Re: amd64 SBCs on which NetBSD would run ?

[David Brownlee <abs%absd.org@localhost>]

On Tue, 7 May 2019 at 13:44, Andrew Luke Nesbit
<ullbeking%andrewnesbit.org@localhost> wrote:
>
> On 07/05/2019 13:23, David Brownlee wrote:
> > On Sat, 4 May 2019 at 18:16, Mike Pumford <mpumford%mudcovered.org.uk@localhost> wrote:
> >>
> >> On 04/05/2019 15:30, Mayuresh wrote:
> >>> On Sat, May 04, 2019 at 05:49:58PM +0800, Travis Paul wrote:
> >>>> You mentioned that you were looking for an amd64 board.  Have you looked
> >>>> at the PCEngines APU2 boards[1]? I have not personally tried them but
> >>>> perhaps they fit your needs.
>
> I hope you don't mind me jumping in on the conversation at this late
> stage.  I've always had a bit of an allergic reaction to "high end"
> SBC's like the APU2.  I feel they are overpriced, sometimes very much so.
>
> For the same money as the APU2 you can get a real mainboard, one with a
> much more solid construction and better performance.  Similarly with
> many other SBC's in that price level.  If you look hard enough you can
> get an entry-level serverboard with IPMI for not much more money.
>
> I do like SBC's very much.  My favorite SBC is the OPi+2E, and I hope to
> get NetBSD running on it in the near future.  But the advantage of SBC's
> (for me) is when they are very cheap and/or promote creative things.

The APU2 is definitely overpriced for general purpose computing. We
started with the alix2d3 which suited our requirements of: small,
robust, three network ports, easily available and (optional but
desired) POE compatible. The APU2 was an obvious drop in replacement
with better capabilities all round and we could keep using a single
x86 image which would work on all units.

At the time I looked for but couldn't find an arm/mips option - if I
were starting again that could well be different :)

David