Fri, 24 Jun 2016 12:10:11 +1000 <bytevolc...@safe-mail.net> > On Fri, 24 Jun 2016 04:30:39 +0300 > li...@wrant.com wrote: > > > > What is more important is the level of engineering information > > available from the manufacturer (PC Engines) web site including tech > > specs, manual, BIOS updates, accessories, enclosures, diag boards and > > also: Schematics! > > I certainly dig schematics! Don't forget, they use coreboot.
Yes, these are block diagrams of important sub-systems with chip pin-outs, signal names, voltages, logic arrangement. It's not the complete electric schematic diagram as in a service manual, and certainly not system design documentation, but is is engineering level sufficient and: public access! Comparing this to the paper manual I got with my expensive 2011 Atom D525 system board from SuperMicro, I found what I got lacking for my engineers purpose, despite having connector pin-outs and some voltages. Also, some time later I found out much cheaper Atom mini-ITX boards form competitors as a whole, I would have went with a PC Engines if I knew about them then. So, are you saying that coreboot is serial compatible BIOS? As in textual interface exposed on the serial port, and no menu like the other historic Award/Phoenix/Ami PC BIOS-es? Does it give access to all the BIOS options over the serial port as in pre-boot system set up via RS-232? None video and keyboard dependencies any more for complete system management? Is it? > > > > This seems to be by far more friendly to both engineer & consumer > > users. > > > > PC Engines APU2 product line > > [http://www.pcengines.ch/apu2b2.htm] > > > > 1) How do the APU systems go as pricing to comparable systems from > > other similar (industrial class, desktop enclosure) manufacturers? > > I have two APU2C4 boards. I've never seen these in action, nor had chance to use any coreboot device. > The price is not bad, and the ALIX/APU boards are not loaded with > consumer-grade "ooh, aah" bullet-point rubbish, unlike some of the VIA > boards which are (quite worryingly) also marketed towards medical > devices. The SuperMicro BIOS experience over serial port (the -F models have a BMC/IMPI controller onboard) is not that great. It is the traditional Award style BIOS transposed in a screen interface 1:1 without a proper serial connection functionality factored in. It is not a serial BIOS, it is serial exposed historic old school BIOS. Not necessarily bad, it has borders, colours, much like servers from other commercial vendors. It works, much better than compared to the KVM options you get with a dedicated server hosting plan, but is not susceptible to scripting, nor automation or anything computer (program) operated. It has a bug, that the sensors stop providing data over time and if you do not restart the BMC when you reboot you get a system unusable long beep unable to boot surprise, quite disappointing. A complete remote usage no-go. There is NO FIX, and the work around is to poll the BMC over IPMI and reboot the BMC if it gets to crash which is frequent. Expensive and trouble. It may not be happening on other systems, but for me it is just enough. I know of lots of other SuperMicro embedded and server mainboard quirks. Does a PC Engines APU have any quirks that we should know of in advance? > I am just a little disappointed in the way the components used are > just the consumer/low-end commercial grade versions (0-70degC operating > temps, etc). However, it certainly saves cost! Interesting, when you source sufficient enough amounts of components per order the price difference is negligible compared to the PCB fabrication. I definitely would not need the industrial / medical price tag for my gw. > In addition, the clips for the mSATA/mPCIe slots, given that the use of > metallic screw points would improve grounding to the devices and would > be a lot more robust and resilient against vibration; with screw posts, > there is the option of using rubber washers too. And, screw posts would > cost an order of magnitude less, considering the cost of assembly too. OK, it is not fit for vehicle mounting, yet those do not come with Ethernet ISP cabling :-) I suppose the device is quite fine for a tabletop enclosure. > > 2) How is the OpenBSD experience on the APU systems, do they have > > serial RS232 console (serial BIOS), do they expose all the hardware > > to OpenBSD? > > The serial (RS232) console is set up to use 115200 baud by default (I > am unsure if this is changeable), so make sure this is > in /etc/boot.conf: > > stty com0 115200 > set tty com0 > > I would in fact recommend writing "installXX.fs" directly to a USB, and > then mounting /dev/sd#a to edit boot.conf to add those lines in right > at the top, before installing. It makes life easier. > > I have not had the opportunity to test the GPIO support though; the > watchdog timer is not supported by OpenBSD, so whatever you do, do not > enable the watchdog timer yet. > > > Thank you for providing valuable technical feedback on these what > > appears to be the smarter choice over the other low power devices. > > It is definitely the smarter choice; on average, I notice around 5-6W > consumption, although that does vary depending on load. I will have much less difficult choice the next time I need to deploy the (home) office gateway router and network micro server system. Thank you.
