Re: small form factor router recommendations

From: Lexi Winter <lexi_at_le-fay.org>
Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2024 19:23:48 UTC
i wrote:
> i'm looking for an SFF or single-board computer that can run FreeBSD,
> for routing (FTTC, IPsec, Wireguard) on a home/soho network.

to summarise the various suggestions people made (thanks!):

- Protectli <https://eu.protectli.com/>: these looked interesting but
  the prices are *very* high compared to other options; the minimum
  price to get 10Gbps ports is €879.

- Netgate <https://www.netgate.com/appliances>: again fairly high
  prices, although lower than Protectli, but these seem to be designed
  specifically to run Netgate's software (pfSense) and i didn't see
  anything about support for generic FreeBSD.

- PC Engines <https://pcengines.ch/apu6b4.htm>: i've used these in the
  past, and was very happy with them, but the CPUs are just too slow for
  modern routing requirements.

- TekLager <https://teklager.se/en/>: this was the most interesting
  suggestion of all (for me) as they seem to be fairly high performance,
  and include a good selection of ports.  unfortunately, as i preparing
  to buy, i discovered the vendor doesn't ship to my country (UK) which
  made this a non-starter.

so, in the end i bought a 'Kansung' device from AliExpress:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005006250289547.html

i know many people are (reasonably) a bit iffy about buying computers
from China, but from what i can tell, this is the same device that
TekLager sell, just direct from the manufacturer.  the price was
slightly cheaper than TL, but after accounting for customs fees, i
suspect it'll end up roughly the same.

the router hasn't arrived yet, but once it does, i'll post a follow-up
with my experiences.

	regards, lexi.