Thank you, this is helpful info! I've messaged them on AliExpress asking for the full specs of the fan, I hope they'll give me something.
Damn this wasn't there when I ordered mine last month. They also dropped the prices so now N355 cost the same as what the N305 did.
Just a friendly reminder that it's usually cheaper to switch the currency to USD on AliExpress. It's worth double checking during sales events with coupons etc. but this is generally the case.
Thanks! The link you sent won't ship to my country, but I've found one where I might be able to get the N355 version for just under 300€ with all the discounts. I'm still waiting for Qotom support to send me those fan specs before I bite the bullet, either on this or on a truly fanless N150.Just a friendly reminder that it's usually cheaper to switch the currency to USD on AliExpress. It's worth double checking during sales events with coupons etc. but this is generally the case.
Also, AliExpress has a sale event soon that should give you a decent discount if you collect the right coupons (sometimes artificially limited numbers since AliExpress pays the seller for the discount). If you can, I would suggest checking if Qotom has a different listing with the shipping included in the price (which they've had in the past), as I think that might help you qualify for a bigger discount (it might jump from ≈17,28€ to ≈34,56€, or similar).
EDIT: This listing includes the shipping cost and the N355 model seems to qualify for a sizeable discount, depending on your country's VAT level.
Ah yes, I suppose the AliExpress links can be regional sometimes. Thankfully you found one that works for you.Thanks! The link you sent won't ship to my country, but I've found one where I might be able to get the N355 version for just under 300€ with all the discounts. I'm still waiting for Qotom support to send me those fan specs before I bite the bullet, either on this or on a truly fanless N150.
This whole endeavor escalated since I just got a 1Gb/s fiber connection, and realized my old Netgear R7800 with OpenWRT is unlikely to be able to cope with PPPoE at wirespeed (even though it's still quite good as an AP). And in order to confirm this (and then move on with the purchase) I first need to succeed in pestering my ISP to allow me to put their box in bridge mode
The ISP technically allows it, they have to by law in my country. But you have to request bridge mode via their customer service for them to unlock it for you in their router. All ISPs seem to operate like this around here afaict, unless you ask the shitbox stays super locked downAh yes, I suppose the AliExpress links can be regional sometimes. Thankfully you found one that works for you.
Even if you wait, make sure to collect the coupon you want to use as soon as possible as they are available in limited numbers, especially the higher value ones.
PPPoE is really great at ruining performance, and not much else. I wish ISPs would stop using it. Without it, an N100 would happily route 10 Gbps. Every time PPPoE is mentioned, I'm thankful my ISP isn't still using it.
The fact that your ISP won't just allow you to connect whatever router you want is also a serious mark against them in my opinion. Hopefully it ends up working well in the end though.
Is it acting as an ONT in a PON setup or why do they require you to use it at all? Just curious. I'm realizing that we are moving a bit off topic though.The ISP technically allows it, they have to by law in my country. But you have to request bridge mode via their customer service for them to unlock it for you in their router. All ISPs seem to operate like this around here afaict, unless you ask the shitbox stays super locked down
In my case it's a Nokia G-1426G-A, and indeed it's also the ONT in their PON, the ISP's fiber plugs directly into it. The plan is to only let it do its ONT thing and let the N150/N355 system do the routing. I expect even a N150 should be able to do PPPoE at 1Gb/s, but if I'm buying networking hardware I'd like to have some room to grow, towards 2Gb/s which is the maximum currently available here, and beyond. However I'm not keen on the N355's fan in my office if it's loud or whiny.Is it acting as an ONT in a PON setup or why do they require you to use it at all? Just curious. I'm realizing that we are moving a bit off topic though.
Ok. That makes some more sense then. I'm use to AON setups where all you need usually tends to be a standard fiber transceiver, which you can often pull from the ISP's or network owner's media converter (if you don't want to use it).
I think they put it there because it was easy.
All they have to do it make a separate bottom cover for the model with the fan, while keeping the rest of the case the same. After all, they made their chassi modular so that they can use them for different models.You need to have air moving in, then being pushed out to truly remove heat. Just having air whirling around inside a closed box is not removing heat. Typical crazy China cheap solution, they found overheating problems on a fanless design and try and fix it by adding a fan on the inside without having entry and exit vents. I dare say it sort of works by spreading the heat around, but clearly an after thought.I think they put it there because it was easy.
If they had put a fan on the top they would need to make a hole in the chassi for the fan cable. Some of these are at least partially targeted as PCs for environments where minimizing holes in the chassi is important to reduce dust and dirt ingress.
Yes, that's certainly true. I didn't say it was a good solution.
No, they are not, from what I can tell. FreeBSD's Aquantia drivers only support the previous generation NICs. OpenBSD and NetBSD supposedly both have support for it, but the FreeBSD folks never bothered to port either of those drivers over. My interpretation is that they don't see FreeBSD's very limited hardware support as a problem, which might end up being their own undoing. Companies (iX Systems, Netgate, Juniper, etc.) are already moving away from FreeBSD, or at least diversifying.
You could also run pfSense inside a Proxmox VM without passing through the NICs, but I imagine performance would be lower.Thanks for the info. That's a shame. it would be a great unit for my 8gb/8g. I current use an ms01 i5 whicg works fine but I would prefer to use it for other duties. I wonder if it works on opnsense?No, they are not, from what I can tell. FreeBSD's Aquantia drivers only support the previous generation NICs. OpenBSD and NetBSD supposedly both have support for it, but the FreeBSD folks never bothered to port either of those drivers over. My interpretation is that they don't see FreeBSD's very limited hardware support as a problem, which might end up being their own undoing. Companies (iX Systems, Netgate, Juniper, etc.) are already moving away from FreeBSD, or at least diversifying.
If you want to use it as a router, look at a Linux based distro like VyOS, OpenWrt, etc.
Yeah, it's a nice little box.
The N100/200/300 series has limited PCI Lanes (only 9 PCI 3.0 lanes). And there was probably no suitable PCIe adapter from Intel available. X520/X540 is PCIe 2.0 and wasting lanes and power, X550 is expensive and runs imho quite hot, X710 in RJ45 is probably even more expensive than X550... Let's hope for the new E610, but we won't see this chip for a long time in any chinese mini pc.
Because there is no suitable low power 10GBASE-T NIC from Intel that's modern and also reasonably priced.