----- Original Message ----- > From: "corey clingo" <clinge...@gmail.com> > To: misc@openbsd.org > Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2012 7:05:17 PM > Subject: Re: looking for hardware recommendations, x86 or otherwise. > > On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 4:06 PM, Dewey Hylton > <dewey.hyl...@gmail.com> wrote: > > if you feel this is a tired and worn-out question, then please just > > move > along. > > > > two systems on which i'm happily running openbsd on are: > > alix and mac mini. alix for firewalls/thin clients, and the mac > > mini can > handle pretty much anything i throw at it. both are relatively cheap > (new alix > and used minis) and function well. in addition to firewalls/thin > clients, my > needs do not include anything high-performance or high-bandwidth - > mostly > infrastructure services such as dns/dhcp/web for small companies. > > > > so what i'm looking for is something small like (or smaller than) > > these two > systems, and just as stable, while being cheaper. and i'm looking for > recommendations, not just suggestions - if you haven't tried it and > loved it, > don't bother mentioning it. > > > > i'm hoping the raspberrypi will eventually be supported on openbsd > > (if the > hardware proves to be stable, $35 sounds GREAT) but i don't have the > skills to > go there myself. > > > > Alixes are pretty cheap. Not Sheevaplug or RasberryPi cheap, but > cheap > for the capabilities they have. I mean, at the end of the day, your > clients are relying on these devices for potentially > business-critical > services. How much do they really want to skimp? > > Personally I've lately been moving upmarket with this kind of device. > You get better performance (e.g., faster CPUs, Intel GbE rather than > Via, etc.), a more solid build, and I've never had to solder my own > surface mount caps on > one to fix a clock oscillator issue as I did with my home Soekris > once > :) > > All that said, one day when I retire and want to stretch my brain to > keep from getting senile, I'll probably try to port OpenBSD to a > couple of embedded-ish devices I currently use. The hardware is > generally decent from the outside, but I can't help but believe > they'd > be better, faster, and more secure with OpenBSD than the iffy > Linux+vendor "enhancements" that they typically come with. > > Corey
is it safe to assume your upmarket devices meet the first two criteria, but are more expensive? i'm still interested in hearing your recommendation; most of my servers are much larger and more expensive than the alix solutions - having something in the middle could certainly be useful. thanks for your input.
