Introducing the new ClearFog Pro Router Board from SolidRun

Mon, Mar 14, 2016

Could you imagine to run a standard Linux OS and your applications of choice securely within Docker containers on a beefy WiFi router at home?

We think this will be possible soon with this new ARM-based router board from SolidRun. Thus we’ll spent a whole blog post series to install our Debian-based HypriotOS and get Docker running on this Marvell ARMADA powered Single Board Computer (SBC).

So let’s get started and for our first episode in this series we’ll dive deep into the technical specifications of the ClearFog Pro in order to get to know this neat little device.

But be prepared, this one is really a powerful beast…

Technical specifications

The ClearFog is based upon the Marvell ARMADA 380 or 388 processors. The CPU is a single or dual core ARMv7 processor (Cortex A9) @ up to 1.6 GHz with 1MB L2 cache, NEON and FPU.

Features	ClearFog Base*	ClearFog Pro
SoC Model	ARMADA based A380/A388	ARMADA based A380/A388
Memory & Storage	256MB (A380)/1GB (A388)	256MB (A380)/1GB (A388)
	M.2**	M.2
	8GB microSD	8GB microSD
	4GB eMMC (optional)	4GB eMMC (optional)
Connectivity	1x mSATA/mPCIE	2x mSATA/mPCIE
	1x USB 3.0 port	1x USB 3.0 port
	2x Port dedicated Ethernet	1x Port dedicated Ethernet
	1x SFP (A388 Only)	6x Port switched Ethernet
		1x SFP Ethernet
I/O and Misc.	Analog Audio	Analog Audio/TDM module support
	GPIO Header (mikroBUS)	GPIO Header (mikroBUS)
	Indication LEDs	Indication LEDs
	User Push Buttons	User Push Buttons
	PoE expansion header	PoE expansion header
	RTC Battery	RTC Battery
	FTDI (console only), Debug Header	FTDI (console only), Debug Header
		JTAG Header
OS Support	Linux Kernel 3.x, OpenWrt, Yocto	Linux Kernel 3.x, OpenWrt, Yocto
Power	Wide range 9-32V	Wide range 9-32V
		Advanced Power Control
		Fan Control
Dimensions	100mm x 74mm	225mm x 100mm

*available soon
**M.2 includes USB 3.0 support (in carrier Base only)

More details can be found at the ClearFog Pro product page.

ClearFog Pro (top view)

ClearFog Pro (buttom view)

Technical highlights

• passive cooling
• all Ethernet ports supporting up to 1GBit/s at least
• the SFP Ethernet port supports up to 2.5GBit/s
• mSATA or miniPCIe mode can be configured
• M.2 slot supports a 2242 form factor M.2 card (22mm x 42mm)

First impressions

We think you’ll get it now - this device is somewhat special.

It’s not a real end-user product and it’s therefore called a development board. But the ClearFog Pro is already equipped with some best-in-class components and has a superior build quality - once you see it in person you’ll gonna know what we’re talking about.

Lot’s of possibilities

As you now know some of the technical details of the ClearFog Pro, you can clearly imagine what could be possible with such a board.

So, we’re listing here only a few possibilities to start the brain storming…

• a high-speed WiFi router with a 802.11n or 802.11ac miniPCIe card
• a NAS system with mSATA or M.2 SSD disks
• a personal router and firewall
• an ownCloud server
• a streaming server for audio and video tracks
• or maybe all this above at once
• a powerful Docker host with insane network performance

…and finally we’d like to ask you:

“What would you like to build with a ClearFog Pro?”

Update: new follow-up posts

• Part 2: Let’s run Docker on the ClearFog Pro router board

Please send us your feedback on our Gitter channel or tweet your thoughts and ideas on this project at @HypriotTweets.

Dieter @Quintus23M

P.S. this ClearFog Pro (ARMADA A388 w/ 1GByte memory) is already hooked up for testing in our labs

comments powered by Disqus