[Solved] July 21 newsletter: eBlocker white cubes available

I am sorry if this is not the right place to post. Feel free to move it to the correct category.

<a title="Banana Pi" href=" removed link " target="_blank" rel="noopener">Banana Pi company is selling eBlocker cubes. Do you recommend people get the cubes from them since the cubes are no longer available anywhere else? I have been thinking about getting one from them, but I am not sure if you have any comments on it before I purchase any item.

Thank you for your time,
Regards,

@gokie Thanks for your post. Unfortunately the forum software automatically removes links from first time posters to avoid spam. Please retry with subdomain dot domain dot tld etc. to trick out the filter 😉

Nevertheless, I personally doubt there are legit eBlockers from the original manufacturer on the market anymore. Special caution is highly advised!

THX!

Thanks for the warning. Somehow I thought this banana pi company had been producing the cubes prior to shutting down the business. Here's the domain; let's see if this works. www[dot]banana-pi[dot]org/en/bpi-oem-odm/81[dot]html

Thanks!

For other readers convenience here is the link we are talking about.

https://www.banana-pi.org/web/index.php?topclassid=16&classid=273&id=81&lanstr=en&wap=1

@Gokie Banana Pi made the computation board (M2+) contained in original white cube (manufactured by a German startup that ceased business). The site above is just referring to eBlocker as an OEM application for their boards, but they are not selling eBlockers. I fear there is some confusion 🤪

Alternatively you could run eBlockerOS in a VM (on WIN/macOS/Linux) or on Raspberry Pi boards (yes, which are kind of pricy still). Check out the Download page for details.

THX! 

@random Thank you. by the way your link doesn't work. Let's say you are correct and they are not selling it. This page is under "Products" category, I wonder why if there is nothing to sell and also wondering why is there a "Make an Inquiry" page!? I have emailed them and let's see what they say 😆 

@gokie Strange, the link works for me 👍 🤔 

I’m a former employee of the original eBlocker manufacturer and it‘s OK, if you don‘t believe me 😉. Nevertheless it would be great if you could just share their answer (if you get any) for transparency here.

This will surely eliminate any doubt as there are no more eBlocker White Cubes on the public market for about four years now.

Again, building your own eBlocker is a piece of cake - and I hope you‘ll find out soon. 👍

THX!

@random I am sorry, I didn't mean to distrust you. I actually had already sent my email to them before you replied. Hence, I had to wait for their response anyway. I received the response yesterday and you are right, they don't have the cube. 😉 

Meanwhile, the attached screenshot is what I get when I click on your link. I received my BPI M2 Ultra and looking forward to setting it up this weekend. Thank you for all your hard work.

 
I don't know if this is the right place to ask and I am sure many dozens already asked this question since you were one of the former employees; how / why did the business shutdown? marketing issue, etc? 

Sincerely,

@random I receive the same error message, when I am trying to open your link but this one is the one I found on their site

https: // www.banana-pi.org/bpi-oem-odm/81.html

regards Sven

@calimero Not sure why the link doesn‘t work. Maybe some cookie set when I selected OEM on the link you guys shared?🤔

Nevertheless, luckily we all know what we are talking about 😉

Posted by: @gokie

I received my BPI M2 Ultra and looking forward to setting it up this weekend

@gokie I don‘t want to be the messenger of bad news again, but if you plan to run eBlockerOS on the M2 Ultra it will probably not work with any of the eBlockerOS images we provide here. 

Background: The chipset of the eBlockerOS supported M2+ is different to the M2 Ultra. A new chipset usually requires a new linux kernel and maybe even code changes to eBlockerOS. In case you are a developer / dev ops, you can try to compile eBlockerOS yourself on the Ultra - and it might run. 

Good luck 🍀

THX!

@random Background: The chipset of the eBlockerOS supported M2+ is different to the M2 Ultra. A new chipset usually requires a new linux kernel and maybe even code changes to eBlockerOS. In case you are a developer / dev ops, you can try to compile eBlockerOS yourself on the Ultra - and it might run. 

Good luck 🍀

THX!

Well, that's disappointing. No, I am not a developer and do not know how to compile the code. I will try and see how it goes. Otherwise, I would have to use it for another project. I purchased it because I couldn't find M2+ available online for sale. I guess my eBlocker implementation is delayed for a while. 😥 

Posted by: @gokie

Well, that's disappointing.

As we don‘t want to disappoint anyone, could you give us a hint where we raised the impression this Ultra board would work. We‘d love to improve and are happy to make this more clear…👍

THX!

@random appreciated your honest and humble approach 👍 . You have done everything right; I assumed in my head that if it works for M2+, it should also work M2 Ultra. I should have asked first instead of invest in it; but because I couldn't find the M2+ on sale online, I assumed it would work, but it doesn't. That's okay. I will make something else out of it. 🌻 

@gokie I agree that the usage of the same „Banana Pi M2“ prefix for different boards is quite confusing. But that’s up to the board manufacturer and beyond our scope, unfortunately.

Nevertheless, I‘ve double checked our download page again and tried to make it even more clear the M2+ is the only board the image is meant for:

Hope this avoids confusion in future. 👍

THX!