Stephen Foskett, Pack Rat

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mSATA

The Ideal pfSense Platform: Netgate RCC-VE 2440

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After some frustration with stability and latency connecting my virtual pfSense router to my cable and DSL modems, I decided to switch to a physical box. I selected the Netgate RCC-VE 2440 as my hardware platform, since it's the same box that pfSense themselves use as their OEM bundle. It also checks all the boxes with a dual-core Atom CPU, four Gigabit Ethernet ports, and … [Read more...] about The Ideal pfSense Platform: Netgate RCC-VE 2440

Adding a Second Ethernet Port to an Intel NUC via Mini PCIe

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As I mentioned in my previous post about Raspberry Pi power monitoring, I recently built a VMware vSphere "datacenter" from three Intel NUC mini PC's. One limit of the NUC is that it has just one Ethernet port. But there's a Mini PCIe slot inside the fourth-generation NUC that can be used to add a second Ethernet NIC! Here's my story. A Bit About the Intel NUC … [Read more...] about Adding a Second Ethernet Port to an Intel NUC via Mini PCIe

Apple Brings PCIe SSD To The Masses In The New MacBook Air

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Apple's brand-new MacBook Air might not look much from the outside, but a revolution lurks under the hood: This is the first mainstream computer to eschew SATA in favor of PCIe SSD! Long heralded in workstations and servers, PCIe SSD brings massive potential for storage performance. Apple Bets on SSD Apple was first out of the gate in switching to all-SSD storage for their … [Read more...] about Apple Brings PCIe SSD To The Masses In The New MacBook Air

Toshiba Offers “Blade” SSDs (Like Apple’s MacBook Air)

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More information about the unconventional SSD used in Apple's new MacBook Air. As I discussed in my previous coverage of this new flash form factor, it resembles a PCI Express Mini Card but is much smaller. Toshiba has now proved my speculation that the device uses SATA signals rather than the PCI Express lane used by the similar AirPort card. We also know that the lauded … [Read more...] about Toshiba Offers “Blade” SSDs (Like Apple’s MacBook Air)