[Clug-tech] Machine recommendation: loghost + peripheral manager

[Gustin Johnson]

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John Jardine wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> The time is nearing for me to decommission two machines.  
> 
> Before I can do this I need to migrate their functionality to a
> replacement.
> 
> For the replacement machine I'm looking for something with as few moving
> parts as possible.  Passive cooling and booting from a USB memory stick
> (or other flash media) will earn bonus points.  I also want to cut the
> power down as much as possible too.  That is taking me towards devices
> like the Asus Eee Box B202.
> 
> The machines being replaced:
> The first machines sole purpose in life is to be a loghost for my
> firewall.  It sends out one summary email a day.
> 
> The second machine does a bit more:
> * is a Samba print host
> * hosts a document scanner
> * internal caching DNS/DHCP server
> * hosts one really low volume website
> * VPN termination point
> * Squid proxy
> * Internal time server (NTP)
> * Streaming audio/video server for internal machines
> * Internal Mail Smart Relay
>   + This will likely be eliminated during the migration.
> 
> Any raves or rants on systems meeting these requirements?
> 
I am a big fan of my Acer Aspire One (same processor as the eeeBox).  I
am not sure if it allows you to go fanless as the north bridge still
requires some active cooling (kind of lame that the CPU does not need
it.  I guess they will get it right eventually).  The point is I really
like this platform.

The other option is to go with a PC-Engines SBC.  These are completely
fanless and are low power.  The AMD geode is an x86 so stock Linux
distros will work.  I buy mine from http://www.xagyl.com  There is a
model with VGA if that is important to you.  I am fine with serial.
They also have compact flash ports for loading the OS.

Hth,
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