Re: Low power machine

[Dustin Marquess <dmarquess%gmail.com@localhost>]

Sorry, I should have been more specific!

It's going to be at our ranch about 76 miles away.  So I'm going to be
doing the install and setup.  I usually only make it out there weekly
though, which is why I wanted something somewhat stable.

For enclosed I just meant something that isn't like a bare board.
It's in a barn, so it's a dusty environment.

Along with the VPN tunnel and unbound DNS, it's only other purpose is
really going to be just a remote troubleshooting tool.

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far!
-Dustin

On Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 8:06 PM, Andy Ruhl <acruhl%gmail.com@localhost> wrote:
> On Wed, Nov 19, 2014 at 6:05 PM, Dustin Marquess <dmarquess%gmail.com@localhost>
> wrote:
>>
>> Sorry if this is slightly OT.
>>
>> I'm looking for recommendations for an enclosed, stable low power draw
>> machine that is NetBSD-friendly to install in a remote location for
>> two purposes:
>>
>> - A single nailed-up OpenVPN tunnel
>> - A small unbound DNS resolver install
>>
>> So far I've been looking at a Raspberry Pi Model B+ and a Beaglebone
>> Black, but I'm not sure of the status on those two exact models.  I've
>> also been looking at the Intel NUCs, but those are in another class
>> when it comes to power draw.
>>
>> Any other recommendations?
>
>
> I think it really depends on what you mean by "install in a remote
> location".
>
> I've been using the Seagate Dockstar with some success for a while now. I
> like them because they have multiple USB ports, fairly low power draw, and
> arm is pretty well supported by NetBSD. But only 128 megs of memory. Hasn't
> been an issue so far.
>
> You do have to do some firmware hacks to make it boot NetBSD though. Not
> very friendly for a remote setup, but you could easily set it up locally and
> mail it to wherever it goes. Connecting a console is not trivial either, but
> if you could get one on it at the remote location it would be simple to
> support.
>
> The Pi will boot from an SD card with no issue, so long as someone local can
> write an image to the card. You could edit the image and put whatever you
> want in there to get it to boot, and then finish the deployment from there.
> Most similar machines should be the same.
>
> I'm deploying another Dockstar right now.
>
> Andy
>
>