Broadcom doesn't release FreeBSD drivers, and doesn't release specs on their hardware, so drivers have to be created by reverse engineering the hardware. Hence they aren't as reliable as other cards where the vendor provides specs or the actual driver. For example Intel employees provide the Intel network drivers in FreeBSD, hence Intel NIC's are some of the most reliable and preferred. The reason they specify RHEL and Windows is probably because those are the only platforms Broadcom puts out software for.

Yeah, what Scott linked is what I was referring to.

Thanks for the suggestion.  I don't usually mind open box but so much open box stuff from NewEgg comes stripped of parts.  If I don't get the backplate for the MB then it won't work since it is different on the board than most of the others. I did some more work to track down the problem.  It seems to be a known issue with the BIOS and the IDE controller in the chipset when used with the FreeBSD bootloader.  There is no update for this particular MB. I did find out that the SATA interface doesn't have the same problem, so I just picked up a small SATA drive.  It does boot but since the SATA interface comes up as ad4 it won't auto mount root when it boots.  I have to give it "ufs:ad4s1a" to complete bootup. This is a problem if the firewall bounces because of course I can't be in front of it every time.  FreeBSD isn't my usual working O/S - can't anyone tell me how I might be able to get it to mount ad4 by itself? Thanks Jon @dotdash: FWIW, I've run with no problems on Tyan 2098 and 3098 flex ATX (smaller than micro atx, same mounting) 478 boards. 3098's have dual Intel GB nics, 2098's had dual 10/100 intel nics. I think they are discontinued, but newegg still has some open box available (Item#:N82E16813151160R) From what I've seen, nobody is making decent 478 boards anymore.

Thanks for ur help ! Work great  :D

definitely low profile (but only comes with full size bracket) http://www.microbarn.com/details.aspx?rid=101626 ar5212 chip. I picked up 3 of these a few weeks back, work great with pfsense. and honestly I dnno why it is so fewkin' hard to buy the short brackets separately + easily + inexpensively. the only times I have ever seen them is either bundled with vga cards or very expensive raid cards.

No, the local console is always logged in. The only option you have is to disable it completely at system>advanced.

Btw, there is already a freenas package in work for pfsense.

I can't say that I've ever done any testing, but PCMCIA shouldn't provide any performance limitations with a 700 MHz CPU. Your CPU is likely to be your first bottleneck, probably somewhere around 60-100 Mb.

ok, thanks

thanks for the reply dotdash.  yes i cannot connect everything to my current gigabit switch located on the living room.  cabling problems basically.  so i will still need another gigabit switch in the office to connect fileserver and any other host(s).

It looks like it is supported. http://www.pfsense.com/index.php?id=40 Hardware vendors "Hacom" states that it works.

I probe this driver but don't work. Only work the driver what i post above, but only in infrastructure mode, in access point mode don't work  :-\

Thank you for answer

I don't see anything that stands out that will keep you from running pfSense. I would say download it and give it a try. You can boot into the CD without installing anything and that will tell you if pfSense will work on your laptop.

I fixed a bug in this area recently.  Upgrade to a recent snapshot and select the option hoba suggested.

Yes, and prices actually seem to be in the same range as the old boards. Dimensions and outlets seem to be compatible to the old cases as well. Mr Dornier from PC-Engines will provide us with a board to make pfSense run smooth on it so you most likely will see this one supported by pfSense right when they become available.

It works great !! Even if I managed to generate 4000 connections (port scanning) the router shows as max as 5% CPU usage … and no more than 30% memory used. Keep up the good work :)!!

It's a problem about UDMA. Take a look at the "Disable DMA for IDE drives" Section of this page. http://wiki.pfsense.com/wikka.php?wakka=BootOptions Then you will install pfSense without problems (you should change /boot/loader.conf) When system has started, you can activate DMA with "atacontrol". Be careful with the mode you use. Greetings Roberto

Iperf Results, Polling Disabled Vmstat Results, Polling Disabled Iperf & Vmstat results, Polling Enabled Iperf results to 127.0.0.1 on the 450Mhz PC If its only doing 40-50Mbs to 127.0.0.1, I have a feeling the NICs arnt the problem though I could be wrong. I just ran this under vmware on my older 1.8Ghz pc (XP SP2 as the host-OS, pfsense installed in vmware). 700-800Mb/s to 127.0.0.1, and 80-95Mbs over Vmwares 10/100 ethernet adapter to my other pc, cpu load pegged at 100%.