Hacking this USB C Gigabit Ethernet Adapter as a NAS?

Currently, MonoPrice has this Monoprice Mobile Series USB-C to 3-Port USB 3.0, RJ45 Gigabit Adapter with Folding USB Type-C Connector US $8.62 + Free S/H wo US. It comes with a 1 Gbps RJ45 port + some USB2/3 ports. So, one may think this would be a perfect device to hack as a NAS. Well, the answer in one of the "Questions & Answers" section indicates it can NOT act as a NAS. I tried to search through Google to find more hardware (i.e. CPU, RAM, etc.) information about this device to no avail. If we know the CPU and the amount of RAM on this device, perhaps it can be hacked to run Linux and turned into a NAS. What do you think?

Since the price is pretty affordable, one non-hacking (instant) application I can think of is probably to allow any old computers to attain 100 Mbps Internet connection by connecting one of its USB2 ports to any of the USB2/3 ports on this device. For instance, an old SONY PlayStation 2 only has a 10 MBps RJ45 port with some USB2 port. Using this device, it is possible to make the old SONY PlayStation 2 to achieve a 100Mbps internet connection.

I think it's just a usb hub with usb ethernet adapter. No CPU/RAM...

daviddyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think it's just a usb hub with usb ethernet adapter. No CPU/RAM...
>
I concurred with you.

Here is a simple and inexpensive NAS project using this device (don't know what kind of a performance it will deliver)

1. Get an inexpensive AC/DC power adapter with a USB-C™ female port as the power source for this device.
2. You can use an old computer. If you go this route, then you won't need the above power source. However, for the purpose to keep down the operational cost, I would probably contemplate to get an inexpensive Linux embedded device, i.e. a Raspberry Pi 0 (RPi0), especially if you had bought it when it was introduced @ US 99¢/each, etc., and use the above AC/DC power adapter as the power source.
3. For a starter, you can use any inexpensive USB3 memory stick as your NAS storage. If you prefer, get any inexpensive USB3 (SATA/SSD) HDD.
4. Configure your RPi0 to run Linux with either NFS, SMB, and/or any cloud server software to turn it into a NAS.

Since an RPi0 running a Linux OS is acting as a (dual core?) Linux embedded system/device with 512 MB RAM, you can basically stuff it with any other software to serve your additional needs. In this case, you can also concurrently turn it into a digital PBX system by installing any free digital PBX software, i.e. Asterisk, FreeSWITCH, YATE, etc.

Since this device comes with 3 USB3 ports, you probably can also use it to charge your Android smartphones, etc. while it is operating as your NAS.

You should get the Rock64 deal Ray mentioned a few days ago. That's so much better than Rpi 0 / 0w if you use it as NAS. ( 1GB memory, 4 core CPU, REAL giga ethernet, 1x USB3 + 2x USB 2.0 ).

BTW, rpi 0 is single core, 512M

After flashing u-boot, you can boot from USB3 hard drive directly. You don't need sd card...

daviddyer Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You should get the Rock64 deal Ray mentioned a few days ago. That's so much better than Rpi 0 / 0w if you use it as NAS. ( 1GB memory, 4 core CPU, REAL giga ethernet, 1x USB3 + 2x USB 2.0 ).
>
Yes.

> BTW, rpi 0 is single core, 512M
>
Yes.

> After flashing u-boot, you can boot from USB3 hard drive directly. You don't need sd card...
>
Yes.