Thanks to the recent v4.4.1 BuddyBoard firmware the http file api works as desired: you can easily upload files to a usb stick attached to the printer. To perform bulk updates of your printer farm it’s much easier to write a simple bash script which deploys the print jobs:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

set -e

# printer settings
PRINTER_HOST="192.168.1.123"
API_KEY="ToEn8eDlR7kWIiUpVPJg"
FILENAME=myfile.gcode

# capture command stdout - http status code will be written to stdout
# progress bar on stderr
# http response (json) stored in /tmp/.upload-response
CURL_HTTP_STATUS=$(curl \
    --header "X-Api-Key: ${API_KEY}" \
    -F "file=@${FILENAME}" \
    -F "path=" \
    -X POST \
    -o /tmp/.upload-response \
    --write-out "%{http_code}" \
    http://${PRINTER_HOST}/api/files/local
)

# get result
CURL_EXITCODE=$?
CURL_RESPONSE=$(cat /tmp/.upload-response)

# success ?
if [ ${CURL_EXITCODE} -ne 0 ] || [ "${CURL_HTTP_STATUS}" -ne "201" ]; then
    echo "error: upload failed (${CURL_HTTP_STATUS})"
else
    echo "upload succeed"
fi

Uploading multiple files and checksums via http can be achieved with cURL and a few lines bash scripting. This might replace scp in most cases.

# array of files (and checksums) provided as cURL options
UPLOAD_FILES=()

# get all files within myUploadDir dir and calculate checksums
while read -r FILE
do
    # get sha256 checksum
    CHECKSUM=$(sha256sum ${FILE} | awk '{print $1}' )
    echo $FILE
    echo $CHECKSUM

    # extract filename
    FILENAME=$(basename ${FILE})

    # append file and checksum to curl upload args
    UPLOAD_FILES+=("-F" "file=@${FILE}") 
    UPLOAD_FILES+=("-F" "${FILENAME}=${CHECKSUM}")

# get all files within myUploadDir
done <<<$(find myUploadDir/* -type f | sort)

# upload
curl \
     -X PUT -H "Content-Type: multipart/form-data" \
     "${UPLOAD_FILES[@]}" \
     https://httpbin.org/put

Pure DEBIAN :)#

The HPE Microserver GEN10 is an impressive piece of rock-solid hardware. Of course… ILO is missing compared to GEN8 but for most use-cases thats not a real issue.

Debian buster runs nearly out-of-the-box using the netinstall image via USB Stick or network boot. The following tweaks are required to run it flawlessly:

No Graphics after running the installer#

The firmware package firmware-linux-nonfree is required for the AMD APU. Adding “nomodeset” to kernel command line may also work as mentioned on debian.org

IOMMU Error#

You may notice a iommu error on boot: the iommu is disabled by default – to enable it add the following parameters to your grub config:

File: /etc/default/grub

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="amd_iommo=on iommu=pt"

Run update-grub2 to apply the changes and reboot the system – press F2 within the boot menu and to open the BIOS/UEFI menu. The iommu has to be enabled in Chipset -> GFX Configuration -> IOMMU.

In case you didn’t run any VMs on the maschine consider to keep iommu disabled – otherwise the SATA ports (Marvell 88SE9230) on the front become unusable!

CPUInfo#

Just FYI

 # cat /proc/cpuinfo 
processor	: 0
vendor_id	: AuthenticAMD
cpu family	: 21
model		: 96
model name	: AMD Opteron(tm) X3418 APU
stepping	: 1
microcode	: 0x600611a
cpu MHz		: 1300.000
cache size	: 1024 KB
physical id	: 0
siblings	: 4
core id		: 0
cpu cores	: 2
apicid		: 16
initial apicid	: 0
fpu		: yes
fpu_exception	: yes
cpuid level	: 13
wp		: yes
flags		: fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush mmx fxsr sse sse2 ht syscall nx mmxext fxsr_opt pdpe1gb rdtscp lm constant_tsc rep_good acc_power nopl nonstop_tsc extd_apicid aperfmperf pni pclmulqdq monitor ssse3 fma cx16 sse4_1 sse4_2 movbe popcnt aes xsave avx f16c rdrand lahf_lm cmp_legacy svm extapic cr8_legacy abm sse4a misalignsse 3dnowprefetch osvw ibs xop skinit wdt lwp fma4 tce nodeid_msr tbm topoext perfctr_core perfctr_nb bpext ptsc mwaitx cpb hw_pstate ssbd ibpb vmmcall fsgsbase bmi1 avx2 smep bmi2 xsaveopt amd_ibpb arat npt lbrv svm_lock nrip_save tsc_scale vmcb_clean flushbyasid decodeassists pausefilter pfthreshold avic overflow_recov
bugs		: fxsave_leak sysret_ss_attrs null_seg spectre_v1 spectre_v2 spec_store_bypass
bogomips	: 3593.06
TLB size	: 1536 4K pages
clflush size	: 64
cache_alignment	: 64
address sizes	: 48 bits physical, 48 bits virtual
power management: ts ttp tm 100mhzsteps hwpstate cpb eff_freq_ro acc_power [13]

Power consumption#

• IDLE: about 15Watt with a weak powerfactor of ~0.41 (sata boot ssd; no hdd)

Cryptsetup benchmark#

# Tests are approximate using memory only (no storage IO).
PBKDF2-sha1       798003 iterations per second for 256-bit key
PBKDF2-sha256    1126290 iterations per second for 256-bit key
PBKDF2-sha512    1038194 iterations per second for 256-bit key
PBKDF2-ripemd160  529049 iterations per second for 256-bit key
PBKDF2-whirlpool  373424 iterations per second for 256-bit key
argon2i       4 iterations, 638239 memory, 4 parallel threads (CPUs) for 256-bit key (requested 2000 ms time)
argon2id      4 iterations, 639177 memory, 4 parallel threads (CPUs) for 256-bit key (requested 2000 ms time)
#     Algorithm |       Key |      Encryption |      Decryption
        aes-cbc        128b       532.4 MiB/s      1417.2 MiB/s
    serpent-cbc        128b        68.2 MiB/s       231.7 MiB/s
    twofish-cbc        128b       128.6 MiB/s       203.6 MiB/s
        aes-cbc        256b       429.0 MiB/s      1177.7 MiB/s
    serpent-cbc        256b        78.3 MiB/s       234.3 MiB/s
    twofish-cbc        256b       138.3 MiB/s       204.9 MiB/s
        aes-xts        256b       848.9 MiB/s       853.7 MiB/s
    serpent-xts        256b       246.4 MiB/s       227.9 MiB/s
    twofish-xts        256b       195.3 MiB/s       202.2 MiB/s
        aes-xts        512b       760.8 MiB/s       769.9 MiB/s
    serpent-xts        512b       247.6 MiB/s       227.3 MiB/s
    twofish-xts        512b       193.9 MiB/s       201.1 MiB/s