[Astlinux-users] Bmax B1 Plus Celeron N3350 Fanless Mini PC

[Lonnie A. <li...@lo...>]

Hi,

We have added a new addition to our "Generic x86_64" hardware list, under "Mini PC Hardware" ...

Bmax B1 Plus Celeron N3350 Fanless Mini PC
[1] https://doc.astlinux-project.org/userdoc:board_bmax_b1_plus

The Bmax B1 Plus Mini PC can be purchased new for ~$100 USD. The value proposition is key, running AstLinux quite nicely, albeit with a single ethernet interface. Alternatively, similarly priced Mini PCs with SATA storage or reused thin clients may have a similar value proposition.

I personally purchased the Bmax B1 Plus via Amazon for $95 USD (after discount and coupon), the only additionally cost was a Silicon Power 128GB A55 M.2 type 2280 SATA SSD for $15 USD.

The Bmax B1 Plus has onboard soldered 6 GB of RAM, N3350 dual core 2400 MHz CPU.

The Bmax B1 Plus is fanless, and only draws 3 Watts when idle.

The Bmax B1 Plus initial setup requires some BIOS configuration [1], disabling eMMC support is key and will prevent booting to Windows.  Then boot via USB (FAT32/Master-Boot-Record formatted) containing the AstLinux Installer ISO files.  Install to the internal M.2 type 2280 SATA SSD.

The M.2 SATA SSD is trivial to install, and the BIOS is not limited like some Mini PCs are.  Both Legacy and UEFI are supported with Linux, but UEFI is the default.

Summary:

The Bmax B1 Plus runs AstLinux well, and coupled with configuring LXC containers and its 6 GB of RAM, this box offers a lot at a very competitive price.  Think of it as AstLinux features (Asterisk, Firewall, VPN, etc.) coupled with LXC x86_64 RaspberryPi-like replacement features.

Surprisingly, even with the Realtek NIC, the little box can serve as a WireGuard VPN endpoint at near 1 Gbps line speed.

The single ethernet interface is the primary drawback, but VLANs are your friend, allowing LXC containers to use an internal bridged VLAN and/or support an internal LAN (VLAN) network for phones/devices while connected to a managed ethernet switch.

Lonnie