Hey, I felt that there was need to proceed the discussion on the topic. So I wrote a short-ish post on the planet about how I feel about the Raspberry Pi port at the moment: http://planet.ipfire.org/post/the-raspberry-pi-dilemma Please feel free to share thoughts... Michael On Tue, 2012-03-06 at 00:17 +0100, Michael Tremer wrote: > Hello, > > thank you for joining the discussion. > > Yes, it is true that there is only one NIC. But I was rather thinking > about using the board as a gateway for 3G connections and not for cable > or DSL (--> toy). > > I think the new box from Iomega looks pretty interesting, but it is > based on the kinda old Kirkwood architecture by Marvel. I considered > using them in the build cluster but it would be much better to save up > some money and go with proper powerful hardware like the Pandaboard. > Supposedly, we will need about 4 or 5 of them. > > Back on the Raspberry Pi: I can't really say yes or no. It depends on > the amount of work we need to do. If it would be just to compile the > kernel, I would say yes. It seems we cannot get the hardware, so no. > > I was expecting some newcomers this year because Windows 8 is coming up > for ARM in 2013 (as is currently believed). It would create more demand > for ARM-based desktop hardware and actually there is nothing. Not a > single bit. > I am planning to attend CeBIT on Friday together with Arne and we'll see > if we can get some statements from a couple of vendors. I did not find a > lot of them on the exhibitors list and that's why I do not expect a lot > of new information either. But feel free to send me names of companies > which could possibly be interested. If you like to search for yourself > head over here for that: > > http://www.cebit.de/en/about-the-trade-show/programme/exhibitors-products/search-exhibitors-products > > Michael > > On Mon, 2012-03-05 at 07:52 +0000, Arne Fitzenreiter wrote: > > Hi Rod, > > > > you are correct that the Raspberry Pi has only one interface. > > You need an additional USB Dongle or has to use VLAN's. (Not > > implemented in the > > WebIF but the needed tools are present.) > > > > The onboard nic on the PI is also an USB-Nic (same SMC-Chip as on the > > Panda Board) > > > > I'm testing an Iomega iConnect box (1Ghz Kirkwood, 256MB RAM) > > that have also only one onboard lan-nic so i use a usb-lan for red. > > This box is cheap to get in Germany at the moment (45€) > > > > Arne > > > > > > On Sun, 04 Mar 2012 19:53:17 -0600, "R. W. Rodolico" > > wrote: > > > Michael, > > > > > > The only Rasberry Pi's I've seen only have one NIC in them. Is there a > > > version with at least two? If it only has one NIC, that means we'd have > > > to create an alias (eth0:0) and run the firewall off one physical > > > device, or use some kind of USB ethernet dongle. > > > > > > I looked at the Pi and thought, as you mention, it is too low end for > > > much, though I do think it might make a good home router if it had two > > > NIC's in it. > > > > > > Tell me I'm wrong about the single NIC. I'd love that. But, my vote is > > > no if it only has one NIC. > > > > > > Rod > > > > > > On 03/04/2012 08:03 AM, Michael Tremer wrote: > > >> Hello, > > >> > > >> it has been a little bit quite on this list, so I am going to start a > > >> new conversation about Raspberry Pi, a cheap board with an ARM SoC. > > >> > > >> Originally, there has been a request on the forums whether IPFire will > > >> support this hardware. I would like to pass this question on to the SIG. > > >> > > >> On the pro side of the equation: > > >> > > >> The Raspberry Pi Foundation is a charity and is trying to bring small > > >> PCs to poor countries and people who can not afford any. I'd like to > > >> support that. > > >> > > >> Usable software is still missing, but I guess the major distributions > > >> will come up with such very soon. However, among them, there is a > > >> router/firewall distribution missing, and as IPFire is the only Open > > >> Source firewall which has support for ARM, we should consider to enhance > > >> this support for the Raspberry Pis as well. We could bring firewalls to > > >> poorer countries which is quite nice with IPFire: ISPs are planning to > > >> provide LTE (which works with IPFire) and providing a connection to the > > >> internet to small networks like in schools. I suppose that is what the > > >> R-Pi-Foundation is aiming to do. > > >> > > >> On the technical side: The hardware should be powerful enough for > > >> connections to a couple of MBits/s but too weak for powerful services > > >> like the filtering proxy and the intrusion detection system won't work > > >> well. > > >> > > >> The userland of the ARM port should run without any major modification. > > >> Maybe we need to make some amendments on tools like the bootloader > > >> (U-Boot) or others, but we should not expect any trouble there. The left > > >> thing that is to do is to build a new kernel for that device. It uses a > > >> Broadcom chipset which is supported by the Linux kernel and does not > > >> need any patches unless we want to use the GPU. > > >> > > >> The contra side: > > >> > > >> The Raspberry Pi Foundation apparently messed up the launch. It is not > > >> possible to get one and a lot of blokes are going to buy the few that > > >> were already built to create home servers and stuff like that. That's > > >> bad for us, because we cannot test any created code without the > > >> hardware. > > >> > > >> The hardware is weak. As mentioned earlier, it will work for a lot of > > >> things, but not all of the features IPFire provides. I consider the > > >> project rather a toy than a serious piece of computing hardware, so > > >> supposedly the amount of interest will decrease soon when people realize > > >> that they cannot really do what they intended to do with the boards in > > >> the first place. > > >> > > >> ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >> > > >> The question now is, if it should take the effort and build a new kernel > > >> for the Broadcom SoC and support the Raspberry Pi boards. Is somebody > > >> willing to do this? Has someone already tried something out? Did you try > > >> to order a board? > > >> > > >> Please mail me your thoughts. > > >> > > >> Michael > > >> > > >> _______________________________________________ > > >> SIG-ARM mailing list > > >> SIG-ARM(a)lists.ipfire.org > > >> http://lists.ipfire.org/mailman/listinfo/sig-arm > > > > _______________________________________________ > > SIG-ARM mailing list > > SIG-ARM(a)lists.ipfire.org > > http://lists.ipfire.org/mailman/listinfo/sig-arm > > _______________________________________________ > SIG-ARM mailing list > SIG-ARM(a)lists.ipfire.org > http://lists.ipfire.org/mailman/listinfo/sig-arm