Fit-PC2 w/ pfSense
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I've almost decided to get an Alix sometimes next month, the version w/ a RTC battery. While searching around I noticed this little PC called fit-PC2, which includes HDD as an option, preassembled and uses little power and has Gigabit Network. It can load a complete Linux distro + fanless (very important).
Since it has been avail. for a couple of months now, and older models even longer, I'm just wondering if anyone has such a computer running w/ pfSense as a router 24/7 w/ HDD. What I'm concerned of is overheating and becoming unstable shortly after it's warranty. As we all know, electronics w/ no moving parts oftentimes do not simply stop working, they just lockup, auto reboots, etc… when overheated or damaged by heat, in which case the manufacturer will refuse to replace it cuz it ain't broken. They'd simply send it right back to you.
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A forum search for "fitpc" turned up this note: http://forum.pfsense.org/index.php/topic,15132.0.html suggesting at least one user has successfully installed pfSense on a fit PC. The same search turned up another user who apparently gave up trying to install pfSense on a Fit PC.
I have no experience with Fit PCs. However I have been running pfSense 24x7 on a mini-ITX system with a 1GB solid state disk module for almost a year. The module is a Transcend TS1GDOM40V-S. It plugs directly into the IDE connector on the motherboard. There are 44 pin variants to replace notebook drives. I bought it from http://www.memoryc.com, current cost 14 euros and they ship internationally. This won't be suitable if your pfSense needs lots of disk capacity (e.g acts as web cache) or is a heavy disk writer. Compact Flash cards are another low power alternative and from reading the forums it appears there are a number of pfsense users who have chosen that option.