I have been lurking about the web looking for more mini pc/router ideas as I like to tinker with hardware. I seen on youtube your site likes projects such as this as well. I was just going to reach out and ask if anyone has done any projects with compulab.co before? I seen that they are fairly new to consumer grade hardware. Most projects I have on table as of now are my raspberry pi and other arm based boards. I love my mini pi stack (4 pi3's in a cluster) I use as web server and routing system. I was looking for a project that would allow me to build a better PFsense package in small an extra small form factor, But still allow to be repurposed in later on workings down the road as I am always tinkering with the hardware. I would even be open to other suggestions and SOC and AIO projects.
~Thanks in advance
I too like the idea of doing what you are talking about.... however, in practice, not so much.
I like to stick with very mainstream hardware for my pfSense system. A plain old Dell box with Intel NICs. I don't want to get fancy, I need something that is bulletproof, and easily replaceable should there be a problem.
This one-off stuff looks cool, but unless you have a spare sitting on the shelf, it's no good in my book. I can have a couple old core2 systems sitting in on the shelf - ready to go - if I ever need them.
Thanks for the reply @NetBandit, I totally agree to simple is better for main hardware. I have a whole mess of spare boxes and parts laying around for replacing the backend of things. The main goal of this tinker project is finding new fun uber small form factors to play with. I guess I should have been clearer on purpose of this endeavor. The project would be for testing of new gear on a internal subnetwork at most. This is a "do-to-because" kind of thing. More than likely I will order some more asrock rack mini itx boards for the main line, but would like to invest time in testing new products from "off-mainstream" sources.
my railroad inspection programmer buddy has tinkered with there boards. he frankly found them to be not worth his time as they use real time (or as close as possible) environments. if you are only looking to use them as a basic router they will be ample but they lack the horsepower for servers. the time investment to cluster the SOC boards could possibly make it worth while but not cheep. how far down the rabbit hole are you trying to go is the main question you have to ask your self.
Sounds good they would only be used for small scale hobby level stuff....I am on the disabled list so I have nothing but time on my hands and tend to dive deep into projects. My bad for the late response I have been busy rebuilding raid arrays , someday I will by cages with locks my 7 year old pulled 3 drives "helping daddy" lol. I mainly do cheap small projects that I include my kids in to teach them about the tech and code behind things. I seen these boards and thought to myself one they are cheap and two they are cheap lol. I figured i could use them for building a PFsense router and small server to teach not only the kids but friends and family how networks work from end to end. I miss working in data centers at times but I miss my shop more, was always something fun about showing the "average jo" how things work, and also why they work. I do enjoy the feedback I have gotten here and looks like the community seems nice as well. I shall have to start sharing some of my projects on here to see what all people are interested in.