Had a thought just now. I can buy a usb c ethernet adapter for about 10 bucks, and probably find a laptop with usb c for pretty cheap. So I’m curious, dous pfsense support usb c?
Mostly looking for a cheaper way to do gigabit / 4-5gbit than dumping money on a bunch of eth cards. I was going to use my older mac pro for a firewall, but I think I might sell it.
Is just a connector type just so you know.
PFSesne will support USB interfaces, but I dont think I would want to run a lot of interfaces off it. You can always buy some try it out and return them if they dont end up giving you the performance you are aiming for.
There are a lot of cheap hardware options out there for around $100-200 that I would probably go for to not have to deal with USB interfaces (unless its just one or you are trying to go as cheap of budget as possible)
It’d only be one.
What would you get instead? Is there a pi-type device thats x86 and has 2 gigabit nics?
Probably but would most likely be expensive to the point it wouldnt make all that much sense as you could get like a 1220v3 xeon desktop for probably the same price
$110 a x86 pi type board would probably be similarly priced
My pfsense box runs on a 4130t, really doesnt need much power (probably will move up to my 1275l soon as its currently not being used)
If you’re not constrained on space you could build an excellent ryzen apu based router (e.g. b350 and a 3200G) for $200/$250.
You even get a warranty 
Usually you could add another $50 for a compact case and power supply… depending on what components you pick.
If you’re on a more of a budget ($ and power) raspberry pi 4 has a true gigabit port and a good and proper USB 3 (for extra nics - USB eth can’t be less reliable than your typical residential ISP). Except pfSense needs x86 afaik, so you’d have to use something else. E.g. if you want a router with a clicky ui, use openwrt.
Fine folks at pine64.org , and hardkernel.com have an interesting offering as well if you don’t like the pi for some reason
As much as I’m a fan of the while reduce, reuse, recycle thing - I’d prefer a modern low power usage SBC over a 10-15year old cash register or pos pc. (even if slower)
Honestly would do new hardware if I could afford it but all my cash is going to medical bills rn.
I might try the usb c idea first.
Just be aware you can actually buy an entry level netgate appliance for pretty cheap too. I’m not sure they sell the total base entry level box any more, but they were something like $120-150 last i checked.
With a support contract of some kind - and not running on x86, thus immune to the most common shell-code on the internet.
