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    New Alix board for 2013

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    • S
      senser
      last edited by

      Looks like it fits into the old enclosures (the alix.2 ones).

      We use the mighty pf, we cannot be fooled.

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      • T
        torontob
        last edited by

        I think that's a little bit steep. Maybe same price to replace old board would be a better choice. If units are installed on clients site and used for minor traffic then old units do just fine.

        If plan is to not sell many of this (which I don't see why) then yeah higher price would be better. However, it's probably now cheaper to make the newer model than it is to make the older model.

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        • stephenw10S
          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
          last edited by

          If true the ability to fit old enclosures is great. That's going to help system builders and people upgrading significantly.  :)

          Steve

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          • dotdashD
            dotdash
            last edited by

            @torontob:

            I think that's a little bit steep. Maybe same price to replace old board would be a better choice. If units are installed on clients site and used for minor traffic then old units do just fine.

            If plan is to not sell many of this (which I don't see why) then yeah higher price would be better. However, it's probably now cheaper to make the newer model than it is to make the older model.

            Um, $125-150 is pretty close to the street price of current Alix boards. And this has GB nics. Right now if you want to get a low power box with gig ports you need to get something like a 6501, which is twice the price. I predict they will sell well. Even if they come in at $175, I'd take one over a 2D13 every time.

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            • B
              bennyc
              last edited by

              I also share the opinion (to each his own of course) that a sub 200 price isn't exaggerated, given the GB nics, better cpu, more RAM and possibility to install a HD so a full install should be feasible while remaining low-power (wonder though how all that will fit in the enclosure).
              If it lives up to the expectations, I expect they will sell easily as it will be an affordable board in a segment where there is little competition…

              So eagerly waiting for the release here...  ;)

              4x XG-7100 (2xHA), 1x SG-4860, 1x SG-2100
              1x PC Engines APU2C4, 1x PC Engines APU1C4

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              • T
                torontob
                last edited by

                Fair enough for a better model and I would pay for it as I know it's still cheaper than other systems but maybe keep a simpler version still in the market - or even lower the price of the older models  8) - I would order many. It's just that an office of 3-5 people don't need anything better.

                Some questions:
                1- Would SD Cards be a better option in terms of stability or performance? or is it about price advantage?
                2- The MILLION DOLLAR question: Is this still in development or should we expect this month? :P

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                • D
                  doktornotor Banned
                  last edited by

                  @torontob:

                  2- The MILLION DOLLAR question: Is this still in development or should we expect this month? :P

                  The web page states:

                  Status: Prototypes alive and well. Pilot run / customer samples planned for fall 2013. Production expected for early 2014.

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                  • K
                    kejianshi
                    last edited by

                    Things arrive quicker when you don't wait for them.

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                    • valnarV
                      valnar
                      last edited by

                      Googling "Realtek RTL8111E" doesn't give me any warm fuzzy feelings.  I wish they went with something else.  A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.  I don't mind if some of my workstations have Realtek NIC's, but I want my router/firewall to have the best.

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                      • GruensFroeschliG
                        GruensFroeschli
                        last edited by

                        You still have the two miniPCIe slots.
                        There you can put something like: http://www.spectra.ch/produkte/130224/web/spectra/Datasheet-MEC-ETH-101.pdf

                        We do what we must, because we can.

                        Asking questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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                        • S
                          senser
                          last edited by

                          Hmm, about warm fuzzy feelings. What does that actually translate to in relation to network interfaces?

                          edit: Please no "intel" answer. I am interested in nasty technical details.

                          We use the mighty pf, we cannot be fooled.

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                          • stephenw10S
                            stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                            last edited by

                            The newer Realtek NICs aren't all that bad. Mostly their throughput isn't quite as advertised and they require more CPU cycles to push packets.

                            Steve

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                            • A
                              ayah
                              last edited by

                              @dotdash:

                              @torontob:

                              I think that's a little bit steep. Maybe same price to replace old board would be a better choice. If units are installed on clients site and used for minor traffic then old units do just fine.

                              If plan is to not sell many of this (which I don't see why) then yeah higher price would be better. However, it's probably now cheaper to make the newer model than it is to make the older model.

                              Um, $125-150 is pretty close to the street price of current Alix boards. And this has GB nics. Right now if you want to get a low power box with gig ports you need to get something like a 6501, which is twice the price. I predict they will sell well. Even if they come in at $175, I'd take one over a 2D13 every time.

                              At the ~175$ range, in Canada, you can grab a Giada N70E-DR with a Celeron 1037U with 2 82574s in a mini-itx format.. With ram, it'll cost a touch more but still, IVB vs bobcat/atom and it'd crush a 6501 into little bits for less cost.

                              After seeing the specs, I'm not really a big fan, but their component placement seems pretty great but it'll live or die depending on heatsinking performance to the case.

                              However, the "Roadmap: We will upgrade to the newer AMD Kabini / Jaguar core based SOCs, up to 2 GHz quad core (Opteron X1150), up to 4 GB ECC DRAM" is dangling a carrot in front of me and would probably be closer to my dream alix. Hoping they avoid Realtek, but not counting on it..

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                              • R
                                ruio
                                last edited by

                                Hi!
                                At the EuroBSDcon in Malta we had a paper with the specifications of the new alix platform!

                                http://i.imgur.com/712EXOx.jpg

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                                • K
                                  kdk
                                  last edited by

                                  hi, will  pfsene 2.1 support these APU/chipsets ?????

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                                  • GruensFroeschliG
                                    GruensFroeschli
                                    last edited by

                                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_Accelerated_Processing_Unit
                                    Since it‘s x86: yes

                                    We do what we must, because we can.

                                    Asking questions the smart way: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

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                                    • B
                                      bufdaemon
                                      last edited by

                                      can i install pfsense 64 bit here? and FreeBSD 9.2?

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                                      • stephenw10S
                                        stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                        last edited by

                                        The Bobcat core CPU is 64bit capable and I see no reason why you couldn't install FreeBSD 9.2 if you wanted to. It wouldn't be pfSense though.
                                        Perhaps you've asked the wrong question here?  ;)

                                        Steve

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                                        • stephenw10S
                                          stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                                          last edited by

                                          @senser:

                                          Looks like it fits into the old enclosures (the alix.2 ones).

                                          This now seems unlikely, at least without some modification, since they are relying on the enclosure to cool the CPU. Existing enclosures will not have the appropriate accurately positioned conduction surfaces.

                                          Steve

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                                          • H
                                            hackin8
                                            last edited by

                                            Steve, couldn't this be achieved by using conductive rubber pads?

                                            I have seen this done in other cases to accommodate differing boards.

                                            Of course it may truly need a new case, possibly for profit margin reasons :) - time will tell

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