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

[John Jardine]

On Thu, 2008-10-16 at 10:25 -0600, Gustin Johnson wrote:
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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,

You got me thinking about the SBCs.  I picked up 3 SBCs a couple of
years ago. This might be the excuse I need to finally use one.

Cheers,
J.J.