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    PC Engines apu2 experiences

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    • V
      VAMike @dem
      last edited by

      @dem so he should start another thread so that people actually interested in apu2 experiences can find those without digging through unrelated zfs support questions

      V 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
      • V
        Vollans @VAMike
        last edited by

        @vamike I agreed it wasn't relevant here 2 days ago, and stopped responding. 🤷

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • S
          sikita
          last edited by sikita

          Why pfsense 2.5 shows "AES-NI CPU Crypto: No" when in 2.4.x there was YES on APU2? Also on 2.5 there is in other line: Hardware crypto AES-CBC,AES-CCM,AES-GCM,AES-ICM,AES-XTS

          B QinnQ 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • B
            bigsy @sikita
            last edited by

            @sikita said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

            Why pfsense 2.5 shows "AES-NI CPU Crypto: No" when in 2.4.x there was YES on APU2?

            Anything to do with this problem? If so, it appears to be fixed in 2.5.1.

            S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
            • S
              sikita @bigsy
              last edited by sikita

              @bigsy Ok, thank you. Seems to be GUI bug and does not involve using HW crypto.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • QinnQ
                Qinn @sikita
                last edited by Qinn

                @sikita I am on pfSense 2.5.0 and here it says:

                Firefox_Screenshot_2021-03-12T16-51-01.718Z.png

                Do you have AES-NI enabled?

                Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                QinnQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • QinnQ
                  Qinn @Qinn
                  last edited by

                  Can anyone share there System / Advanced / Networking on a APU2

                  Mine are

                  Firefox_Screenshot_2021-03-19T11-29-42.923Z.png

                  as these are the defaults, grabbed them from a VM installation, which is not quit the same setup.

                  The old and not anymore recommend settings from https://teklager.se/en/knowledge-base/apu2-1-gigabit-throughput-pfsense/ are quit different!

                  ...and there is a new settings present in 2.5.0. " hn ALTQ support"

                  Could anyone elaborate on all these or there settings?

                  Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                  Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                  Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • stephenw10S
                    stephenw10 Netgate Administrator
                    last edited by

                    There are no hn NICs on any APU so it makes no difference. You can disable it.

                    Steve

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                    • valnarV
                      valnar
                      last edited by

                      I performed all the bootloader and other tweaks mentioned in various threads throughout the years on my <= 2.45-p1 installation and now I don't remember what they all are. It would be great if somebody could post what things to look for (to remove?) when you update your apu2 from 2.4.5 --> 2.5.0.

                      At the moment because of the performance issues, I'm not upgrading.

                      DaddyGoD 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • DaddyGoD
                        DaddyGo @valnar
                        last edited by DaddyGo

                        @valnar said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                        when you update your apu2 from 2.4.5 --> 2.5.0.

                        Hi,

                        With that, I would wait a little longer 😉

                        here,....you will find a lot of useful info if you even decide to upgrade...
                        https://teklager.se/en/knowledge-base/
                        https://teklager.se/en/knowledge-base/apu2-1-gigabit-throughput-pfsense/

                        +++edit:
                        and of course
                        https://pcengines.github.io/

                        Cats bury it so they can't see it!
                        (You know what I mean if you have a cat)

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • QinnQ
                          Qinn
                          last edited by

                          Smooth update to pfSense 2.5.1 CE

                          Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                          Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                          Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • QinnQ
                            Qinn
                            last edited by Qinn

                            Updated to bios coreboot v4.13.05.

                            Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                            Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                            Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

                            F 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • F
                              FLOK @Qinn
                              last edited by

                              @qinn Fine !
                              I am still on 2.4.5_1.
                              Did you notice any performance degradation ?

                              QinnQ 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • QinnQ
                                Qinn @FLOK
                                last edited by

                                @flok No, so far not.

                                Hardeware: Intel(R) Celeron(R) J4125 CPU @ 2.00GHz 102 GB mSATA SSD (ZFS)
                                Firmware: Latest-stable-pfSense CE (amd64)
                                Packages: pfBlockerNG devel-beta (beta tester) - Avahi - Notes - Ntopng - PIMD/udpbroadcastrelay - Service Watchdog - System Patches

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

                                  I received an email notification about v4.14.0.2 and this IMPORTANT message was included:

                                  To update the firmware and keep the runtime configuration unchanged please use the following command:
                                  flashrom -p internal -w apuX_v4.14.0.2.rom --fmap -i COREBOOT
                                  The persistent runtime configuration works only when migrating from versions v4.14.0.1 and later. The feature is not yet supported on apu1. Flashrom version needs to be v1.1 or newer.

                                  I did the upgrade from v4.14.0.1 with that new command without any issues. However, for the longest time this is what I've been using:

                                  flashrom -p internal -w apuX_v4.14.0.2.rom

                                  What is the difference?

                                  B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • B
                                    bigsy @kevindd992002
                                    last edited by

                                    @kevindd992002
                                    I'm not by any means an expert on coreboot, but

                                    flashrom -p internal -w apuX_v4.14.0.2.rom
                                    

                                    will overwrite the entire flash chip with the new rom file.

                                    flashrom -p internal -w apuX_v4.14.0.2.rom --fmap -i COREBOOT
                                    

                                    The flash chip has various partitions defined in a 'flashmap' format and this command specifies which area to overwrite. This probably allows for user altered settings such as seabios boot order changes to persist and not get overwritten during the coreboot update, but I haven't tried it out.

                                    K 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                                    • K
                                      kevindd992002 @bigsy
                                      last edited by

                                      @bigsy said in PC Engines apu2 experiences:

                                      @kevindd992002
                                      I'm not by any means an expert on coreboot, but

                                      flashrom -p internal -w apuX_v4.14.0.2.rom
                                      

                                      will overwrite the entire flash chip with the new rom file.

                                      flashrom -p internal -w apuX_v4.14.0.2.rom --fmap -i COREBOOT
                                      

                                      The flash chip has various partitions defined in a 'flashmap' format and this command specifies which area to overwrite. This probably allows for user altered settings such as seabios boot order changes to persist and not get overwritten during the coreboot update, but I haven't tried it out.

                                      That's what I thought. However, with the 1st command I have never seen any seabios setting get changed when I use it to update my APU2. I'm wondering if it's really better to use the 2nd command from this point moving forward.

                                      B 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • B
                                        bigsy @kevindd992002
                                        last edited by

                                        @kevindd992002 If you look at the changes to the pcEngines fork of SeaBIOS, the addition of 'support for persistent bootorder in FMAP region' has only been in the most recent release of SeaBIOS v1.14.0.1 and similarly for sortbootorder v4.6.21.

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

                                          @bigsy I see. So we're just preserving boot order here? Since I just have one boot device in my APU2, then it wouldn't matter to me.

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

                                            For the APU2C4, why is it that when I have a serial cable connected between its serial port and a computer, its USB ports don't work? I have a UPS plugged in to one of its USB ports and I use the NUT package in pfsense. As soon as I connect to the hardware through the serial port (using putty), the USB port does not work. Unplugging the serial cable fixes the issue and that's why I know it's the one causing it. This is happening for both of my APU2C4 boxes.

                                            DaddyGoD V K 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
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