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Date:      Thu, 22 Oct 2015 13:48:17 -0600
From:      John Nielsen <lists@jnielsen.net>
To:        Adrian Chadd <adrian.chadd@gmail.com>
Cc:        "freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org" <freebsd-wireless@freebsd.org>, "freebsd-embedded@freebsd.org" <freebsd-embedded@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: looking for suggestions for a small router/appliance board/SoC
Message-ID:  <8B2138DA-A660-413F-B25A-D99398D587C3@jnielsen.net>
In-Reply-To: <CAJ-Vmok4jbffVu-dc9anucTOYRcqR=M_%2BmNKNvqPG0uA%2B=pq%2BA@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <2EB47812-4744-48B5-BEBF-B2074D9EEA8F@jnielsen.net> <CAJ-Vmok4jbffVu-dc9anucTOYRcqR=M_%2BmNKNvqPG0uA%2B=pq%2BA@mail.gmail.com>

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On Oct 22, 2015, at 12:00 PM, Adrian Chadd <adrian.chadd@gmail.com> =
wrote:

> On 22 October 2015 at 10:57, John Nielsen <lists@jnielsen.net> wrote:
>> I=E2=80=99m working on a proof-of-concept for a kind of networking =
swiss army knife. Can anyone suggest a board that meets the following =
requirements? CPU arch doesn=E2=80=99t matter as long as it will run =
FreeBSD (Atom, ARM, MIPS, etc).
>>=20
>>  - Small form factor (SoC, probably)
>>  - Can support at least 2 802.11a/b/g/n adapters, prefer 3 (any =
combination of chip-integrated and mini PCI-e slots. Prefer to avoid USB =
if possible)
>>  - Has or supports at least 2 1GbE ports. Prefer 3-5 ports with =
switching functionality
>>  - Storage not super constrained. Built-in storage (if any) can be =
small (which I=E2=80=99m arbitrarily defining as less than 128MB) if =
there is also an SD card slot or similar. USB storage will do in a =
pinch.
>>  - Has at least 2 free USB ports after meeting previous requirements
>>  - Serial port or header (or GPIO pins that can be used as one? Not =
too familiar with that)
>>  - Low power consumption (within reason taking the above into =
account)
>>  - Low cost (again, within reason)
>>=20
>> I may just start with a PC Engines apu1d, but if there are boards =
that are smaller, cheaper, have lower power requirements and/or have =
integrated wifi or switch capabilities I=E2=80=99d like to look in to =
them as well.
>>=20
>> I know that might be asking a lot, so I=E2=80=99m also open to any =
suggestions that are most of the way there. Thanks!

> The PC engines boards are your best bet to begin with. There's updated
> ARM hardware from Gateworks but I don't recall if we ever got a port
> fully working on it.

Thanks for the pointer. Good to know the Avila boards boot. A Ventana =
board plus one or more expansion modules actually looks very versatile =
and capable of meeting all my requirements (except maybe cost :). The =
Laguna boards also look interesting, though probably not quite versatile =
enough for this particular project. Can anyone jog Adrian=E2=80=99s =
memory on the status of FreeBSD on either of those Gateworks board =
families?

JN




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