Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Thu, 28 Jun 2001 23:16:00 -0400
From:      "Louis A. Mamakos" <louie@TransSys.COM>
To:        hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: Status of encryption hardware support in FreeBSD 
Message-ID:  <200106290316.f5T3G0I95199@whizzo.transsys.com>
In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 28 Jun 2001 14:31:16 EDT." <121.f1f847.286cd1f4@aol.com> 
References:  <121.f1f847.286cd1f4@aol.com> 

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
> In a message dated 06/27/2001 11:06:12 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
> soren@soekris.com writes:
> 
> > That's not really the point here, I was talking about lowest end
> >  hardware compared to high end CPU. If we compare with high end hardware,
> >  then we're talking about factor >50 faster than software.... There are
> >  chips out that can do >1Gbit 3-DES, given a 64bit/66Mhz PCI bus.
> >  
> >  I'm just starting with a low end chip to complement my 133 Mhz 486 based
> >  net4501 board, with the goal of low cost and low power, not absolute
> >  performance.
> 
> Its cheaper and more flexible to buy a faster motherboard, which is the point 
> to the rest of us who are deciding if we care about a hardware solution.

Really?  Have you even looked at the net4501 board which was mentioned?  It's
a single-board computer constructed for some specific communication
applications, with no VGA or keyboard support, or spinning fans, and is
pretty inexpensive and in a very small form factor.  Why do I want to
replace this with "a new motherboard?"

Please consider that you probably can't imagine all the applications that
these platforms might be used in, an the availability of fire-breathing
Really Fast CPUs might not actually be applicable to some applications
with very specific requirements. 

"A new motherboard" isn't going to be more flexible since it's likely
to require a power supply larger than the whole low-power computer
you propose to replace.  I'd rather spend the $100 or $150 to add
crypto performance for some applications and maintain the small form
factor, low power consumption, and no moving parts.

The "rest of us" covers quite a few people, with a variety of interesting
applications.

louie


To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?200106290316.f5T3G0I95199>