[PLUG] PCEngines Group Purchase?

[Russell Senior]

Hi All,

The Personal Telco Project has a node host interested in purchasing an
APU2 from pcengines.ch (in Switzerland).  The APU2 is a headless
quad-core 64-bit x86 single board computer, with three integrated intel
NICs in a 6x6-inch form factor.  Several of us have used them for
connecting to the overpriced, underperforming, but still-gigabit-fiber
service from CenturyLink, since they can route at wire-speed where many
consumer off the shelf routers cannot. 

  http://pcengines.ch/apu2c4.htm

They run Coreboot for BIOS, out of the box.

PCEngines seems to be a one-person design shop, has the boards
manufactured in China, and has a couple decades of history.  In wifi
land, they were first known for their WRAP boards, then the ALIX about a
decade ago, and in the last few years the APU.  They also sell bits and
pieces for pretty good prices.

  http://pcengines.ch/newshop.php?c=4

The primary downside is that pretty much whatever you order, the
shipping (which has been quick in my experience, recently down to about
3 days) is about $40.  So, when we do order from them, we try to
aggregate, so as to amortize the shipping costs.  We have done a few of
these group orders before, and several PLUG members have availed
themselves.  We apportion the shipping costs based on the weight of the
items.

A basic APU2-with-case-and-power-supply is in the neighborhood of $150.
Adding a wifi radio and antennas is another $20-$25.

If anyone is interested in getting in on this order, please contact me
directly.  I generally create a spreadsheet to share amongst the
participants to show how the costs breakdown.  

We'd like to pull the trigger on the order by early next week.

Thanks!


-- 
Russell Senior, President
russell at personaltelco.net