#pcengines — Public Fediverse posts

Der Tag ist doof!

Ich dachte mir, meinen Plan etwas voranzubringen, den fetten Server für Teile der Nacht runterzufahren, um Energie zu sparen. Dazu müsste ich Teile der dortigen Services auf einen anderen 24x7 Server migrieren, der weniger #Strom schluckt.

Meine prädestinierte #Hardware dafür ist die PCEngines APU 1D4, davon habe ich hier noch einige rumliegen. Die sind sparsam und grundsolide, aber auch alt. Performancetechnisch sollten die aber noch ausreichen.

Meine naiven Versuche mit #CentOS 10 scheiterten ebenso wie mit Release 9, vermutlich wegen mangelnder Hardwareunterstützung:
* RHEL 9: Anhebung des x86_64-Baselines auf x86-64-v2
* RHEL10/CentOS Stream 10: x86-64-v3 vorausgesetzt

Schade, weil ich mit CentOS viel Erfahrung habe. Aber da kann man wohl nix machen. Ich will aber weder den Plan noch die vorhandene Hardware aufgeben, jedenfalls jetzt noch nicht.

Also gehe ich mal wacker auf die Suche nach einer anderen #Distribution.

Kriterien:
* möglichst langer Software-Support (Security)
* Support von #Podman

Die KI sagt, dass vermutlich #Debian 13 am ehesten zu empfehlen ist. Ich bin geneigt, dieser Bewertung zuzustimmen. Debian hatte ich auch schon mehrfach im Einsatz, ein gewisses Grundwissen ist also vorhanden.
Für Debian 13 wird aktuell ein Support bis 30. Juni 2030 genannt.

#PCEngines #APU1D4 #APU #EnergieSparen #GNU/Linux

Been trying to keep my #PCEngines #ALIX boards alive, but it looks like #NanoBSD in #FreeBSD doesn't work (compile error in tz!) ...

Nobody seems to still product bootable system images for i386 anymore - not even #NetBSD or #DietPi :(

... which is a real shame; I want to use these extremely reliable, low-power SBCs as #Zabbix Proxies (using memory-backed #SQLite for the DB), but this seems to be a realllllllly big lift :(

@dexter is this something #OccamBSD can help me with? No chance of a 14.3 serial-console image out there?

@vimja I'm sorry for the loss. These boards were so good!
#pcengines

I killed one of my #PCEngines #APU tonight 😭

Today's real champion is this one. One of my PC Engines APU devices - I don’t remember the exact year I bought it, probably 2017.

It worked at my home as a router/firewall with OPNsense for several months, then in 2018 I installed it at a client’s site, "as a temporary emergency solution". Still running OPNsense, always kept updated, and it hasn’t missed a bit since then.

During a severe thunderstorm, the access point and switch connected to it were fried, but it kept going - silently and reliably. Zerotier, Wireguard, port forwarding, bandwidth graphs - all handled in a hot office, often with the air conditioning turned off during holidays.

It did everything, and it still works.

The client moved to a new location this morning, and the APU was replaced with a more powerful device (in anticipation of a future Internet upgrade). I decided to take it back with me (technically, it’s still mine) - they couldn’t find the power adapter, probably still packed in boxes, but up until 07:30 this morning (the last time I connected to the server behind it via VPN), it was perfectly reliable.

I’ll probably keep using it - I have others - maybe in the office as a file server with two attached drives.

Honor to the device, honor to OPNsense, honor to FreeBSD.

#OPNSense #FreeBSD #RunBSD #APU #APU2 #PCEngines

My #PCEngines #ALIX.1D seems broken. :-(

@xahteiwi used it on all router-based APs for as long as I can remember and wanted to go "centrally managed" few years ago, as I liked the #OpenMesh idea, but back then stability/performance were lacking and the acquisition by #Datto killed everything (including the hope of those getting fixed):
https://openwrt.org/toh/openmesh/start

Nowadays, my router (#PCEngines APU 2C4) is the only OpenWrt-based device left, the APs/switches are all #UniFi and even the router might get migrated to #NixOS at some point.

@pwa Ich nutze seit vielen Jahren eine APU2 von #PCengines. Ich bin immer noch BEGEISTERT, wie problemlos das "BIOS"-Update! 🤩 (Vor allem im Vergleich zu typischen PC-Mainboards mit ihren proprietären BLOBs, die man per USB-Stick und magischen Tasten beim Boot mit etwas Nervenkitzel einspielen darf.) Schreiben und Lesen/Verifizieren mit einem freien Tool vom OS aus 👍 Darüberhinaus tut das Ding absolut klaglos seinen Dienst. 👌 Leider sind die EOL, nur Reste lieferbar. 😔
https://www.pcengines.ch/apu2.htm

@deadbeefthemonster @simondassow

Did you install #openbsd on any one of these?

I'm looking for a replacement for #pcengines (they stoppped manufacturing 😢 ) but those #arm boxes have weird installation instructions and I don't want to run off SD or USB stick like #raspberrypi.

Needed a dynamic status page on some #embedded #pcengines #netbsd boxes, so thought I'd see if a #perl #nginx #fastcgi #daemon (with a pidfile & 'start', 'stop', status' etc) was quick to setup

Turns out: "yes"

#!/usr/pkg/bin/perl
use Daemon::Generic;
use CGI::Fast
socket_path => '127.0.0.1:8999',
listen_queue => 50;

newdaemon( 'progname' => 'statusd');

sub gd_run {
while ( $q = CGI::Fast->new ) {
process_request($q);
}
}

process_request() {
my $q = shift;
# code here
}

Excited to say that my NixOS router is up and running and I can leave my ISP-provided one behind! :blobhaj_heart:​

Finished configuring it on Saturday and it's been happily routing packets since.

#NixOS #Nix #Networking #Router #PCEngines #Homelab

Sad to see that a trusty hardware is being discontinued because chip manufacturer ends product line.
APUs have been nice boxes when one had a need for a compact, passively cooled computer with few gigabit interfaces and optional wifi or mobile network.
Virtualization is all good and so, but hands-on experiments with real cables do have benefits. We have given these to students to setup at home and then come to lab to test their router etc. config. #PCEngines
https://www.pcengines.ch/eol.htm

So long and thank for all the chips.
#PCEngines #WRAP #ALIX #APU
"After about 20 years of WRAP, ALIX and APU, it is time for me to move on to different things." https://www.pcengines.ch/eol.htm

If you haven't seen it, #PCEngines will be winding down their #APU line.

https://www.pcengines.ch/eol.htm

Finally got round to ordering a PC Engines server (https://www.pcengines.ch/apu2e4.htm).

Extremely excited to become the sort of person whose home router runs NixOS.

#PCEngines #NixOS #Networking #Router