raining ktula

2.1.00.2 Beta firmware for Thecus N2100

June 22nd, 2006 by ktula

A very kind tech support at Thecus sent me the beta firmware that included the support of AFP (Apple Filing Protocol). The firmware upgrade went smoothly without any issue.

The new beta firmware added an item for “Apple Network” under the Network menu.

The “Apple Network” is basically a configuration screen that allows you to enable/disable AFP. I am not sure what the “Zone” field is for.

After enabling AppleTalk File Service (not really sure why this is not called Apple Filing Protocol instead), i was able to mount all the shared folders on my Powerbook. I have an iTunes folder on the N2100 that i used for storing my MP3s and i had configured the users group to have write permission on that folder. However, the user which i used to mount the folder did not have permission to see the iTunes folder, even though the user was under the users group. After i changed the ACL to specifically include the user to have writable permission, i managed to mount the iTunes folder without any issue. Additionally, it seems like AFP is case-sensitive. It did not allow me to mount the iTunes folder when i typed it in lowercase.

Another issue i had was Retrospect not being able to access the backup filesets. After mounting the same folder using SMB, transferring the files to my Powerbook, remounting the same folder in AFP, and tranferring the same files back, the files are accessible by Retrospect. Strange.

From the basic file transfer tests i did last night, to my surprise, the AFP file transfer rate for a 349 MB file is not as good as SMB. The write rate was 4.92 MB/s and the read rate was 5.54 MB/s. I will do an IOzone test later for a more accurate comparison.

For those interested in acquiring this beta firmware, you can either send a note to the tech support at Thecus, or you can leave me a comment.

Update: 06/23/2006 01:01
The DVD playback on Mac OS X using DVD Player off the movies stored on the AFP shared folder is perfect! The CPU utilization of the N2100 during the DVD playback hovers around 10%. In comparison, when the shared folder is mounted in SMB, the DVD playback is never smooth and the CPU utilization is always more than 90%.

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