[ale] homebrew routers, castoff hardware

Jim Kinney jim.kinney at gmail.com
Sat Sep 23 23:15:35 EDT 2017


Heh, heh. I understand. I had everything except internet. 

I have a 15KW backup generator on natural gas. Can't stop a tree fall or truck wreck from taking out a phone pole :-(

On September 23, 2017 10:58:31 PM EDT, Raj Wurttemberg <rajaw at c64.us> wrote:
>I should have said why the 114W was an issue. I'm not a "prepper" but
>every
>now and then we have an extended power outage (i.e. Irma) and I do like
>to
>try to limit my watts and amps for a small off-grid, solar setup I have
>put
>together. We lost power during Irma but we had internet, lights,
>laptops,
>and tablets until the power came back on. Probably not a care or worry
>for
>most... it's just a hobby for me. :)
>
>/Raj
>
>
>On Sat, Sep 23, 2017 at 6:13 PM, Jim Kinney <jim.kinney at gmail.com>
>wrote:
>
>> I never mix investment payoff with geek appeal or security. If the
>budget
>> is too tight to run the hardware, I need to be doing other things.
>AC,
>> dryer, fridge = big power. My stack of gear in the basement is worth
>every
>> W in my happiness (until something breaks then it's all just a pile
>of
>> garbage to be replaced asap).
>>
>> I will be using that rack to provide crawlspace heating this
>winter:-).
>> The floor in my den is usually quite cold.
>>
>> On September 23, 2017 3:04:47 PM EDT, Steve Litt <
>> slitt at troubleshooters.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Sat, 23 Sep 2017 00:31:54 -0700
>>> Alex Carver <agcarver+ale at acarver.net> wrote:
>>>
>>>  On 2017-09-22 15:59, Joey Kelly wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>  On Friday 22 September 2017 12:53:34 DJ-Pfulio wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>>  The newer APU2 CPUs handle 750+Mbps on their GigE connections
>>>>>>  thanks to Intel NICs.  These aren't the old Alix boards.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>  I'm about to get a few of these for my lab. I'm working on a
>>>>>  perpetual dev project and had wanted to use Soekris, but they
>just
>>>>>  pulled out of the US. I started looking for a replacement and
>found
>>>>>  these, the apparent Alix successor. These things are beefier and
>>>>>  way cheaper, so it's a win.
>>>>>
>>>>>  On a side note, there's lots of little router-style boxes out of
>>>>>  there, but most of them are from Red China. I shudder to think
>what
>>>>>  lurks in the firmware.
>>>>>
>>>>>  --Joey
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>  I've been looking at one of these though I haven't pulled the
>trigger
>>>>  yet since they're not cheap.  Not necessarily direct from China
>>>>  (though one office is in Taiwan).
>>>>
>>>>  https://www.logicsupply.com/ml400g-12/
>>>>
>>>
>>> Not cheap is an understatement. At 15 cents/kw-hr, I spend about
>>> $0.40/day running my guestimate 100 watt ancient box. So that's in
>the
>>> neighborhood of $150/year. It would take me 4.4 years running the
>>> recommended low power computer to break even. Would the $662
>computer
>>> last that long and still be relevant to start saving? It's a
>>> reasonable question, although I have a feeling the answer would be
>>> "yes".
>>>
>>> In this calculation I assumed the low power unit uses 0 watts,
>because
>>> my round figure of 100w for my old commodity box is probably low
>too.
>>>
>>> For those of us living in warm climates, a factor in favor of the
>low
>>> power machine is that my 100 watts creates heat which must be
>>> removed via the rather inefficient method of air conditioning,
>>> effectively raising the wattage I pay for due to this one computer.
>>>
>>> I'd feel much better about this investment if it were $300.00. An
>>> investment that pays for itself in 2 years is a no brainer, as long
>as
>>> there's a reasonable expectation the equipment will last longer than
>>> that.
>>>
>>> Whether you buy one of these or not, it's essential to have a second
>>> computer, probably an old commodity box, at the ready in case this
>one
>>> screws up. You should also have an up to date copy of pfSense or
>ipCop
>>> or OpenBSD or whatever you're using to firewall.
>>>
>>> I love the fact that, as configured, this computer has no wifi. I
>>> really want my wifi separate from my firewall.
>>>
>>> SteveT
>>>
>>> Steve Litt
>>> September 2017 featured book: Manager's Guide to Technical
>>> Troubleshooting Brand new, second edition
>>> http://www.troubleshooters.com/mgr
>>> ------------------------------
>>>
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>>> Ale at ale.org
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>>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo
>>>
>>>
>> --
>> Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. All tyopes are thumb
>related
>> and reflect authenticity.
>>
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>>

-- 
Sent from my Android device with K-9 Mail. All tyopes are thumb related and reflect authenticity.
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