From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Sun Jun 14 13:14:57 2009 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D40EC1065670 for ; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:14:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sonic2000gr@gmail.com) Received: from mail-fx0-f228.google.com (mail-fx0-f228.google.com [209.85.220.228]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5ED458FC15 for ; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:14:57 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from sonic2000gr@gmail.com) Received: by fxm28 with SMTP id 28so508465fxm.43 for ; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 06:14:56 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:received:received:message-id:date:from :user-agent:mime-version:to:cc:subject:references:in-reply-to :x-enigmail-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; bh=mS2a7TrS/E+8p3Fo0DGxu8mUcXjILUstIO+xdTKXHQQ=; b=CtleAxQHWn+yCbxEo311aOoUdtql08lMGFACfEJ+j19bUa1j74XwwyURa19+l1/UMU Dl1UKxaek8nuqEA2Vcriptr0kUCPptu8uTz2eUZKzC1ZmpZDABSqXV3xfrW5WagoySJ+ gndvWMFBmtjPJrUwTLVeC31nxzxLDZHLNoCTA= DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=message-id:date:from:user-agent:mime-version:to:cc:subject :references:in-reply-to:x-enigmail-version:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; b=eofc85Sw1F5+se3GJTHg+uaVzpd0mJVVBuuaN1M+fEehG4XcWoq2IFce57xvKacfVa T0S/qtKIS/PzPOAV6AG3/HI/VNHkpdDltZ2JxclQT0Rl7V1oMD5fhieLji2OE6Qr/fLX fJ+ml9BcwZSqhaBwCFj4GJoaysMsF4bNLaxnw= Received: by 10.103.39.17 with SMTP id r17mr2998709muj.75.1244983923635; Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:52:03 -0700 (PDT) Received: from atomic.dyndns.org (athedsl-4468804.home.otenet.gr [94.71.112.52]) by mx.google.com with ESMTPS id w5sm1583031mue.34.2009.06.14.05.52.02 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5); Sun, 14 Jun 2009 05:52:02 -0700 (PDT) Message-ID: <4A34F271.1000000@gmail.com> Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:52:01 +0300 From: Manolis Kiagias User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.21 (X11/20090414) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Pete French References: In-Reply-To: X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.7 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-7 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: aragon@phat.za.net, freebsd-stable@freebsd.org, tj@tjvarghese.com Subject: Re: reecommendations for an 'appliance" platform ? X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sun, 14 Jun 2009 13:14:58 -0000 Pete French wrote: >> I've tried the Atom330 (D945GCLF2). It works fine with amd64...however >> it's rather wasted for 64bit considering it maxes out at 2gb. But I >> suppose if you wanted to standardize on amd64 installs, this is good. >> > > Size of memory doesnt bother me really - I made the move to amd64 because > of the extra performance due to the extra registers (about 8% on my > application, I realise that not everyone gets a speedup). Given the > fact I am also moving to ZFS, and that works a lot better on amd64, then > I am not keen to go back ;-) > > >> Gigabit - ok, re0. You'll need 7.2 at least. >> USB - ok >> SATA - 2 ports tested only with gmirror, ok. >> > > Those three are very good to know work - the box will be headless, so I > just need ether and booting to work fine. Am always wary of re0 ethernets > as have been bitten in the past. > > Thanks for all the advice from eeryone in this thread - I have narrowed > the choice down to either the Tranquil PC unit, or the Shuttle X27D, > which is also Atom 330 based. Given the price I may simply buy one of each > and evaluate which is better. Will report back if so. > > I own the X27D, in fact I am typing this from it. It works reasonably well with FreeBSD (I am using 7.2/i386). The ethernet card (100Mbit), USB , SATA, audio, Xorg all work fine. You will only need this in sysctl.conf: hw.acpi.thermal.polling_rate=0 otherwise you will be flooded with messages about weird temperatures. There is a single 40mm fan in the chipset, and in my system it failed about after a week of continuous operation. As it wasn't noisy it took a couple of hours until I realized it. You may wish to replace it with a better quality fan. This will probably work ok with AMD64 too, though with 2G of RAM I had no real reason to try.