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    4 ports mini PC recommendations

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved General pfSense Questions
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    • provelsP Offline
      provels
      last edited by

      I run mine on a used Adlink MXE-5401 industrial PC from Ebay ($2000 new, got mine for $65). I love these boxes. Used in manufacturing, transportation, etc. Cast chassis, fanless, all solid caps, ton o' ports. They even tack the SODIMMs in with a spot of glue. Meant to be set/forget.

      link

      Love these units so much, I bought 3 more of an older series with i5s just to mess around with, $45/each! Got one running as a 5G AP, another running KVM and the third, Openmediavault.

      There's a new, current production MXE-5500 with i3 on the 'Bay for $150 now, no affiliation. Would love that instead of the i7 I'm using now.

      Peder

      MAIN - pfSense+ 25.07.1-RELEASE - Adlink MXE-5401, i7, 16 GB RAM, 64 GB SSD. 500 GB HDD for SyslogNG
      BACKUP - pfSense+ 23.01-RELEASE - Hyper-V Virtual Machine, Gen 1, 2 v-CPUs, 3 GB RAM, 8GB VHDX (Dynamic)

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      • dennypageD Offline
        dennypage @johnpoz
        last edited by

        FWIW, I've run Linux on every Netgate box I've had after it stopped being my principal firewall. I haven't tried with a 6100 yet, because it's still in use as my primary firewall, but I have no reason to believe it would not work as the prior generations did.

        The biggest issue is that you have to specify the console via the command line (console=ttyS1,115200) when booting the install medium, but you have to do this with any device that doesn't have a frame buffer.

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        • stephenw10S Offline
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          Indeed the 6100 can be purchased with TNSR so it definitely can run Linux. I would expect anything Debian based to run fine. Or just about any OS really.

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          • AndyRHA Offline
            AndyRH @chudak
            last edited by

            @chudak There is a newer version: Qotom Q20332G9-S10

            o||||o
            7100-1u

            chudakC 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • AndyRHA Offline
              AndyRH @johnpoz
              last edited by

              @johnpoz said in 4 ports mini PC recommendations:

              Like the possibility of those 2 10ge connections.

              On my 7100, I only use the 2 10Gb ports. 1 fiber in from the ISP and 1 DAC out to my switch. The switch in the 7100 is my emergency in for when I screw up the config. ๐Ÿ˜Š

              o||||o
              7100-1u

              johnpozJ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • johnpozJ Offline
                johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @AndyRH
                last edited by

                @AndyRH just had to rub it in huh ;) heheheh

                An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
                If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
                Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
                SG-4860 25.07.1 | Lab VMs 2.8, 25.07.1

                AndyRHA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • AndyRHA Offline
                  AndyRH @johnpoz
                  last edited by

                  @johnpoz Just encouraging the use of 10Gb ports and Netgate devices. Also having only 2 cables in the FW is kinda cool. ๐Ÿ˜

                  o||||o
                  7100-1u

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                  • chudakC Offline
                    chudak @AndyRH
                    last edited by

                    @AndyRH said in 4 ports mini PC recommendations:

                    Qotom Q20332G9-S10

                    Do you use it?

                    AndyRHA 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • AndyRHA Offline
                      AndyRH @chudak
                      last edited by

                      @chudak No, but it seemed the logical next step since you are retiring a device from the same company. It is also the best one I have seen on the serverthehome reviews.

                      o||||o
                      7100-1u

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                      • chudakC Offline
                        chudak
                        last edited by

                        Anybody is using Protectli Vault V1410-4 Port ?

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