This board is supported since IPFire 2.21.

Raspberry Pi 3 Specifications

  • SoC: Broadcom BCM2837 1
  • CPU: 4× ARM Cortex-A53, 1.2GHz
  • GPU: Broadcom VideoCore IV
  • RAM: 1GB LPDDR2 (900 MHz)
  • Networking: 10/100 Ethernet, 2.4GHz 802.11n wireless
  • Bluetooth: Bluetooth 4.1 Classic, Bluetooth Low Energy
  • Storage: microSD
  • GPIO: 40-pin header, populated
  • Ports: HDMI, 3.5mm analogue audio-video jack, 4× USB 2.0, Ethernet

USB-to-LAN adapters are listed here.

Download at least IPFire 2.21 (Flash Image) and flash it to an MicroSD card.

Note!
The ARM flash image is configured for serial console at default.
• If using the serial console edit the config.txt file and add enable_uart=1 to the end
• If using HDMI output and USB Keyboard edit the uENV.txt file and change SERIAL-CONSOLE=ON to OFF

After flashing the SD card install it into the Raspberry Pi, connect the cables and power supply, and power it up. At the start of booting you'll see:

Net:   No ethernet found.
starting USB…
USB0:  Core Release: 2.80a
scanning bus 0 for devices…

The Raspberry Pi 3 Model B (Raspi 3B) will normally boot within 75 seconds. Once the Raspi 3B is fully booted begin to follow the steps here. After complete then configure the Wireless/WiFi from these instructions.

Note!
If the IPFire sits for more than 3 minutes:
• The Raspberry Pi may be trying to locate a driver for an unknown USB device. Unplug the unknown device and reboot the Raspberry Pi
• Or the serial console may be enabled when using the Raspberry Pi with HDMI (see note above)

Ethernet / Wi-Fi Ports

In the IPFire setup Extended Network Menu the on-board Ethernet port is known as usb: Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC95. And the wireless/WiFi is known as sdio: brcmfmac.


Benchmarks

iperf3 Speed Test

To perform these benchmarks, the Raspberry Pi IPFire box was connected… iperf3. gigabit ethernet.

computer [client] <- green -> IPFire (Raspi 3B) <- red -> computer [server]

iMac3:~ $ iperf3 -c 192.168.60.178
Connecting to host 192.168.60.178, port 5201
[  5] local 192.168.1.100 port 54932 connected to 192.168.60.178 port 5201
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec   113 MBytes  94.8 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.05  sec   112 MBytes  93.8 Mbits/sec                  receiver

iMac3:~ $ iperf3 -c 192.168.60.178 -R
Connecting to host 192.168.60.178, port 5201
Reverse mode, remote host 192.168.60.178 is sending
[  5] local 192.168.1.100 port 54936 connected to 192.168.60.178 port 5201
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval           Transfer     Bitrate
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  60.0 MBytes  50.3 Mbits/sec                  sender
[  5]   0.00-10.00  sec  59.9 MBytes  50.2 Mbits/sec                  receiver

OpenSSL Speed Test

/usr/bin/openssl speed -elapsed -evp [cipher]
Cipher kB/s Mbit/s
aes-256-gcm 4,342 34.7
aes-192-gcm 4,637 37.1
aes-128-gcm 4,970 39.8
camellia-256-cbc 13,255 106.0
camellia-192-cbc 13,255 106.0
camellia-128-cbc 17,007 136.1
aes-256-cbc 8,684 69.5
aes-192-cbc 9,967 79.7
aes-128-cbc 11,693 93.5
seed-cbc 12,332 98.7

OpenVPN Speed Test

time /usr/sbin/openvpn --test-crypto --secret /tmp/secret --verb 0 --tun-mtu 20000 --ncp-disable --cipher [cipher]
Cipher real Mbit/s
aes-256-gcm 2m44.837s 19.4
aes-192-gcm 2m39.025s 20.1
aes-128-gcm 2m32.843s 20.9
camellia-256-cbc 1m53.286s 28.2
camellia-192-cbc 1m53.351s 28.2
camellia-128-cbc 1m46.635s 30.0
aes-256-cbc 2m9.803s 24.7
aes-192-cbc 2m3.764s 25.9
aes-128-cbc 1m57.592s 27.2
seed-cbc 1m55.310s 27.8

  1. from MagPi magazine Raspberry Pi 3B Specs And Benchmarks 

  2. The 'numbers' are in 1000s of bytes per second processed 

  3. Tested on IPFire 2.21 (armv5tel) - Core Update 126