PfSense with Axiomtek NA341 Board

wallabybob · Jul 20, 2013, 10:02 AM

Looking at the datasheet and this Intel driver page and FreeBSD 9.1 release notes, I'd definitely wait till someone confirms that the NICs actually work with 8.3

I would also be wary about the LAN bypass relays. From the datasheet I would guess some hardware needs to be tickled frequently to stop the relays bypassing the NIC(s). Maybe that function can be disabled in the BIOS. I don't know of any "standard" FreeBSD software for dealing with the relays.

ASGH · Jul 22, 2013, 6:56 AM

I had got confirmation from the provider that they tested FreeBSD9.1 in this board.

doktornotor · Jul 22, 2013, 7:43 AM

@ASGH:

I had got confirmation from the provider that they tested FreeBSD9.1 in this board.

Well yes; sadly 2.1RC is using 8.3 (the stable version is using 8.1).

stephenw10 · Jul 22, 2013, 2:18 PM

Whilst 8.3 release does not have i210 drivers 2.1RC has patches from 8-stable that are far more recent and reference the i210 chip.

https://github.com/pfsense/pfsense-tools/tree/master/patches/RELENG_8_3/from-8-STABLE/e1000

Steve

doktornotor · Jul 22, 2013, 2:23 PM

@stephenw10:

Whilst 8.3 release does not have i210 drivers 2.1RC has patches from 8-stable that are far more recent and reference the i210 chip.

These e1000 patches have been pulled.

stephenw10 · Jul 22, 2013, 2:32 PM

Ah yes, I did read JimP's post on that. I'd be surprised if they didn't make it in sooner or later though. The i210 is going to be very common (already is?) support for it is going to be required at some point.

Steve

RAND0M1ZER · Jul 22, 2013, 11:57 PM

I wonder how much it will cost?

jasonlitka · Jul 23, 2013, 1:30 AM

@RAND0M1ZER:

I wonder how much it will cost?

If I had to guess, somewhere around $650, not including wireless, WWAN, the bypass option, RAM, or a boot disk.

Clear-Pixel · Jul 23, 2013, 4:00 AM

@Jason:

@RAND0M1ZER:

I wonder how much it will cost?

If I had to guess, somewhere around $650, not including wireless, WWAN, the bypass option, RAM, or a boot disk.

Guess there not planning on selling any …... LMAO

jasonlitka · Jul 26, 2013, 3:08 PM

@Clear-Pixel:

@Jason:

@RAND0M1ZER:

I wonder how much it will cost?

If I had to guess, somewhere around $650, not including wireless, WWAN, the bypass option, RAM, or a boot disk.

Guess there not planning on selling any …... LMAO

Soekris sells of ton of the net6501 systems. The 1.6GHz single core + case is almost $500 and this is considerably more powerful.

ASGH · Jul 26, 2013, 7:48 PM

This board is cheaper than Soekris, it is around 270 USD.

stephenw10 · Jul 26, 2013, 9:10 PM

Hmm, good price if it really sells for that.

Steve

kejianshi · Jul 26, 2013, 9:13 PM

How well with that thing perform with a full install and packages? You know… VPN, SNORT, bunch of rules. GB network etc?

stephenw10 · Jul 26, 2013, 9:53 PM

Same as any Atom powered board. Not good compared to a quad core i5 but much better than the current Alix. There are plenty of people who don't need loads of packages or 1Gbps throughput. Anyone with a 100-150Mbps WAN would do well with this I would think.

Steve

kejianshi · Jul 26, 2013, 10:06 PM

If it gets down to $150 I might call it a good deal. Thats a pretty old CPU for me to be throwing big dollars at it. Its basically the same thing thats in my acer aspire that I bought for $100 a year ago for my wife to travel with (vs an IPAD). It was considered dated tech at that time.

valnar · Jul 28, 2013, 2:26 AM

@kejianshi:

If it gets down to $150 I might call it a good deal. Thats a pretty old CPU for me to be throwing big dollars at it. Its basically the same thing thats in my acer aspire that I bought for $100 a year ago for my wife to travel with (vs an IPAD). It was considered dated tech at that time.

Actually, that Atom is pretty much perfect. It's one of the best Atom chips Intel ever released. Very good power-to-speed ratio since it's TDP is only 3.5W. Look at all the other CPU's it beats.
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_lookup.php?cpu=Intel+Atom+N2600+%40+1.60GHz

And this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atom_N2600#.22Cedarview.22_.2832_nm.29_2

I hope pfSense (FreeBSD) supports it. Looks like a great choice for a firewall.

kejianshi · Jul 28, 2013, 2:42 AM

I've got a couple of Cedarview atom based boxes here and there that I like. They make for solid boxes that you can abandon and ignore but those are not for personal use. I'm here at home enough that having a fan in the box isn't the end of the world for me. Those boxes also don't run any packages at all other than a base install and VPNs. Not necessarily because they couldn't but because they have to work, so less is more.

tirsojrp · Jul 28, 2013, 4:43 PM

@valnar:

Actually, that Atom is pretty much perfect. It's one of the best Atom chips Intel ever released. Very good power-to-speed ratio since it's TDP is only 3.5W. Look at all the other CPU's it beats.

Check this list
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/singleThread.html
Don't even use Search, just check the bottom of the list.

I like it, but if they want to sell it the price must be reasonable for such slow CPU.

kejianshi · Jul 28, 2013, 5:05 PM

I have weird opinions about what I use for myself. Here at home I chose the AMD 4800+ box to be my router not because of specs necessarily, although it does run circles around the best/newest atom boards I've worked with. I used my AMD because that board and PSU have been in use here for many many years and time has proven this particular box to be reliable. I trust old hardware that I've been using for ages more than a new build that I've not tested with time and use, regardless of spec. I do think this board would probably be good for people who needed reliability more than absolute throughput, but it is about $20 worth of silicon and plastic. Hopefully they won't get pricey with it.

doktornotor · Jul 28, 2013, 5:13 PM

@tirsojrp:

such slow CPU.

The CPU is more than sufficient for loads of people. Except those who just cannot resist to make their boxes crawl by implementing things such as snort. :P