Messages

1

Hardware and Performance / Re: Question About Hardware Compatibility - UPDATE 8/14/2018

« on: August 19, 2018, 07:18:16 pm »

Hello again everyone,

I just found the fitlet2 from Compulab and I am really liking this box. Any thoughts?
https://fit-iot.com/web/products/fitlet2/fitlet2-specifications/

I know it only has the 2 Ethernet ports and that's alright with me. Whether I have 4, 3, or 2 everything goes to through a switch anyway.

There is also the SBC-FLT, which I am not totally sure I like that much.
http://www.fit-pc.com/web/products/fitlet/sbc-flt/

On a side note, while you are at the fit-iot website, you should check out the Airtop2 if you haven't seen it before. Built to order box of awesome!
https://fit-iot.com/web/products/airtop2/airtop2-specifications/

Still searching,

TWB

2

Hardware and Performance / Re: Question About Hardware Compatibility - UPDATE 8/14/2018

« on: August 17, 2018, 11:20:22 pm »

Even if I clearly saw what happened when @ricsip stated a warning against a specific product based on it's feelings/ emotions, I can't refrain myself from saying Beware and think twice about choosing high performance & high TDP wattage CPU options on allowing POnDesk HW (Products On Desk (Winston Marriot - London UK based) - pondesk.com) if it might happen to stumble upon it!!!

Honestly I don't think any of the PONDESK units will work for me. The only one that looks remotely close to what I am after is the PONDESK PICO PC. Unfortunately, they are a far cry from inside my current budget.

Thank you for the suggestion though,

TWB

3

Hardware and Performance / Re: Question About Hardware Compatibility - UPDATE 8/14/2018

« on: August 17, 2018, 05:55:46 pm »

Thanks again for the responses. I am struggling with a final decision. The Qotom seems like the obvious solution at this point. Regardless of power consumption. It really is a nice box.

I have to ask myself: Can I hold out for freeBSD 12.0 in hopes of getting support for these other boards? I guess only I can honestly answer that question. I feel like I have this dream of creating a cluster of Grapeboards https://www.grapeboard.com/ or maybe some ESPRESSObin 1GB boards http://espressobin.net/ for this project. I can always keep dreaming.

OP is concerned about energy usage, The Qotom when used without the usual energy saving turned on will use approx 16W, that costs about £15 PA at our prices, plus I also have AC Infinity fans on mine, so add a few cents for that too.

Why do you have fans on your rig? Is that something I might have to consider in the future?

Still searching,

TWB

4

Hardware and Performance / Re: Question About Hardware Compatibility - UPDATE 8/14/2018

« on: August 16, 2018, 04:50:46 pm »

Many thanks to you all for the great suggestions. I am still unsure of which route I want to take. Regardless, the experience of others in this area is priceless.

I do like the QOTOM rig, I'm not sure I need that much processing power though. Also, I am not totally thrilled with the 15W of power consumption on that box. Not that the "about 6 to 12W depending on CPU load" for the APU2 board is a huge difference in power consumption. Although, anything to save on the power bill each month is a huge bonus for a potential board.

All of that being said, to me, the APU2 boards are looking pretty cool. especially with the red case. 
It might actually work for me because I am not even close to gigabit speeds. More like 65Mbps, heh!

I do also like the DECISO Netboard A10. It looks like I can buy one with OPNsense already installed and in a desktop enclosure. However, that is well outside the constraints of my budget. Can I just buy the board and make an enclosure? I didn't find an option to just purchase a single board.

I am still open and interested in other suggestions though (without breaking the bank).

Any thoughts on the MinnowBoard Turbot Dual Ethernet Family?
https://minnowboard.org/minnowboard-turbot-dual-e/

or

The UP Squared board?
https://up-shop.org/28-up-squared

or

Marvell ESPRESSObin? (I know it is not X86_64, still seems somewhat promising)
http://espressobin.net/

Enlightened to new possibilities,

TWB

5

Hardware and Performance / Re: Question About Hardware Compatibility - UPDATE 8/14/2018

« on: August 15, 2018, 09:45:35 pm »

Moved post...

6

Hardware and Performance / Re: Question About Hardware Compatibility - UPDATE 8/14/2018

« on: August 15, 2018, 04:18:37 pm »

While it's possible to build armv6/7 for a single device the effort is currently steep, but not impossible given the open source nature.

I had a feeling this was the scenario. I suppose if it was easy we would already have support for these boards. I might still look into the process a bit more. For now, however, it looks like buying a board that is already compatible with the current build will be more time efficient.

Greatly appreciative for the information,

TWB

7

Hardware and Performance / Re: Question About Hardware Compatibility - UPDATE 8/14/2018

« on: August 15, 2018, 03:17:36 pm »

Awesome information! thank you for all the responses.

You need to say what the budget is.

As it stands, my budget for this project must not exceed 300 USD, however, I would like to spend much less than that.

The problem is the availability of freebsd/hw drivers for the most sbc. Even if the cpu (i.e. ARM-Core) is supported by freebsd that doesn't mean that the whole sbc is running with freebsd!

Since my original post, some personal research has revealed exactly this. Simply put, I need a x86-sbc to be successful with this project. I will definitely be checking out the APU-Series as a viable option. Any other suggestions are welcomed and would be greatly appreciated.

On a side note and, maybe, an unrelated tangent for a different discussion board all together. Is it worth trying to compile a custom freeBSD kernel to support some of these ARM boards? What would it take to create the drivers for different hardware?

I have done this with Linux and some obscure hardware setups, however, I am definitely a newbie to the BSD world.

Thanks again for the feedback,

TWB

8

Hardware and Performance / Question About Hardware Compatibility - UPDATE 8/14/2018

« on: August 12, 2018, 03:22:15 am »

Greetings all,

I am currently running my firewall on a netbook and I am looking to get something with a smaller form factor. I have been looking at the Asus Tinker Board with the Rockchip RK3288 CPU. My main question is: Has anyone had success running OPNsense on this board?

I hope this finds you all well,

TWB

UPDATE 8/14/2018:

The Tinker Board is out of the scope of options for me. However, I am still looking for a single board computer to use for my firewall.

Any suggestions on my best possible options would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again,

TWB