Online Labs, a subsidiary of Iliad (free), recently launched hosting services with dedicated ARM servers based on Marvell processor with modules they call C1. The company has decided to design a baseboard (pBox) for C1 module, and, as I understand it, plans to sell it to the public. It’s an exciting development for those who are looking for affordable and tiny purpose built Linux ARM servers.

Preliminary C1 Node / pBox mini server specifications (based on C1 specs and bits of information gathered online):

SoC – Marvell Armada 370/XP quad core ARMv7 processor @ up to 1.2 GHz

System Memory – 2GB RAM

Storage – 256 MB NAND flash + mSATA slot + eSATA port + micro SD slot

Connectivity – 4x Gigabit Ethernet ports

USB – 1x micro USB port

Expansion – mini PCie, 1x 20-pin header for expansion (no details yet)

Debugging – 20-pin JTAG connector

Power Supply – Power barrel (5V?)

Supported operating systems should be the same as on the hosted instances including Ubuntu 14.04 or 14.10, Debian Wheezy, Gentoo, Fedora 20, and so on. You can watch the 3D render video of the board below to check out the mSATA and mPCIe slots under the board.



Availability has not been announced yet, except it’s expected shortly. The company also teased us with the message “time to upgrade your #RaspberryPi”, so it should be competitively priced too.

Via Vik and Sebastien BENOIT.