3 ms·

This has been the same story with all ARM boards for at least a decade. They have promising specs, atrocious linux support, and it never improves no matter what

This has been the same story with all ARM boards for at least a decade. They have promising specs, atrocious linux support, and it never improves no matter what. Get a x86 APU2 and just run mainline linux on it, they're the same price as the ARM board but have perfect compatibility with everything. https://pcengines.ch/apu2.htm https://pcengines.ch/apu2.htm

the_biot 5y ago
To be fair it mostly looks that way because ARM has ruled the market for at least a decade, and there's just so many of them. But yes, many vendors make no effort to mainline their code. But some do, or pay those samaritans to, and as a result you can definitely get boards (including this kind of 5-port switches) that run completely supported on a mainline kernel. My home gateway is a Turris Omnia, supported in mainline for years. I run a plain Debian on it, works great.
tecleandor 5y ago
The sad part is APU boards seem to be backordered until next year :( https://www.pcengines.ch/newshop.php?c=4 https://www.pcengines.ch/newshop.php?c=4
- __david__ 5y ago
  I was able to get one recently from one of their authorized resellers, albeit at a bit of a premium.
- pahae 5y ago
  There are quite a few on ebay if you're desperate for one. Probably won't find the newer 4-NIC models, though. Ebay or a licensed reseller (if there are any) should be easier anyways. I remember them requiring a VAT ID for EU customers. I ordered a couple for a small business so that was no problem back then but private individuals are pretty much out of luck.
holri 5y ago
I have 3 Olimexino A20 Boards running on Debian stable without any external repos/software. All hardware for an audio/web/django/email/xmpp/backup server is running fine for years.
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
  What did you use as cases? Or are they gathering dust in the open?
  - holri 5y ago
    olimex has boxes for them: https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/BOXES/ https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/BOXES/
    - LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
      Ah, thx.
ziml77 5y ago
I've been using one of these to run pfSense (and recently OPNSense) for years now. Has given me zero issues. Also easily handles acting as a VPN server. Less powerful devices tend to be bottlenecked on how fast the VPN connection is by the speed of the processor (I think AES-NI is helping a lot here).

the_biot 5y ago

To be fair it mostly looks that way because ARM has ruled the market for at least a decade, and there's just so many of them. But yes, many vendors make no effort to mainline their code. But some do, or pay those samaritans to, and as a result you can definitely get boards (including this kind of 5-port switches) that run completely supported on a mainline kernel. My home gateway is a Turris Omnia, supported in mainline for years. I run a plain Debian on it, works great.

tecleandor 5y ago

The sad part is APU boards seem to be backordered until next year :( https://www.pcengines.ch/newshop.php?c=4 https://www.pcengines.ch/newshop.php?c=4

__david__ 5y ago
I was able to get one recently from one of their authorized resellers, albeit at a bit of a premium.
pahae 5y ago
There are quite a few on ebay if you're desperate for one. Probably won't find the newer 4-NIC models, though. Ebay or a licensed reseller (if there are any) should be easier anyways. I remember them requiring a VAT ID for EU customers. I ordered a couple for a small business so that was no problem back then but private individuals are pretty much out of luck.

holri 5y ago

I have 3 Olimexino A20 Boards running on Debian stable without any external repos/software. All hardware for an audio/web/django/email/xmpp/backup server is running fine for years.

LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
What did you use as cases? Or are they gathering dust in the open?
- holri 5y ago
  olimex has boxes for them: https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/BOXES/ https://www.olimex.com/Products/OLinuXino/BOXES/
  - LargoLasskhyfv 5y ago
    Ah, thx.

ziml77 5y ago

I've been using one of these to run pfSense (and recently OPNSense) for years now. Has given me zero issues. Also easily handles acting as a VPN server. Less powerful devices tend to be bottlenecked on how fast the VPN connection is by the speed of the processor (I think AES-NI is helping a lot here).