[leaf-user] Soekris replacement revisted

[Timothy W. <ti...@ts...>]

First let me say I have tested both Leaf 6.1.8 and 6.2.0-rc1 and had zero
issues with my three interface router setup. Thanks Leaf team!

A while ago, when my Soekris net6501 was beginning it's death rattle, I
began experimenting with using my Qotom box as a router. After solving the
single difficulty of overcoming the strange numbering of the ethernet ports
(they are not in order, and are labelled wrong), the results were
outstanding. Plugging the Leaf usb drive from the Sorkris into the Qotom
just worked perfectly. That said, my Qotom box is probably overkill for a
home router, so I began seaching for something more modest so I could
repurpose the Qotom for something more in keeping with it's capabilities.

My Soekris net6501 is now well and truly dead, so these new leaf boxes are
no longer just an experiment!

A bit of searching at Aliexpress turned up this:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Pfsense-Mini-PC-Fanless-Intel-Celeron-J1900-J1800-processor-4x-Intel-Gigabit-Ethernet-Firewall-Appliance-Router/32884193998.html

I paid $105 with 2gb memory and a 16gb ssd, though I think the price may
now be more like $120. The brand is Xcy, the model x33 (aliexpress didn't
reveal this). The Xcy  web site is xcyminipc.com, but be careful, Google
gives all kinds of dire warnings when you visit some of the pages of that
site.

Bottom line is the xcy box works just fine as a Leaf router. I should say I
have a relatively slow nominally 50 mbps Comcast internet. I can easily get
70 mbps throughput with the xcy box. I don't know how it would hold up with
a faster connection.

After having said the Xcy box works great, there are a number of
peculiarities. None of these were deal breakers for me, but some of these
things indicate that a Qotom is just more refined.

1. Both the Qotom and the Xcy come in a similar black box that is a giant
heat sink. The Xcy is slimmer, but the qotom can also be obtained in the
slim size (no room inside for a larger SSD). However the Xcy has a design
flaw compared to the Qotom. The Xcy has the CPU on the same side of the
board as the memory and SSD, so the only way to change the SSD is to pull
the board and CPU off the bottom of the box, where it is stuck with some
thermal paste. The Qotom has the CPU and memory on opposite sides of the
motherboard, so when you open the box backplate you can access memory and
SSD without disturbing the thermal seal of the CPU and box. This
peculiarity of the Xcy didn't bother me because I needed to remove the SSD
just once, and from there forward would run the box off an expernal usb

2. The Xyc serial port uses an RJ45 connector. I hadn't seen this before,
and did not succeed  in getting an rj45 to db9 adapter working right. I am
pretty sure I could have succeeded, but I ended up using VGA and USB
extension cables. Since I was replacing a Soekris, I was all set up for
serial. The console interface is only needed if something goes wrong, since
as you all know, once Leaf boots, it is accessible by ssh. Note to self -
be sure to get a set of ten or so rj45-db9 adapters, the kind that you can
arbitrarily insert the pins in different pinouts. The pins go in, but don't
pull out, so there is no room for error! I may revisit nthe serial
interface, just to prove I can, and free up the VGA and USB cables!

There are a few smaller things, but I'll spare you. The Leaf router on Xcy
draws 5 watts. And the four ethernet ports are labelled correctly!

All that remains is to see how long it lasts.

Tim