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diff --git a/content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org b/content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org index e68fd6f..29cb300 100644 --- a/content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org +++ b/content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org @@ -1,6 +1,6 @@ #+TITLE: PC Engines APU Comparison -#+DATE: 2020-06-16T23:43:02-04:00 -#+DRAFT: true +#+DATE: 2020-06-17T00:50:06-04:00 +#+DRAFT: false #+DESCRIPTION: Comparison between PC Engines APU machines #+TAGS[]: hardware pcengines #+KEYWORDS[]: hardware pcengines @@ -9,8 +9,8 @@ I've been looking at the PC Engines APU line for a while. They're a line of medium size single board PCs with a DB9 serial connector and -no VGA port. They also have gigabit Ethernet and are often used as -firewall machines. +no VGA port. They also have gigabit Ethernet. Because of this they're +often used as firewall machines. I want to get one and use it as either the home router, or an experimental server to mess around with. Quite a few OpenBSD folks use @@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ numbers get a little confusing. They come in several variants, I'll list them here for context. #+CAPTION: Taken from the PC Engines website -#+BEGIN_QUOTE +#+BEGIN_SRC apu2d0 (2 GB DRAM, 2 i211AT NICs) apu2e2 (2 GB DRAM, 3 i211AT NICs) apu2e4 (4 GB DRAM, 3 i210AT NICs) @@ -33,64 +33,60 @@ list them here for context. apu3c4 (4 GB DRAM, 3 i211AT NICs, optimized for 3G/LTE modems) apu4d2 (2 GB DRAM, 4 i211AT NICs) apu4d4 (4 GB DRAM, 4 i211AT NICs) - #+END_QUOTE + #+END_SRC What do the letters between the numbers mean? What is the significance of the numbers in the first place? -Let's take the example =apu3c2=. The 3 here means it's version 3 of -the APU board. The APU 1 is no longer sold, so it's left out of the -list on the PC Engines website, along with most of their -re-sellers. The letter between the numbers is the revision of that -board. It's pretty much irrelevant for comparison, other than you want -to get the most recent one, as listed on the PC Engines website. The -revisions are mostly minor tweaks to the board. The final number is -the number of gigabytes of RAM (in most cases). +Let's take the =apu3c2= as an example. The =3= here means it's version +3 of the APU board. The APU 1 is no longer sold, so it's left out of +the list on the PC Engines website, along with most of their +re-sellers. The letter =c= is the revision of that board. It's pretty +much irrelevant for comparison. You'll want to get the most recent +one, as listed on the PC Engines website. The revisions are mostly +minor tweaks to the board. The final number, =2=, is the number of gigabytes +of RAM (in most cases). -The APU2 boards have a single mSATA slot, and a regular SATA -connector, two mPCIe slots, and a SIM tray. Using the SIM tray will -remove the ability to use one of the two mPCIe slots. It comes with 2 -external USB 3.0 type A ports, 2 internal USB 2.0 ports (header only), -an SD card slot, and a GPIO header. It also has 3 Intel i211AT gigabit -NICs, with the exception of the APU2D0, as mentioned below. +The APU2E2 boards have a single mSATA slot, and a regular SATA +connector, two mPCIe slots, and a SIM tray. It comes with 2 external +USB 3.0 type A ports, 2 internal USB 2.0 ports (header only), an SD +card slot, and a GPIO header. It also has 3 Intel i211AT gigabit +NICs. Using the SIM tray will remove the ability to use one of the two +mPCIe slots. So what are the major differences between version numbers? They all use the same CPU, the quad core AMD Embedded G series GX-412TC running -at 1 GHz. Everything else about the boards are