Has anyone been successful is using a different firmware or OS on the Thecus 7700 / 8800 {PRO / SAS} devices, as discussed here: http://forums.hexus.net/thecus-care-...-firmware.html ?

The firmware on the 8800PRO/SAS devices is rather "outdated" in terms of functionality, especially since it doesn't have EXT4 or NFS over ZFS. I would also like to see support for AOE.

Any suggestions? Short from ripping out the motherboard and using an Intel Server board (which then jacks the price of these devices so high that it would have been better to get a Dell MD3000 or something) how can we use the existing hardware with new firmware? I see the firmware is a 44pin DOM - are these still in production? I can't find a supplier in South Africa with these DOM modules.