pfsence pefect box

[Cake]

Found a box on Amazon I think would work for pfsense, opensense, etc.
If your not interested in the latest usb 3.0, 5Ghz super wifi, this could make a great open source router that runs only the stuff you want. I think price is O.K. (power consumption versus active cooling...)

Too bad there is not more bare-bones mini fanless PC's to choose from with 4+ lan ports, mini-pci slots. Still looking for AMD alternative just to exclude possible RdRand backdoor.
Edit: I guess the above has no AES support. ;_(

 

[sfx2000]

Kit box - J1900 is good, and AES-NI is only relevant to some folks - J1900 will do good OVPN...

The challenge is that the cost buys the box - one still needs to add RAM/M-SATA/etc to get it to a bootable/runable state, and then bring up the box under pfSense, linux, or SophosUTM, whatever...

No WIFI in the box... but the 4 Intel GigE NIC's make it an interesting proposition...

Specs below:

Configuration of Q190PG4
Product Description
Case Color:Black (Other Color Can Be Customized)
Material:High Quality Aluminum Alloy
CPU:Intel J1900 Quad Core 2.0GHz
Chipset:J1900 Single Chip
Memory:NO RAM 1*DDR3 Memory Slot,Support 1333/1066MHz,Support DDR3/DDR3L (Low Voltag 1.35V) RAM Max 8GB
Storage:NO msata SSD 1*Serial ATA 6Gb/s connectors 1*Mini-SATA
BIOS:AMI BIOS,32M bit
Graphics:Intel®HD Graphics

Front-Panel Connectors:
1 x Power switch button (Power LED)
2 x USB 2.0 ports
1 x VGA

Back-Panel Connectors:
1 x 12V DC input
1 x HDD LED
4 x RJ-45 port

Network Card:4*LAN Intel WG82583 10/100/1000M Ethernet
Sound Card:Realtek ALC662 HD Audio CODEC
Support OS:Windows7, Windows8,Linux et
Default OS:Windows 7(Unactivated)
Expansion Interfaces:1*Mini PCIE,support 3G/Wifi
Watchdog:Watchdog Timer 256 Level,Programmable
Power SupplyC 12V
Working Temperature:-10℃-55℃
Humidity:0% - 95% Non-Condensing
Size:134*126*36MM (W*D*H)
Weight:1.5kg

 

[System Error Message]

if the CPU has AES-NI than it would be good.
The recent intel celerons are actually atoms (intel changed their branding scheme). Not sure what they use as their cut down chips now.

Even if you have to add your own RAM, wifi and storage the 4 intel NIC makes it good for pfsense.

Because pfsense doesnt support storage and a lot of stuff that openNAS does, basic things only like vga, usb2 and basic audio dont matter.

The important question is, can it do 4Gb/s of NAT and the VPN speeds you can obtain from this intel atom.

If you want to use windows server or linux server this isnt that great because of the CPU and lack of usb3 of which both OS can make use of.

So this is good for pfsense or for some UTMs but nothing else that can utilise more complicated CPUs, usb3 and HDMI (assuming you want a HTPC) or if you want 10Gb/s. Since almost everywhere doesnt have 1Gb/s internet and wont for another decade this is a good solution.

 

[sfx2000]

if the CPU has AES-NI than it would be good.
The recent intel celerons are actually atoms (intel changed their branding scheme). Not sure what they use as their cut down chips now.

Not sure why Intel is playing the whole branding thing with Atom/Celeron/Pentium thing, as Celeron/Pentium these days could be small cores (Silvermont/Airmont) or big cores (IvyBridge/Haswell/Broadwell/Skylake) - need to refer to ARK to tell the difference

Unfortunately, the Silvermont/Baytrail-D/Celeron J1900 doesn't have AES-NI - incredibly odd, as other Silvermont cores (J1900 is one of many variants) do have this "feature", including the Z3735G in my $80 Windows tablet...

Good news I guess is that Intel has changed the AES-NI issue with at least some of their 14nm Airmont/Braswell cores...

 

[Cake]

Took the plunge and bought one with 4 intel nics, J1900 cpu (no AES-NI), 2GB ram, and 32 GB SSD from fleabay. Paid 200 USD. Was hoping to put this off for a couple years, but nobody expects the Spanish inquisition! lol
I will post a update on my thoughts if I get it within the next 2 weeks. I plan to install opensense instead of pfsense, even though the forums I read are very opinionated about it.

 

[sfx2000]

I will post a update on my thoughts if I get it within the next 2 weeks. I plan to install opensense instead of pfsense, even though the forums I read are very opinionated about it.

OpnSense - functional, just be aware of the politics between the pfSense and OpnSense folks...