After much investigation, it looks like building my own firmware for the LinkSys RV082 will take too long. I will pursue it at a later date but for now I will build my own.
The requirements are:
- Low cost
- Small form factor
- Quiet
- Low heat
- A minimum of three ethernet ports
- Serial port console access
- Powerful enough to be able to route and filter at least 10 Mbps of traffic.
- Linux, FreeBSD and/or OpenBSD compatible
- Loading operating system from Compact Flash
Nice to haves:
- PXE boot
- USB port
- IDE port
So far, the contenders are:
Both are powered by the same CPU (Geode SC1100), have three ethernet ports and 128 MB RAM. Both can run Linux, FreeBSD and OpenBSD.
Both options require separate purchase of a compact flash card. The recommended size is 256 MB, which costs CA$28. For CA$87, we could get a 1 GB card, which would leave room for lots of extra apps and online documentation — extremely nice but not required.
The Soekris would cost about US$255 for the board, case and power supply. The WRAP would cost about $175 for the board, case and power supply.
The Soekris has extra features that the WRAP does not have; the Soekris has an IDE connector for an optional 2.5″ hard drive as well a USB port. These are not required but they are very nice to have.
The user manuals for both devices are pretty sparse (about 12 pages each). On the internet, I have found detailed operating system installation HOW-TOs for both computers; however, there are more HOW-TOs for the Soekris and they are better written.
Either option would work but the Soekris is more flexible because of the option to add a 2.5″ hard drive and a USB device. Also, I think the documentation for the Soekris is slightly better.
For now, I am leaning towards the Soekris.
