New Alix board for 2013

nesense

Worth quoting:

"Compex WLE200NX Atheros 802.11a/b/g/n miniPCI express wireless card - for use with apu board. Not supported by pfSense."

That's the only miniPCI express PC Engines is offering, hopefully pfSense 2.2 will come soon :'(

Applied

@phil.davis:

Just for reference, a Fit-PC3 with AMD G-T40N processor in the standard Fit-PC3 fan-less case and running Win Server 2008R2 is showing CPU at 63C and the internal disk shows 32C, sitting in a room that is probably about 18-20C ambient temp.

PC Engines has switched to using the lower-TDP AMD G-40E on production boards.
Though, on the the other hand, their cooling will presumably be less efficient than the Fit-PC.

RaThek

http://www.pcengines.ch/apu1c.htm - does it work for someone?

mircsicz

http://www.pcengines.ch/apu.htm work's for me…

Note that this is a beta board. I don't know when they will be releasing the final version.

They weren't supposed to be resold.

phil.davis

It looks like the production batch are due for delivery on 5 March 2014.
The new board does not have a CF card slot. But I really like the nanoBSD 2-boot-slice functionality, and don't need a Squid cache etc.
How can these be configured to still use the nanoBSD image? Put a baby SSD in it and flash the nanoBSD image direct onto that? or?

stephenw10

It has an a USB connected SD slot. You should be able to boot Nano from that.

Then again it also claims 2 mini-PCIe slots but the picture clearly shows 3, am I missing something?

Steve

GruensFroeschli

2 miniPCIe slots and one mSATA slot.
PCIe and SATA are electrically the same (thus even the same connector) but run a different protocol.

stephenw10

Ah, of course. I knew I was missing something. Thanks.

Steve

GruensFroeschli

@mbpfsense:

The new Alix (apu1c) is expected on 5.3.2014:

http://www.pcengines.ch/order1.php?c=63124

Seems the entry on the page got removed.
Too bad that tomorrow isn't second christmas. ^^"

mircsicz

@GruensFroeschli:

Seems the entry on the page got removed.
Too bad that tomorrow isn't second christmas. ^^"

according to my german provider, they're still expected this week… Already ordered two for tests! Hope to have em soon...

tirsojrp

Price increased and 4GB version listed:

2GB > 145
4GB > 165

zatoichi

Updated…

stephenw10

You think that crypto card is going to actually accelerate anything on the new board?
More importantly the APU board doesn't have any mini-PCI slots! ;)

Steve

zatoichi

you are right..

My bad .. apologies

ZGruk

I see that wireless card is (according to PC engines) unsupported by pfSense. Anyone know if that's true? Or if there's a miniPCIe card available that would work?

nesense

@ZGruk:

I see that wireless card is (according to PC engines) unsupported by pfSense. Anyone know if that's true? Or if there's a miniPCIe card available that would work?

That is true, check this: https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,70700.msg385961.html and this: https://redmine.pfsense.com/issues/3423

2.1.1 won't have updated Atheros drivers to support cards like this, so you'll have to wait for 2.2 to use any wireless on this board according to this https://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,72763.msg396957.html#msg396957

powerrc

This is way too expensive.
Intel NUC Kit DCCP847DYE is merely $144 with case/power and , a much more powerful cpu
what's the point to stick to ALIX still?
Did I miss something?

@zatoichi:

Updated…

| Board | apu1c4 | $165 | http://www.pcengines.ch/apu1c4.htm | |
| Enclosure | case1d2redu | $9.3 | http://www.pcengines.ch/case1d2redu.htm | |
| US Plug | ac12vus | $4.5 | http://www.pcengines.ch/ac12vus.htm | |
| M-SATA SSD | msata16a | $20 | http://www.pcengines.ch/msata16a.htm | |
| Wireless Card | wle200nx | $18.7 | http://www.pcengines.ch/wle200nx.htm | |
| VPN Card | ?? | | | |
| CPU Info | | | http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bobcat/AMD-G%20Series%20G-T40E%20-%20GET40EFQB22GVE.html | |
| Order Page | | | http://www.pcengines.ch/order1.php?c=63124 | |
| | | $217.5 | | |
| | Shipping | $44 | | |
| | | $261.5 | | |

Applied

@powerrc:

what's the point to stick to ALIX still?
Did I miss something?

For starters:

SSD / wireless card / RAM:
Your price point of $144 for the NUC does not include either SSD, RAM or wireless card (not yet supported on pfSense but elsewhere and this is talking about hardware price), while the quoted $217.50 for the APU does include wireless NIC, SSD and 2GB RAM
Ethernet ports:
ALIX / APU features 3 ethernet ports.
DCCP847DYE kit has only one single ethernet port and there’s no way of adding another one internally (due to the case).
So how would you go about setting this up as a router? (USB ethernet just plain doesn’t work reliably on pfSense)
APU has bootable SD card slot, which can act as even less expensive boot media than SSD
APU is fanless while the NUC includes a fan (though, granted, this might also be taken as an advantage in some environments)
APU has a serial interface which obviates need for a display
APU allows for easier internal installation of supported 3G/4G (e.g. for backup connectivity)
APU uses open source BIOS, whereas Intel probably uses some closed source firmware (and can you trust American companions not to put some backdoors in their kit?)

Don't get me wrong, I think the NUC is an interesting concept and I can see some applications for it - but I don't think it's particularly well-suited for pfSense or any firewalling/gateway use

@powerrc:

This is way too expensive.

I think it depends on how you look at it:
Its price point may seem steep if compared to consumer-grade hardware in sheer price/performance ratio.
But it is relatively inexpensive compared to most embedded / network appliance hardware.

nesense

@Applied:

So how would you go about setting this up as a router? (USB ethernet just plain doesn’t work reliably on pfSense)

I've been using Apple USB Ethernet Adapters on multiple machines for a couple of years now with zero issues, a bit overpriced (about $30 now) but it works.