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    PC Engines apu2 experiences

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    • A
      Af0x
      last edited by

      @doktornotor:

      Stop using nanobsd.

      ok, thank you. I did that and want to know which kernel is suitable for the apu2? I think it is the embedded one, but am not sure.

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      • D
        doktornotor Banned
        last edited by

        Cannot recall ever selecting something there.  Get the memstick-serial image and leave it at default. :)

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        • ?
          Guest
          last edited by

          Can anyone tell me how to install on all available storage capacity?

          Where you want to install pfSense? In a mSATA, USB drive or a real HDD/SSD?
          If you take an usb drive and put on it the MEMSTICK-Serial-AM64 image and the you install from there onto a…....
          That is a fresh and full install and might be the best bet for you.

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          • A
            Af0x
            last edited by

            hi, thanks you guys. I already downloaded and installed on my mSATA. During Installation you get the choice like on the picture:
            https://doc.pfsense.org/images/1/11/Installer_05_select_console.png

            I chose embedded but I read that it has reduced possibilities talking about packages.

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            • H
              hda
              last edited by

              @Af0x:

              …mSATA...

              APU2 & mSata ? >>> 64-bit Full Install.

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              • O
                Ofloo
                last edited by

                apu1d4: throughput was arround 700mbit/s ~ 900mbit/s, when i first bought it pfsense did 500mbit/s later on that changed
                apu3a4: throughput is 250mbit/s ~ 300mbit/s

                What i do notice is that apu1d4 uses realtek(re) drivers and the apu3 uses intel(igb)
                for the igb driver: TSO LRO .. checksum offload turned on or off makes no difference

                strange thing is when I run iperf through vlan but not hosted on the router but on a server on a different subnet which is routed though the router i get

                –----------------------------------------------------------
                [  3] local 192.168.1.100 port 44774 connected with 172.18.1.11 port 5001
                [ ID] Interval      Transfer    Bandwidth
                [  3]  0.0-10.0 sec  715 MBytes  600 Mbits/sec

                when i turn on tso lro checksum offload, cpu rather then hiadapt to maximum

                ------------------------------------------------------------
                Client connecting to loki, TCP port 5001
                TCP window size: 85.0 KByte (default)
                ------------------------------------------------------------
                [  3] local 192.168.1.100 port 45468 connected with 172.18.1.11 port 5001
                [ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
                [  3]  0.0-10.0 sec   757 MBytes   635 Mbits/sec
                
                ------------------------------------------------------------
                Client connecting to loki, TCP port 5001
                TCP window size: 85.0 KByte (default)
                ------------------------------------------------------------
                [  3] local 192.168.1.100 port 45462 connected with 172.18.1.11 port 5001
                [ ID] Interval       Transfer     Bandwidth
                [  3]  0.0-10.0 sec   742 MBytes   622 Mbits/sec
                
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                • ?
                  Guest
                  last edited by

                  apu1d4: throughput was arround 700mbit/s ~ 900mbit/s, when i first bought it pfsense did 500mbit/s later on that changed

                  Without PowerD (hi adaptive) it was more around ~450 - 550 MBit/s but with "turned on" PowerD it Comes nearly to that numbers
                  like you are naming here, ~650 MBit/s - 750 MBit/s and yes for sure that can be different from OS to OS! From FreeBSD to Linux
                  as the base system, such as IPFire or ZeroShell are based on due to the better driver support.

                  apu3a4: throughput is 250mbit/s ~ 300mbit/s

                  The APU1D4 and APU2C4 are regular boards that was produced for the whole public, but likes in the past too, there
                  are options, that you might be calling for a customized board based on the number of boards you must then buy.
                  Let us say 150 - 1000 as a minimum and in former times this boards where then only for you or that customer and
                  not available for the rest of us or the whole public customers, this was changing now, and so rests of such a special
                  version or customized board will now also available to the public by sale. But please accept that this APU3 boards are
                  optimized for LTE usage, also the LAN ports as I am right informed and this might be then driving such a throughput
                  test in a total other direction! If you are using 3G and/or LTE modems inside  this will be then perhaps once more
                  again differing from what you see now or get out now!

                  What i do notice is that apu1d4 uses realtek(re) drivers and the apu3 uses intel(igb)
                  for the igb driver: TSO LRO .. checksum offload turned on or off makes no difference

                  That might be shinning as the changing point for sure and first of all, but there are also two other things
                  that will be interesting now. The PowerD is bursting the APU1 cpu (T40E dual core) much more then the
                  APU2 cpu (GX-412TC quad core) that is taking not really a benefit well from activating this PowerD option
                  and then the igb(4) driver is now also multi cpu threading but even not the PPPoE part!

                  I don´t know if that "optimized option" will be able to change or something else, but perhaps this might be
                  then pushing that number somehow in the high, if there will be an option to change them. Perhaps in the BIOS!?

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                  • VeldkornetV
                    Veldkornet
                    last edited by

                    Has anyone  updated to the latest BIOS?

                    I noticed in pfSense that the system is now just seen as "pfSense" where as it was "PC Engines APU2"
                    See screenshots.

                    Not that the name really matters to me, was just wondering others had the same.

                    Before.png
                    Before.png_thumb
                    After.png
                    After.png_thumb

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                    • K
                      kevindd992002
                      last edited by

                      @Veldkornet:

                      Has anyone  updated to the latest BIOS?

                      I noticed in pfSense that the system is now just seen as "pfSense" where as it was "PC Engines APU2"
                      See screenshots.

                      Not that the name really matters to me, was just wondering others had the same.

