From a34d9e9ac3d3e5f302131870afa772c5ae4928e8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Dante Catalfamo Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2020 20:19:47 -0400 Subject: Add PC Engines comparison picture --- content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org | 92 ---------------------------------- 1 file changed, 92 deletions(-) delete mode 100644 content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org (limited to 'content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org') diff --git a/content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org b/content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org deleted file mode 100644 index f53ba02..0000000 --- a/content/posts/pcengines-comparison.org +++ /dev/null @@ -1,92 +0,0 @@ -#+TITLE: PC Engines APU Comparison -#+DATE: 2020-06-17T00:50:06-04:00 -#+DRAFT: false -#+DESCRIPTION: Comparison between PC Engines APU machines -#+TAGS[]: hardware pcengines -#+KEYWORDS[]: hardware pcengines -#+SLUG: -#+SUMMARY: - -I've been looking at the [[https://www.pcengines.ch/apu2.htm][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. 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 -them and recommend them as OpenBSD router and server hardware. They -aren't too expensive, have decent specs and a small physical -footprint. - -One thing that's always confused me was the naming scheme, which is a -little confusing at first. Initially there was the APU, then the APU2, -as described on their site, which makes sense. Then the APU model -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_SRC - apu2d0 (2 GB DRAM, 2 i211AT NICs) - apu2e2 (2 GB DRAM, 3 i211AT NICs) - apu2e4 (4 GB DRAM, 3 i210AT NICs) - apu3c2 (2 GB DRAM, 3 i211AT NICs, optimized for 3G/LTE modems) - 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_SRC - -What do the letters between the numbers mean? What is the significance -of the numbers in the first place? - -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 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. 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 -headers, and it has only 2 NICs. - -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, 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. It -has 4 GB of RAM. - -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. - -| Board | RAM | Slot 1 | Slot 2 | Slot 3 | Ethernet Controllers | SIM Slots | USB 2.0 | Headers | -|--------+------+-------------+-------------+--------+----------------------+-----------+---------+---------| -| [[https://www.pcengines.ch/apu2d0.htm][apu2d0]] | 2 GB | mSATA | mPCIe/Modem | mPCIe | 2 i211AT | 1 | 2 | No | -| [[https://www.pcengines.ch/apu2e2.htm][apu2e2]] | 2 GB | mSATA | mPCIe/Modem | mPCIe | 3 i211AT | 1 | 2 | Yes | -| [[https://www.pcengines.ch/apu2e4.htm][apu2e4]] | 4 GB | mSATA | mPCIe/Modem | mPCIe | 3 i210AT | 1 | 2 | Yes | -| [[https://www.pcengines.ch/apu3c2.htm][apu3c2]] | 2 GB | mSATA/Modem | Modem | mPCIe | 3 i211AT | 2 | 4 | Yes | -| [[https://www.pcengines.ch/apu3c4.htm][apu3c4]] | 4 GB | mSATA/Modem | Modem | mPCIe | 3 i211AT | 2 | 4 | Yes | -| [[https://www.pcengines.ch/apu4d2.htm][apu4d2]] | 2 GB | mSATA | Modem | mPCIe | 4 i211AT | 1 | 2 | Yes | -| [[https://www.pcengines.ch/apu4d4.htm][apu4d4]] | 4 GB | mSATA/Modem | Modem | mPCIe | 4 i211AT | 2 | 2 | Yes | -- cgit v1.2.3