On Mon, Nov 13, 2023 at 5:58 PM Charles Curley <charlescur...@charlescurley.com> wrote: > > My FIT-PCs that provide network services are getting old, and i386 > Linux is slowly fading away. So I would like to replace them with a > router/gateway computer. > > It should run Debian. > > It should either have two gigabit (or better) Ethernet interfaces or > have suitable expansion capability. > > It should be quiet: no fans, and low power requirements. A small > physical footprint would be nice. > > Most of the time it will run headless, but occasionally I will need to > stick a monitor and keyboard on it. VGA will do fine. > > It will be a router. It will have at least DNS, DHCP, apt-cacher-ng and > firewalld on it. Modest disk and RAM will be fine. > > WiFi is handled elsewhere for now, but I won't turn it down. > > SSD for storage would be nice, although the FIT-PCs do fine with IDE > spinning rust.
It sounds like you want an all-in-one of sorts. Something with hardware+software. I don't have a recommendation for that. However, if you would like a piece of hardware that checks most of the boxes and can run whatever you like, then I recommend you look at Protectli. They make low power, fanless, mini pc's with multiple ethernet ports. You can choose between 2, 4 and 6 ports. <https://protectli.com/> and <https://www.amazon.com/stores/Protectli/page/532343EA-BBD8-4423-87A6-08A76E28A16F>. Protectli devices are typically used as firewalls. In fact, I use one running pfSense as a firewall behind my ISP's router. I am very pleased with it. On the downside, Protectli does not have open hardware design or use OpenFirmware. Those gadgets are a little harder to find. Jeff