On Nov 29, 2007 11:50 AM, mail-lists <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Hello, > > I know this isn't exactly the right place to ask this question but could > anyone shed some light on any disadvantages (besides obvious specs) on > getting one of the Alix boards (i.e Alix2c3) vs. a soekris board (either > the net 4801 or net5501). > > I have several net4801s that I'm VERY happy with but a client is looking > for something cheaper and the Alix boards are less than half the price > of the 5501s with comparable specs (less ram, -1 ethernet) > > I guess what I'm asking is whether anyone as any experience with Pc > Engine boards, negative or positive. Better yet, does anyone have > experience with both? > > Thanks for any insights! > > Steve Glaus >
Steve, I have quite a bit of experience with both and I like both of them, very much. The Soekris boards do seem to be a bit more expensive but I've found several differences working with them. There are usually less "gotchas", like power supply compatibility, working with the more detailed features of the board (temp sensors, GPIO, etc), documentation, etc. There seem to be more people using Soekris boards and Soekris (wisely) provides a pretty useful discussion forum to discuss issues with hardware or various operating systems. It also seems like Soekris boards might be more reliable. It's far from scientific, but I don't think we've ever had a Soekris board fail in the field. We have had some WRAPs come back... Granted we had many, many more WRAPs deployed, but it still makes me wonder. In summary: dollar for dollar the ALIX can't be beat. If you can live with less RAM and one less Ethernet, I would give them a try. If you have the money and it doesn't matter, the net5501 from Soekris are very, very nice boards. I hope this helps. -- Kristian Kielhofner ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SF.Net email is sponsored by: The Future of Linux Business White Paper from Novell. From the desktop to the data center, Linux is going mainstream. Let it simplify your IT future. http://altfarm.mediaplex.com/ad/ck/8857-50307-18918-4 _______________________________________________ Astlinux-users mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/astlinux-users Donations to support AstLinux are graciously accepted via PayPal to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
