fitlet (i Barebone)

The machine has died during its first year. I decided not to replace it.

I really wanted to give this five stars. I've been looking for a small system like this (or the ubox) for a long time, and this seemed to be the perfect fit (no pun intended). Unfortunately, the reality isn't what I was hoping for. I was planning on using it as a FreeBSD pf-based network firewall. It does work, technically, for now, so I guess I won't return it (I'll have to test some more first), but I am not sure I will actually use it. I have two main concerns or problems with it which are related:1. The primary problem is that it is EXTREMELY hot, much hotter than I thought it would be, and I did buy the extra heat sink. Without the heat sink I don't see how in the world anyone would be able to run this thing, you certainly wouldn't want to touch it. After running for maybe 15-30 minutes I didn't really want to touch even the larger heat sink. I went into the BIOS and turned the TDP down to 1000--allegedly 1W of power, the default is 4500--and I didn't notice any change after a while. I changed it to 10, yes 10 mW, and it eventually changed to what I would call "very warm", so it seemed like it had an effect but in an extreme case. I worry about my MicroSD card melting, honestly... After unplugging the USB keyboard and USB drive I used to install into the MicroSD card, the metal parts of the USB connectors were almost too hot to touch for mroe than a second.2. The other problem is that cpufreq(4) support in FreeBSD doesn't work, so powerd(1) doesn't work, so I can't adjust the CPU speed from FreeBSD, which I've never seen before. I'm not sure if this is a BIOS-related setting issue or APU-related issue or just lack of support in FreeBSD, but I have other AMD APUs with which it does work. If I could adjust the frequency down (a firewall doesn't need much CPU speed), I know that both the wattage and temperature would drop significantly. I do this exact thing with my backup server (not a fitlet, a "real" PC) and it works great. If I could get this working, and thereby make it use less power and run cooler, the first problem would so away and I would bump it up to 5 stars.I feel this device should cost about $100 for what I have. I worry that the heat will destroy components and/or make the lifetime of the thing really short, or worse yet destroy other parts that I bought for it. The device has a five year warranty, which makes me feel a little better, but not for the RAM or SD card or USB devices, though.

Great little computer... has been rock solid with Linux. Installing Linux was uneventful; if you can install Linux on a regular PC. you will have no problem. NB you need to purchase memory and an SSD separately. Installation of the memory, SSD heat shield and SSD is a little tricky. Duckduckgo is your friend here. Study the pictures and various online sources carefully. CompuLab's web site is ok, but the documentation could use improvement. Once you have disassembled and reassembled the Fitlet, everything is obvious...but the first time is a bit of a challenge.Both of mine ran hot without the heatsinks; I definitely recommend getting the heatsink. The heatsink replaces half of the case and a little thermal compound comes in handy when installing it.Power plug is a "twist-lock"...it won't pull out by accident, but you need to pay attention not to damage it when pulling out or plugging in.

Does everything and more than I expected!