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    PC Engines - alix2d13 & full install?

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    • L
      louis-m
      last edited by

      Hi, i'm thinking of replacing my draytek at home with pfsense on a alix2d13 (when it comes out) and putting a microdrive in that so i can get a full install for a few extra apps.
      i understand that there can be difficulties getting this to run. however, i have installed the embedded version on a watchguard x700 and it went in easy. from what i've read, you can enable RW access to the embedded version, reboot and then the apps become available.
      is there any issue in installing to a microdrive this way? or is it better to go for the full install?

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      • E
        ebi
        last edited by

        hi,

        I'm not sure if this works but i was looking at the PC engine site and noticed the alix6b2 has an miniPCI express slot. Cant you use that slot and put a miniPCI express SSD in it and install pfsense full?

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        • K
          ktims
          last edited by

          @ebi:

          hi,

          I'm not sure if this works but i was looking at the PC engine site and noticed the alix6b2 has an miniPCI express slot. Cant you use that slot and put a miniPCI express SSD in it and install pfsense full?

          Not sure if the ALIX BIOS can boot from an external controller like that, you'd probably have to ask PC Engines.

          Industrial quality CF is available though, and it would be safe to do a full install on this. I'm not sure how easy doing a full install this way is though, I imagine you'd probably have to do the install on a different machine (with VGA), reconfigure to use serial console, and then move the CF card. The embedded -> r/w conversion has worked for me in the past, but I've had some issues with upgrading, YMMV. Now if I do that I make sure I won't need to upgrade in the future and it works fine.

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          • L
            louis-m
            last edited by

            thank you for the info. i'm gonna have a look at industrial compact flash to do an install on as above and see how i go. is the technical name for this type of cf "industrial grade" or do you just have to look for the higher end stuff eg "professional grade" etc?

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            • K
              ktims
              last edited by

              I'm sure on the branding terms, I've heard that some of the higher end Sandisk and such use the same type of memory, but I'm not sure how you'd tell for sure.

              I've been buying InnoDisk iCF4000 modules from these guys: http://www.memorydepot.com/ssd.asp

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