View Full Version : Anyone build Soekris CPEs?
Chirpper
08-14-2003, 06:04 PM
I am looking for SBC CPEs, and really want to push Star-OS. Customers have agreed to pay around $350 for equip. Anyone doing this (complete setup.. Panel, Outdoor case, POE, Star-OS Loaded.)
I have some Soekris CPE in the field. Typically I use them as a high powered solution with a SMC 200mw card. I have had great success with this solution though Star-OS can be tempermental with the high powered cards. Lonnie and Tony are looking into this I belive. I have actually recently decided to go with the YDI EC-II for the high power solution because with firmware 3.09 on them you can run a prism card and get the extra power and the cost is far less than with a Soekris. Of course you don't get routing and some of the extra functions but for a standard client install it works great for us.
magnus
10-23-2003, 05:58 PM
I have some Soekris CPE in the field. Typically I use them as a high powered solution with a SMC 200mw card. I have had great success with this solution though Star-OS can be tempermental with the high powered cards. Lonnie and Tony are looking into this I belive. I have actually recently decided to go with the YDI EC-II for the high power solution because with firmware 3.09 on them you can run a prism card and get the extra power and the cost is far less than with a Soekris. Of course you don't get routing and some of the extra functions but for a standard client install it works great for us.
Are there still any tempremental issues with the SMC card and Star-OS? I would like to build a couple of these if they are stable.
bobbyc
10-23-2003, 06:44 PM
They work great, I don't think they are tempormental at all. Zcomax and Senao 200mw cards work great as AP or client. The signal reporting is out of tune on the Zcomax cards, but it doesn't seem to effect performance.
Bob C
The issue isn't star-os, soekris's are famous for having troublesome power supplies, and the 200mw cards push them to the limits.
I'm not sure you will be able to meet your $350 limit, the board itself is ~$200, +$15 for a compactflash card, ~$50 for a radio, ~$30 for star-os license, ~$20 for poe injector and power supply, $40 for a panel antenna, $10 for pigtails, and and at least $15 for an outdoor enclosure. You're already at $370 and you still gotta pay for someone to put it together and support it.
That's by far the best way to go, but it's a little pricey.
lonnie
10-25-2003, 11:45 AM
The WRAP boards from www.pcengines.ch will be the way to go. The board will not hit volume production until Jan. 2004, so either stall delivery or go with a few Soekris to get started, then switch to WRAP boards as they begin to show up.
Anonymous
10-25-2003, 02:25 PM
I've been holding my breath for months now...
Can we have some sort of educated guess about the price?
Can we dare hope for ~120 with ram, CF card, and no radio or license?
you're asking the wrong person, ask Pascal at pcengines.ch, he is the mfg of the board and will ultimatly set the final price
Anonymous
10-25-2003, 08:40 PM
Forgive my confusion. I thought Lonnie and Tony were going to market these as well?
I'm sure they will, but most likley not without a license, I dunno.. I think it will still be close to what pcengines decides to sell them for.
Pascal(pcengines) has been selling the alpha and beta versions for $120 to $150 including ram, no cf or radios though. I doubt the production version will stray far from $150.
lonnie
10-26-2003, 01:35 AM
The thing is we really do not have a firm price since the boards are not being produced in volume. The target is going to be about $200 with flash and router license, but of course this will not be for sure until we get our first volume order shipped to us.
Quantity will be the key to a low price and of course we have no pricing for that since the above situation is unchanged for volume deliveries.
If you need to get moving, just do it. The Soekris will always be able to be used for something.