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Orange Pi NAS: the $7 Expansion Board to upgrade your Orange Pi Zero!

By on May 22, 2017
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Orange Pi Zero is a $7 and up board based on Allwinner H2+ quad core Cortex A7 processor with 256 to 512MB RAM, Ethernet, WiFi, and USB, but no video output except on headers, making it more suitable to headless applications.

Users that would like to add a little extra functionality, can now purchase an expansion board in the form of the Orange Pi Zero NAS which is also priced at $7.

The Orange Pi Zero NAS Expansion Board adds support for SATA and mSATA storage devices, together with two additional USB 2.0 ports, a 3.5mm audio jack and composite video output.

Orange Pi Zero NAS Expansion Board preliminary specifications:

  • Storage – 1x SATA port, 1x mSATA port both through a JMS578 USB 3.1 to SATA bridge with UAS support each, which should be better than some other USB to SATA solution despite only being connected to a USB 2.0 interface.
  • USB – 2x USB 2.0 ports
  • Video & Audio Output – 3.5mm AV jack with composite video (TBC) and stereo audio
  • Misc – Microphone and IR receiver
  • Header – 13-pin female header connecting to OPi Zero board

As the name suggests, one obvious use for the board would be building your own NAS (Network Attached Storage) device. Connect a hard drive or SSD, plug in an Ethernet cable, and use a Linux-based operating system to set up a home media server, data backup system, or general purpose file server.

The video output could make it easier to set up the system, but you could also theoretically use this tiny little low-power computer as an inexpensive media player.

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