practically identical -too. I'll give a description of the differences relative to the APU2 +at 1 GHz. Most other components on the boards are the same as +well. I'll give a description of the differences relative to the APU2 board. -The APU2D0 is the same as the regular APU2, but without a GPIO header, -and it has only 2 NICs. +The APU2D0 is the same as the regular APU2, but without a GPIO +headers, and it has only 2 NICs. -The APU3 has an extra SIM tray, and the first slot, which on the APU2 -is mSATA only can be used as either an mSATA or mPCIe slot. If you -were to choose to use both SIM trays, you would lose the ability to -use both the first mSATA/mPCIe slot and second mPCIe slot, meaning you -would be unable to use an mSATA drive. It also lets you do GPIO tray -swapping and failover. Other than that everything else appears to be -the same. +The APU3 has an extra SIM tray, and the first slot, which is mSATA +only on the APU2, can be used as either an mSATA or USB 3G/LTE Modem +slot. The second slot can only be used for a modem. It also lets you +do GPIO tray swapping and failover, so you can use only a single modem +for 2 SIMs. -The APU4D2 has 4 NICs instead of 3, like the APU2. It also has three -mPCIe slots, with the first one being a dual mPCIe/mSATA slot, like -with the APU3. It only has one SIM slot, same as the APU2. +The APU4D2 has 4 NICs instead of 3, and the second slot is modem +only. It has 2 GB of RAM. -The APU4D4 is the same as the APU4D2, except it has dual SIM trays. +The APU4D4 is the same as the APU4D2, except it has dual SIM trays. It +has 4 GB of RAM. -A lot of this information wasn't really obvious to me upon first +I found a lot of this information wasn't really obvious to upon first reading the PC Engines website, as there's no direct comparison -between the board, and the site relies on you flipping between -pages to find the details. The re-seller website I looked at also -didn't elaborate on the differences. +between the board, and the site relies on you flipping between pages +to find the details. The re-seller website I looked at also didn't +elaborate on the differences. -Here's a small table describing the differences. - -| Board | RAM | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Ethernet Controllers | SIM Slots | USB 2.0 Connections | GPIO Headers | -|--------+------+-----------------+-----------+--------+----------------------+-----------+---------------------+--------------| -| apu2d0 | 2 GB | mSATA | mPCIe/SIM | mPCIe | 2 i211AT | 1 | 2 | No | -| apu2e2 | 2 GB | mSATA | mPCIe/SIM | mPCIe | 3 i211AT | 1 | 2 | Yes | -| apu2e4 | 4 GB | mSATA | mPCIe/SIM | mPCIe | 3 i210AT | 1 | 2 | Yes | -| apu3c2 | 2 GB | mSATA/LTE Modem | LTE Modem | mPCIe | 3 i211AT | 2 | 4 | Yes | -| apu3c4 | 4 GB | mSATA/LTE Modem | LTE Modem | mPCIe | 3 i211AT | 2 | 4 | Yes | -| apu4d2 | 2 GB | mSATA | LTE Modem | mPCIe | 4 i211AT | 1 | 2 | Yes | -| apu4d4 | 4 GB | mSATA/LTE Modem | LTE Modem | mPCIe | 4 i211AT | 2 | 2 | Yes | +| Board | RAM | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Ethernet Controllers | SIM Slots | USB 2.0 | Headers | +|--------+------+-------------+-------------+--------+----------------------+-----------+---------+---------| +| apu2d0 | 2 GB | mSATA | mPCIe/Modem | mPCIe | 2 i211AT | 1 | 2 | No | +| apu2e2 | 2 GB | mSATA | mPCIe/Modem | mPCIe | 3 i211AT | 1 | 2 | Yes | +| apu2e4 | 4 GB | mSATA | mPCIe/Modem | mPCIe | 3 i210AT | 1 | 2 | Yes | +| apu3c2 | 2 GB | mSATA/Modem | Modem | mPCIe | 3 i211AT | 2 | 4 | Yes | +| apu3c4 | 4 GB | mSATA/Modem | Modem | mPCIe | 3 i211AT | 2 | 4 | Yes | +| apu4d2 | 2 GB | mSATA | Modem | mPCIe | 4 i211AT | 1 | 2 | Yes | +| apu4d4 | 4 GB | mSATA/Modem | Modem | mPCIe | 4 i211AT | 2 | 2 | Yes | |