qotom i5-5250U

[metal.uk]

Newbie here.
Has anyone tried opnsense with

https://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/QOTOM-Q355G4-2017-New-fanless-X86-4-LAN-Micro-Computer-I5-5250U-Dual-core-onboard-1080P/108231_32800711474.html

[pvelati]

hi, I've bought it months ago and it works with pfsense and opnsense flawlessly.

[metal.uk]

Thanks a lot. 

[Nnyan]

I started buying these and they are great, even better now that Amazon has them.

[eblot]

Nice box, except the embedded WiFi card which seems quite unstable even as a regular WiFi client.

[remigius]

Hoi,

I got mine from aliexpress and it shipped very quickly. On the description of the one I ordered, it was declared that WiFi is not supported under pfSense (which I unfortunately only discovered after I got the box here - but the proce difference is not big anyway).

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-PC-4-Ethernet-Lan-with-Core-i5-Pfsense-Firewall-Mini-Computer-Fanless-PC-Server/32817388248.html

Cheers, Remi.

[sachaz]

Hi,

Let's be clear, for me this is the BEST FANLESS HARDWARE FOR OPENSENSE !!!

some iperf gives: Full 1Gbps bandwidth with filtering & nat with less of 20% of one core.

Some bad points:

• Wifi is not working fine with OPNSense order it wthout Wifi or ask to Qotom to build with a compatible one.
  (I have changed it for an Atheros 9280)
• Bios have no ouput on serial port
• Ethernet interfaces are not mapped well: 0-0 1-2 2-3 3-1 (hardware-system)

[sachaz]

Here is the dmesg
https://pastebin.aquilenet.fr/?e6af1840b309fa8a#cRsTTwNP7QYgZ88VqE5TXl5iEtGoCZFRiUI7lVo9KJA=

[Toucan]

@sachaz, Is the gigabit internal only or do you have a FTTH/FTTP? Do you run any VPN connections on it? How many?

I'm going to be getting a 1000/500 connection soonish and want to make sure it can actually handle it with more than just average home browsing/Netflix.

I'm going to have (at least) 2 VPN connections with (a lot) of different routes. I don't want to be bottlenecked by the edge device.

- Toucan

[shred]

Hoi,

I got mine from aliexpress and it shipped very quickly. On the description of the one I ordered, it was declared that WiFi is not supported under pfSense (which I unfortunately only discovered after I got the box here - but the proce difference is not big anyway).

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-PC-4-Ethernet-Lan-with-Core-i5-Pfsense-Firewall-Mini-Computer-Fanless-PC-Server/32817388248.html

Cheers, Remi.

Is there any difference between that one and this one?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/QOTOM-4-LAN-Mini-PC-with-Core-i3-4005U-i5-5250U-processor-and-4-Gigabit-NIC/32812678037.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.1.836tN9&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10065_10151_10130_10068_10344_5620015_10345_10547_10342_10546_10343_10340_10341_10548_10545_10541_10307_5640015_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10539_10538_5370015_10537_10536_10059_10534_10533_100031_10103_10102_10142_10107_10324_10325_10084_10083_10178_10312_10313_10314_10073_5630015_5720015,searchweb201603_2,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=c6109212-57ac-40af-971c-8aff3fc5e393&algo_expid=1f6400de-07b4-4a70-9095-0e4f0c341a62-0&algo_pvid=1f6400de-07b4-4a70-9095-0e4f0c341a62

Same model number, same processor and when configured with the same specs (4GB RAM, 32GB SSD), the link you posted is $5 cheaper and it's from Aliexpress as well...

Edit: And of course, there's even another page with the same exact model number, specs, etc. but a different price:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/2017-New-4-LAN-Core-I5-5250U-Fanless-Micro-PC-home-routerSupport-pfsense-linux-firewall-etc/32798522352.html?spm=2114.search0104.3.1.iaQOEt&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_3_10152_10065_10151_10130_10068_10344_5620015_10345_10547_10342_10546_10343_10340_10341_10548_10545_10541_10307_5640015_10060_10155_10154_10056_10055_10539_10538_5370015_10537_10536_10059_10534_10533_100031_10103_10102_10142_10107_10324_10325_10084_10083_10178_10312_10313_10314_10073_5630015_5720013,searchweb201603_2,ppcSwitch_5&btsid=493ac3ca-1225-49bc-954f-115c031fa3b9&algo_expid=1ae04118-dfee-4ea0-b573-6b4aa4f7e47e-0&algo_pvid=1ae04118-dfee-4ea0-b573-6b4aa4f7e47e

Edit 2: I couldn't find any difference other than price and some of the configuration options are slightly different depending on which page you're looking at. I ended up order the first link I posted above (4Gb RAM/32Gb SSD) based on it having significantly more reviews.

[shred]

Hi,

Let's be clear, for me this is the BEST FANLESS HARDWARE FOR OPENSENSE !!!

some iperf gives: Full 1Gbps bandwidth with filtering & nat with less of 20% of one core.

Some bad points:

• Wifi is not working fine with OPNSense order it wthout Wifi or ask to Qotom to build with a compatible one.
  (I have changed it for an Atheros 9280)
• Bios have no ouput on serial port
• Ethernet interfaces are not mapped well: 0-0 1-2 2-3 3-1 (hardware-system)

You mentioned the Bios has no output on the serial port. Unfortunately, I don’t have any TVs with HDMI near the area I want to setup my hardware so I was planning on using the serial port. Can you still install OPNsense using a serial cable connected to a computer? If so, is there anything in the Bios that you needs to be changed or that you recommend changing? I could install OPNsense in another room with a keyboard hooked up to a TV then just move it back to my office room where my computer is to setup the interfaces via serial.

[CSylvain]

I sent the manufacturer, my patch for compatibility with the Intel IEEE 802.11ac wireless network driver.
Here is the link of my script for pfSense : https://mega.nz/#!OEdGAIYa!nh9gejIJswBjpBRRzwuX6mVZb4Zu2Wz8rRO-GX3sExs
I will send you very soon for OPNsense, because it does not work in the same way, I must add the loading modules in the folder /usr/local/etc/rc.loader.d, because I do not uses pfSense for banishment related to this script, and the closing of the Kernel source code.

[xinnan]

I still don't understand why they would kick you for that?  Odd indeed. 

[mow4cash]

What are you guys using for ram? Would 4gb be sufficent or should I just get 8gb. Kingston or Hynix $20 difference between brands.

[Ciprian]

Even if Intel Core i5-5250U is a one increment newer generation one, I would go with Intel Core i7-4500U: 4 MB SmartCache for i7, 3 MB for i5 && also very important is the CPU speed difference, clearly an advantage for i7 since OpenVPN is (still) single threaded, so the speedier the CPU, and the more cache, the better, and it's all that matters for that fact (as long as they both have AES-NI instruction set available, and they both do).

Comparing the two on ark.intel.com couldn't find any supported HW implemented instruction set difference that would clearly steer the decision toward generation advantage, and from speed and cache size advantage.

What do you think? Did I miss something?