It can be a little tricky to get started with installing software on the net4501.... To help you get started, we have assembled a list of information published on the web, in completely random order:

• Soekris Wiki, the place with lots of info....
• TheWall, a firewall version of PicoBSD available for the net45xx
• Booting FreeBSD using PXE, by Matt Simerson
• FreeBSD Jumpstart guide - PXE , by Alfred Perlstein
• miniBSD - reducing FreeBSD, by Manuel Kasper
• Experimental Linux drivers for vpn1201 and vpn1211
• m0n0wall, all-in-one firewall package with web interface for the net4501, by Manuel Kasper
• Installing RedHat 9.0 on a Soekris net4801 SBC, by Karel van Houten
• Running FreeBSD 4.8 on the Soekris net4801, by Edwin Kremer
• FreeBSD on Soekris hardware, drivers and info, by Poul-Henning Kamp

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List of vendors supporting Soekris products with either software, hardware or accessories:

• Smart Appliances, a service of Daily Data, a provider of network and web services to clients in Dallas, Texas. Offers Soekris net5501-70s with preinstalled IPFire software, and also has a guide about how to set up your own router using Soekris.
• Yawarra Information Appliances, offers a range of small form factor, PC compatible hardware and accessories

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List of known issues, and how to fix them:

0001. Setting serial console speed in BIOS ver 0.99 to 38400 baud does not work. Instead it is set for 28.800. To fix it, use a terminal emulator that support 28.800 and change the console speed back to the default 19200. If you cannot find a terminal emulator that support 28.800, I have hacked together a quick DOS based 28.800 terminal emulator. It's very primitive, and just runs in an endless loop. It has been tested to run under Windows 98. Get it from the download page. After resetting the console speed, please update the BIOS to at least ver 0.99c in order to support 38400.

0002. A small number of the DP83815 ethernet controller chips will, when using short cables lengths (<30m/100ft) in 100Base-TX mode, have excessive receive errors, or if the cable is very short, not receive at all. The Activity LED will usually also flicker or be on constant. This can be fixed in the software driver, please go to this page for more information about how to update the drivers. Updated drivers will be posted on the download page as they become available.

0003. net4801 software issues. The new processor used the on net4801, the National Semiconductor SC1100, has the usual mix of new hardware and a couple of bugs.... Please see this page for details and solutions.

0004. net5501, most of the boards from the first batch have incorrect capacitors mounted in the Real Time Clock circuit, causing the RTC clock to either not run at all, or run at incorrect frequency. Please go to this page for more information about how to get a board updated.

0005. net5501, a small number of the boards from the first couple of batches has soldering problems on a capacitor due to mismatch between the capacitor size and pad size, resulting in permanent or periodic power up reset problems. Please go to this page for more information about how to get a board updated.

0006. net5501, some non-standard CompactFlash cards do not work correctly, please see this page for details and solutions.

0007. net5501, some boards, rev 4 dated 080729 or older, have periodic power up reset problems, please see this page for information about how to handle repair/replacement.

0008. net5501, some boards, rev 4 dated 080729 or older, have periodic SATA problems, please see this page for information about how to handle repair/replacement.