically identical to the TS201 except NO JTAG space and only 64MB ram... for those who are not aware a JTAG allows you to reprogramme the firmware even if you have screwed your download. This is highly useful if you want to change the U-Boot loader; e.g. allowing boot from external USB. However all board revisions seem to support the In Chip Serial Programming interface.

There appears to be options to also get the two unused USB ports enabled - but it is fiddly soldering and probably not recommended !

Today I received my memory for the 16Mx16 format (same as PSC - 32MByte) and 32Mx16 (64MByte) so will get try this during the week. It also probably needs a recompile of U-boot - see above.

Once we are stable recompiling the firmware and U-Boot - then we will begin to put togther other packages - e.g. support for Subversion repositories; Trac; etc.

I have not heard anymore on the TS102 (slave) but will ask my contacts...

[Paul_B]

RoamingStudio,

Thanks very much for the update and it sounds positive. Sorry to hear of the sickness seems to be an awful lot going around at the moment.

Paul

[roamingstudio]

Via a friendly contact network, a QNAP representative has said they have no knowledge of a TS102; or e-sata HDD housing looking like a TS101. According to my contact there is another device coming called QBack25 - a 2.5" USB based enclosure and backup software; and maybe a 3.5" version... so TS102 or similar is purely a rumour. Unless Paul @ Progressive knows things my contact does not ;-)

Also dont forget - the 102 would be less attractive to develop / produce than the 201 with its enclosed housing.

[Paul_B]

Hmmm if that is the case then it is not good news. I know Paul has said he is busy but we aren't getting many updates from Progressive. In my case I am now using a Mini-ITX server running Slimserver with the QNAP just for NAS storage. But it has no built in resiliance. Maybe it is the time to go it alone and look at Synology or a Ts-201 or 401