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The ALIX/APU platform is sadly the only one on the market that: - has at least three network interfaces - is a relatively straightforward x86 system you can j

The ALIX/APU platform is sadly the only one on the market that: - has at least three network interfaces - is a relatively straightforward x86 system you can just slap a mainstream Linux distro on - is small enough to be integrated into a custom enclosure - is affordable. It's been a reliable platform with only one broken serial port and one broken ethernet interface in some 500 deployed systems (flash endurance is another story, however).

fullstop 4y ago
Check out the Qotom fanless mini-PCs. Mine has 5x network interfaces, and it's a straight forward x86-64 system. I run OpenWrt on mine, but it's just a PC so you can install any mainstream Linux distribution on it. It comes with an enclosure, which might not be what you're looking for. The cost depends on how much memory / storage you need, obviously, but it's not that different from the ALIX/APU once you include things like power supplies, cases, etc.
squarefoot 4y ago
Other devices can fall in that category, or be very close to that, although being much faster they obviously cost more than the ALIX/APU. See for example https://www.ipu-system.de/ https://www.ipu-system.de/ That said, I have been extremely happy with my old WRAP boards; they worked for years without a hitch with PfSense (now I would use OpnSense), and didn't swap them with newer PcEngines boards just because at that time they were already a tad slow for today's Internet.
3np 4y ago
CWWK Intel N5XXX and N6XXX (resold under other names) on AliExpress ticks all those boxes. ServeTheHome has some video reviews and user forum threads on them. Still holding my breath for a Ryzen-Embedded-based APU successor but that's the closest I'm aware of.
- eqvinox 4y ago
  > Still holding my breath for a Ryzen-Embedded-based APU successor but that's the closest I'm aware of. Something like this? https://www.solid-run.com/fanless-computers/industrial-embedded-computers/bedrock-v3000-basic/ https://www.solid-run.com/fanless-computers/industrial-embed... (can't find prices yet, sadly.) Also some time this year a successor to the (Zen1 and very dated) Epyc 3000 series is supposed to show up. I've been running 2 of those and they were nice back when they were fresh. Much more of a small-server setup though.
- pietrushnic 4y ago
  Those are very far from PC Engines: - no ECC - no DRTM - no schematics - no open-source firmware support Trustworthiness of those devices is at least questionable. Today AMD announced [1] Ryzen 5000 with network appliance as target market. I can only imagine how expensive it would be in final design. [1]: https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-4-20-amd-bolsters-embedded-portfolio-with-new-ryzen-emb.html https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-4-20-amd...
  - 3np 4y ago
    Sure, and those can absolutely be valid requirements and considerations. They weren't part of the wish-list I replies to, though!
- anilakar 4y ago
  Sadly our sourcing department might have some other hidden requirements in addition to those listed above. At a quick glance, the unit prices are still at least some 100 eurobucks higher than Pascal's :-) In any case, due to COVID-induced shortages we already had to transition away to other hardware. This has been a huge relief as we had to ditch our custom legacy software stack built on APU+OpenWRT and came up with a generic Ansible/AWX based solution you can run on almost any platform with no tweaking.

fullstop 4y ago

Check out the Qotom fanless mini-PCs. Mine has 5x network interfaces, and it's a straight forward x86-64 system. I run OpenWrt on mine, but it's just a PC so you can install any mainstream Linux distribution on it. It comes with an enclosure, which might not be what you're looking for. The cost depends on how much memory / storage you need, obviously, but it's not that different from the ALIX/APU once you include things like power supplies, cases, etc.

squarefoot 4y ago

Other devices can fall in that category, or be very close to that, although being much faster they obviously cost more than the ALIX/APU. See for example https://www.ipu-system.de/ https://www.ipu-system.de/ That said, I have been extremely happy with my old WRAP boards; they worked for years without a hitch with PfSense (now I would use OpnSense), and didn't swap them with newer PcEngines boards just because at that time they were already a tad slow for today's Internet.

3np 4y ago

CWWK Intel N5XXX and N6XXX (resold under other names) on AliExpress ticks all those boxes. ServeTheHome has some video reviews and user forum threads on them. Still holding my breath for a Ryzen-Embedded-based APU successor but that's the closest I'm aware of.

eqvinox 4y ago
> Still holding my breath for a Ryzen-Embedded-based APU successor but that's the closest I'm aware of. Something like this? https://www.solid-run.com/fanless-computers/industrial-embedded-computers/bedrock-v3000-basic/ https://www.solid-run.com/fanless-computers/industrial-embed... (can't find prices yet, sadly.) Also some time this year a successor to the (Zen1 and very dated) Epyc 3000 series is supposed to show up. I've been running 2 of those and they were nice back when they were fresh. Much more of a small-server setup though.
pietrushnic 4y ago
Those are very far from PC Engines: - no ECC - no DRTM - no schematics - no open-source firmware support Trustworthiness of those devices is at least questionable. Today AMD announced [1] Ryzen 5000 with network appliance as target market. I can only imagine how expensive it would be in final design. [1]: https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-4-20-amd-bolsters-embedded-portfolio-with-new-ryzen-emb.html https://www.amd.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2023-4-20-amd...
- 3np 4y ago
  Sure, and those can absolutely be valid requirements and considerations. They weren't part of the wish-list I replies to, though!
anilakar 4y ago
Sadly our sourcing department might have some other hidden requirements in addition to those listed above. At a quick glance, the unit prices are still at least some 100 eurobucks higher than Pascal's :-) In any case, due to COVID-induced shortages we already had to transition away to other hardware. This has been a huge relief as we had to ditch our custom legacy software stack built on APU+OpenWRT and came up with a generic Ansible/AWX based solution you can run on almost any platform with no tweaking.