On 14 Sep 2016 21:45, "J. R. Haigh" <james.r.haigh@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi Andrew,

On 14 September 2016 20:59:55 BST, Andrew Back <arback@computer.org> wrote:
>On 14 September 2016 at 20:06, J. R. Haigh <james.r.haigh@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>> Hi,
>> . Does anyone know whether any OSH solid-state drive project has come
>to
>> fruition?
>
>Not that I know of.
.       Btw., several months ago, I heard someone chatting about some possible project on some IRC channel, but I can't remember the name of it or who was doing it. It was someone's university project, iirc., and was apparently months off being anywhere close to usable. Presumably it didn't make it otherwise we'd have probably heard of it.

>> I'd like to get a 512GiB or 1TiB, 2.5in SSD, but I like to support
>> OSH projects where possible and I don't like that modern drives have
>> processors more powerful than my X60 Tablet, with nonlibre firmware,
>and
>> perform tasks that should be the responsibility of the filesystem,
>such as
>> deduplication, compression, encryption, and wear-levelling.
>
>Agreed, the power they have combined with the lack of transparency is
>a concern.
>
>An open source hardware PCB assembly with proprietary silicon and open
>firmware would seem plausible. However, a fully open source SoC
>complete with all the necessary controllers, would be a different
>matter and we're probably some way off having all the building blocks.
.       As always, I try to keep taking steps – OSH PCB and libre firmware but with proprietary silicon is a big step forward from the fully-proprietary drives that I currently use. Even if you knew of non-OSH SSDs with libre firmware, that'd be a step forward for me.

>> . If there isn't, then at least I'm expressing the interest such that
>> someone thinking of making OSH SSDs knows that there's a market for
>them. I
>> currently have an old SSD of about 117GiB (iirc.), so the minimum
>capacity
>> that I'd upgrade to is 256GiB, but I'd much prefer 512GiB or more.
>I'd hope
>> for a price, including shipping within/to Britain and tax, that is
>not more
>> than 1.5× more than nonOSH of equivalent storage capacity.
>
>It's a nice idea in an age where it feels like we have increasingly
>less trust for such components. I shouldn't be surprised if we don't
>see a crowdfunding campaign for something along those lines soon :o)
.       Thanks, please keep us posted with any news on OSH SSD projects that emerge.

Thank you,
James R. Haigh.
--
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