                      I didn't even know that there was an updated BIOS until I read your reply, lol. Is there a way to be notified with these updates from pcengines?

                      I'd have to wait for a week to have access to a null modem, so I can't update my APU2 until then.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • VeldkornetV
                        Veldkornet
                        last edited by

                        I just updated it via SSH.

                        You just need to install the "flashrom" package.

                        So basically:

                        pkg install flashrom
                        

                        Download the firmware from here

                        Unzip the download and copy the .rom file to /tmp. Then flash with the following:

                        flashrom -w /tmp/apu2_v4.0.7.rom -p internal
                        

                        Once done, reboot.

                        *Edit: Updated to use the flashrom package from pfsense

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                        • K
                          kevindd992002
                          last edited by

                          Oh ok, I didn't know you can do that. I was referring to following the BIOS update instructions in pcengine's website using tinycore.

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                          • VeldkornetV
                            Veldkornet
                            last edited by

                            Yeah, TinyCore in anyway uses flashrom.

                            If you look here on the PC Engines GitHub site, they mention that you just need flashrom.

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                            • D
                              doktornotor Banned
                              last edited by

                              @Veldkornet:

                              I just updated it via SSH.

                              You just need to install the "flashrom" package, which needs some dependencies of course. At least, this is what I've just done.

                              No need to use FreeBSD repo for this or mess manually with dependencies. Flashrom is being used for Netgate_Coreboot_Upgrade package so it's already there in pfSense repo.

                              
                              # pkg search flashrom
                              flashrom-0.9.9_1               Utility for reading, writing, verifying, and erasing flash ROM chips
                              
                              
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                              • VeldkornetV
                                Veldkornet
                                last edited by

                                @doktornotor:

                                @Veldkornet:

                                I just updated it via SSH.

                                You just need to install the "flashrom" package, which needs some dependencies of course. At least, this is what I've just done.

                                No need to use FreeBSD repo for this or mess manually with dependencies. Flashrom is being used for Netgate_Coreboot_Upgrade package so it's already there in pfSense repo.

                                
                                # pkg search flashrom
                                flashrom-0.9.9_1               Utility for reading, writing, verifying, and erasing flash ROM chips
                                
                                

                                Aha, nice, that's easier. I didn't even check that :) I updated my post to show the use of the pfsense version, to avoid any unnecessary confusion.

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • K
                                  kevindd992002
                                  last edited by

                                  So i assume I just need to run the flashrom syntax under the pfsense shell and i'm all set?

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • VeldkornetV
                                    Veldkornet
                                    last edited by

                                    @kevindd992002:

                                    So i assume I just need to run the flashrom syntax under the pfsense shell and i'm all set?

                                    Yup, pretty much. I've updated my initial post showing the use of the pfsense flashrom package instead. So it's a lot simpler now.

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                                    • JailerJ
                                      Jailer
                                      last edited by

                                      @Veldkornet:

                                      Has anyone  updated to the latest BIOS?

                                      I noticed in pfSense that the system is now just seen as "pfSense" where as it was "PC Engines APU2"
                                      See screenshots.

                                      Not that the name really matters to me, was just wondering others had the same.

                                      Mine still says PC Engines APU2 after the update to 2.3.4.

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • VeldkornetV
                                        Veldkornet
                                        last edited by

                                        @Jailer:

                                        Mine still says PC Engines APU2 after the update to 2.3.4.

                                        Yeah, mine did too. I more meant after the latest firmware update.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • K
                                          kevindd992002
                                          last edited by

                                          @Veldkornet:

                                          @kevindd992002:

                                          So i assume I just need to run the flashrom syntax under the pfsense shell and i'm all set?

                                          Yup, pretty much. I've updated my initial post showing the use of the pfsense flashrom package instead. So it's a lot simpler now.

                                          Thanks. I've just done the update and I get the same results regarding the 'System' as yours. I guess it's pfsense not detecting the APU properly because of a newer version.

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • B
                                            blimpyboy
                                            last edited by

                                            I've just taken delivery of a couple of new APU2C2 units today - I need to install pfSense 2.3.4-RELEASE tomorrow and will be taking them to two of my customers on Monday.  I've been using Alix 2D3 units for years so a bit of a culture shock to my standard build procedure!

                                            First thing I'd like to be clear on is which BIOS I should be using.  The boards arrived with 160307 so I looked in the PCEngines 'BIOS Update' area and have flashed one of the boards with 160311.  I then came across this post and I'm now thinking I should be flashing with 4.0.7.  It's hard to be sure that this is the most recent as the accompanying text is pretty vague - the versioning pattern is also confusing going from 160311 to 4.0.7!  The date stamp on 160311 is 12th March 2016 and 4.0.7 is 28th Feb 2017 so I assume that's the one I should be using?  The 4.5.5 file is marked as 'experimantal' so I 'll steer clear of that for now I think!

                                            Before I go to the next stage of workoing out how to get pfSense v2.3.4-Rel (hot off the press yesterday!) on my 16GB mSATA SSD units, could you guys just confirm that I should indeed be using BIOS 4.0.7.

                                            One last observation is that the board I've not yet flashed shows 'SeaBIOS (version ?-20160307_153453_michael-desktop64)' on my PuTTY serial screen when the unit starts up - quite a strange stamp, but it does have the '160307' sub-string in there so must be correct.  However, I've just flashed the other board with 4.0.7 and the serial output at startup reads 'SeaBIOS (version rel-1.10.0.1)'.  I'm hoping that's all in agreement with what other people see when they take a look at their pfSense boot screens!

                                            Regards
                                            Ian

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