Via EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard

[Steve Burton]

Carl Morley wrote:

> See bottom of email for CLM's comments;
> 
> 
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: owner-freebsd-stable at freebsd.org [mailto:owner-freebsd-
>>stable at freebsd.org] On Behalf Of Rudolph Pereira
>>Sent: Tuesday, 22 July 2003 06:32
>>To: freebsd-stable at FreeBSD.ORG
>>Subject: Re: Via EPIA Mini-ITX motherboard
>>
>>Just to drag this thread on a bit further ...
> 
> 
> No worries, I have found it a useful thread.
> 
> 
>>I've been looking into these little boxes, thinking I could use one as
> 
> a
> 
>>firewall/gateway. My one requirement is that it would need to have two
>>PCI slots (one can be low-profile), and although I've seen PCI riser
>>cards that can give me two slots, they've been rare, and cases that
> 
> are
> 
>>suitable (i.e have the space, and back panels are compatible)
>>even rarer (I've yet to find one). Does anyone know of any such
>>cases (it'd be even better if they're available in au)?
> 
> 
> And they can be got - www.traverse.com.au, speak to a bloke by the name
> of Guy Ellis.
> 
> 
>>thanks
> 
> 
> No probs, but be warned about the vr0 cards.  The CPU/chipset is great,
> and who cares about sound and video for routing - plus they look bloody
> great.  I only wish they came with something other than the Rhine
> chipset NIC's.....
> 
> Cheers,
> Carl.

I've two mini-itx machines, one with FreeBSD 5.1 REL and I've had no 
problems with the vr interface connected to a Cisco switch. I tried the 
same chip some time ago (about 4.4 or 4.5) with the same switch and the 
results were lousy. Mine are built in Morex Cubid 2699R cases which look 
like this:

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/images/2699R.jpg

quite cool. They could be quieter as I opted for the fastest board which 
has a fan on the cpu and two in the case.

The same people (www.mini-itx.com) also sell two models of silent PC's - 
totally passive cooling.

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/images/tranquil1.jpg and
http://www.mini-itx.com/news/images/story0161a.jpg if noise is an issue.

The Cubid case comes with a riser and will take one PCI card though I 
haven't tried fitting a one so I can't comment on what sizes will fit.
Actually, there is a review of the Sigma Designs’ REALmagic Xcard on the 
same site which show it fitting in the Cubid case and that card looks 
like this:

http://www.mini-itx.com/store/images/xcard.jpg

The other one has Windows XP Pro (sorry) which I thought I'd try since 
we're about to roll it out at work. Works very well as a client to the 
FreeBSD server which I mainly use to run Apache, Samba, ISC-DHCP and 
BIND which I use for file sharing and cgi programming. I also use it to 
play^H^H^H^H research on and it normally has more services on than would 
be good for a gateway so I keep it behind a firewall rather than run it 
as a firewall.
The sound and graphics are more than adequate and the XP box will play 
DVD's without dropping frames (no DVD in the 'server' box).

BTW I've no connection with mini-itx.com other than as a (satisfied) 
customer - it was just a convenient site for the photos.

Hope this helps.

Steve.
> 
> 
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