GnuBee is a personal NAS (Network Attached Storage) cloud server that is currently being funded on Crowd Supply. It is a low-cost, low-power, NAS device that runs GNU/Linux and it is claimed to be based on free, libre, and open source software. No proprietary drivers needed to use GnuBee.
From the project home page:
We designed the GnuBee Personal Cloud 1 with the Free Software Foundation’s Respects Your Freedom (RYF) certification in mind and have already initiated the application process with FSF. The GnuBee Personal Cloud 1 is 100% free of binary blobs. Check out this campaign update to see some of the backstory of how this is possible.
Hardware specifications
- CPU MediaTek MT7621A – dual core, multi thread – 880 MHz, overclockable to 1.2 GHz
- 512 MB DDR3 RAM
- microSD card slot
- 6 x 2.5″ drives for NAS
- Software Linux RAID 0/1/10 support
- 2 x Gigabit Ethernet
- 1 x USB 3.0 port
- 2 x USB 2.0 ports
- Serial port
- Supported software : Debian Linux, openmediavault, LEDE, and libreCMC.
Comparison with commercial NAS server from Qnap and Synology
Here is a quick comparison with Qnap TS-431 and Synology DS416slim NAS server:
The project is great. The price is reasonable, and the device is fully hackable. I hope someone can port FreeBSD or OpenBSD Unix operating system to this device as well. I hope it works out and they get funded. Please note that only last two days left for funding. For more information visit project’s Crowd Supply page here.
