./tell

For evaluation purposes, we are testing Nextcloud on the simplest and smallest embedded servers. Thanks to Yocto’s extensive features, it was possible to put together a complete Nextcloud file system with all the necessary components. The description is independent of the hardware used and can easily be built for almost any system. The required components can be found in our Yocto-Layer meta-webstuff.

The aim of the exercise was to find out how Nextcloud behaves on particularly inexpensive and low-performance systems. The cheapest computer so far: BananaPi M2 Zero (Allwinner H2+, 512MB RAM, file system on µSD, network via WiFi for approx. 20€).

Despite the very limited performance, such a system can be used. Although the web interface is sluggish, it is perfectly usable for sporadic use. If you only need to manage small amounts of data, the minimalist system performs well.

Reproduction is very simple – provided you have a little knowledge of Yocto:

1. Set up the Yocto build system for the desired target system
2. integrate meta-webstuff
3. Build example image: bitbake core-image-cloudserver

The system configures the network via DHCP. If the connection is to be established via WLAN, a suitable wpa_supplicant.conf must be stored.