Fortress Networks FWA-370 question (56k warning)

afterlife

Hello all,

After some searching I came to find no information about the new firewall I just got off ebay (for a song!)
I've installed pfsense on a normal vanilla x86 before and I wonder if any of you gurus could shed some light
on this hardwares specs and if its possible to install pfsense?

The model is: Fortress Networks FWA-3710 (FCCID: TCA0048039)
I enclose a photo also:

Thanks kindly!

Regards,

Mike.

afterlife

Hello,

So My firewall came today. Since noone knows anything about this I will post all of my findings here in the hopes that if anyone
else buys one of these (nice case and nice price) from ebay they will know what I did not.
It seems that this firewall is made by a tiny vendor who put these together from advantec I believe.

Some Specs:]
CPU: Intel Celleron 1.2 GHz (?) or Pentium 3 1.133Ghz CPU
emacs (heh) 200w PSU
256MB PC133 SDRAM (Max 512MB) - One slot
seagate 20GB IDE Hard disk
Motherboard: POD 6704 V1 - Taiwan - phoenix bios

Supports 4x 10/100Base-T Ethernet connections with onboard
RJ-45 connectors.
• Scalable LAN performance with a selection of Ethernet controllers:
Intel 82559, 82559ER, or RealTek 8139C Plus.
• FCPGA Socket 370 supports up to 1.26GHz
Pentium III/Celeron CPU with 512K.
• Intel 815E quality chipset supports 133MHz FSB.
• Low-profile, 45° DIMM socket
• 4 IDE devices– bus 1: ATA100, bus 2: ATA33
• optional miniPCI expansion.
• CompactFlash Type I/II.
• Ideal for network security appliances, firewalls, intrusion detection systems

Some pics:

It seems that there are VGA and USB headers but I dont have any of the included accessories to access them.
So please wish me luck as I see if i can get a full install going on this thing!

I have the schematics and documentation for this unit which I found on the website
however as I check now to link you it has gone! ???

References:
http://www.advantech.com.tw/epc/newsletter/v76-09-26_02/POD-6704.htm
http://www.advantech.com/

Any help/advice with this project would be greatly welcome!

Mike.

Cry Havok

Perform the install with the hard disk in another system, transplant to the FWA-370, cross fingers ;)

Alternatively, USB headers should be easy to solve, any decent computer parts store should have a PCI bracket connector with a couple of USB ports with motherboard headers. VGA may be a bit harder, but that looks much like a standard PCI socket, you should be able to find a cheap PCI card somewhere if necessary.

The simpler approach will be to perform an embedded install, using the serial interface.

dotdash

Docs and pinouts are here:
http://download.advantech.com//ProductFile/1-93BC1/POD-6704_ds.pdf
http://download.advantech.com//DownloadFiles/1-AYXLD/POD-6704%20startup%20ed2.pdf
http://download.advantech.com//DownloadFiles/1-LX85D/POD-6704-manual_ed.3.pdf
Also a bios update-
http://download.advantech.com/download/downloadsr.aspx?File_Id=1-BFPGC

afterlife

Thank you all for your kind replies. A friend took me to that site too :D
I have constructed a keyboard cable (which I think is pretty nifty as it can be removed easily)
and inserted my trusty old voodoo 3 PCI VGA into the pci slot.

PF installed like a DREAM! But… now my only problem is the bios won't hold itself.
Ive replaced the battery and ensured the jumper is not on clear so im a bit stumped ???

after this im all done ;D

Will post some pics later :)

edit: you know what? maybe re-flashing the bios (with nice new update -cheers dot-) may solve the problem, what do you think?

Mike