JMCC

You're right, I was taking for granted that the power source voltage is 5V as recommended by the manufacturer, but I should have specified it. I already knew about those posts you mention, and have read them several times. I am sure your findings are solid and well-founded. I'm just an amateur, and I won't dare to question what you pro guys state after many hours of research and tests. But, at the same time, I want to contribute with a real-use experience that is not as bad as those numbers may suggest. I have seen a growing panic in several posts in different forums, as if the TB was useless without GPIO powering. In other words: when I ordered my Tinker, and started googling for info about it while waiting for it, all these posts here made me think I had wasted my money in a useless piece of scrap. But my experience is that it can be ideal for certain projects, where you need to combine a powerful SoC with good graphics, together with the flexibility of a SBC (as is my case: 24/7 playing video and PPT presentations, with programmed schedule, and communicating through GPIO to RS232 HDMI switch for a live camera feed at certain times). So, totally agreed that the TB is not the best choice for any project that requires USB HDD's (I got an Opi+2e precisely for that). But in my experience, it can be a very good choice for other kind of projects, as long as you choose a good microusb cable and put a small fan on the case. As i said, not even a single problem in many hours of testing. P.S.: Is it possible that ASUS has improved the quality of some components in recent batches (I got my TB in December), so now it performs better than the one you used for your tests? Or maybe they have introduced some tweaks in recent kernels, to cope with the power issues? I don't know, just asking.

I just want to throw in my two cents about the alleged Tinkerboard power issues. In my experience, I first used it with an average 2.5A power source, and a very bad cable, and I got frequent random reboots. But after I changed the microusb cable for a good one, while keeping the same average 2.5A source, I have never had any problem. I have streamed video for hours, used intensively Wifi and Bluetooth speakers, and not even a single crash. Notice I am also powering a small 200mA fan. Of course, it might be different if you hook up some hungry USB peripherals (such as external hard disks). About performance: with the stock heatsink, and the board enclosed in a case, with no fan, stressing it with cpuburn-A9, it will throttle down to an average of around 1 Ghz, occasionally dropping to around 800 Mhz. But simply using one of those Raspberry Pi cases with a small fan, it will keep the maximum 1.8Ghz for long periods of time, hardly throttling down to 1.6 Ghz, and very seldom dropping to 1.4 Ghz. Notice these are under the heaviest stress conditions, which you will not reach under normal use. All these tests done with the latest ASUS 4.4.71+ kernel from TinkerOS 2.0.4. I don't use Armbian in the Tinker, even though I think the Armbian OS is way superior, because the kernel for Thinkerboard still has some issues with audio, and no graphic accel.

That makes perfect sense. Though, the only thing that still keeps me confused is the fact that Armbian is offering images with the Legacy kernel both for server and desktop, as their recommended downloads for OPi+ 2e (see https://www.armbian.com/orange-pi-plus-2e/)

Hello everyone. I just got an Orange Pi Plus 2e, which I intend to use a as a personal cloud server. I understand that, in this board, Legacy Kernel is much better than Mainline for desktop usage (video accel, TV out, etc.), but I am not so clear about which one is better for a server. May main concerns are: Ethernet and Wifi speed and reliabililty (ethernet will conect to Internet, and Wifi to home devices as an AP) I/O speed for the USB attached HD Security Any advice about which Kernel to choose? Thanks!