←back to thread

OpenWrt: A Linux OS targeting embedded devices

(openwrt.org)
271 points pykello | 2 comments | 08 Sep 25 16:13 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
Show context
mikepurvis ◴[08 Sep 25 19:40 UTC] No.45172923[source]▶
Been a fan for a long time and use it on my Archer C7, but I had to disable hardware switching in order to use SQM, and now the switching performance is <200mbps. Having recently upgraded to home fiber, I'm probably going to get a native Unifi router.
replies(2): >>45172980 #>>45174045 #
1. NoiseBert69 ◴[08 Sep 25 19:43 UTC] No.45172980[source]▶
Maybe have a look at Intel n100 boxes (Aliexpress -> Topton). They often have 4-5x 2.5GE Ports with high quality Intel cards. They are very cheap (100-200€) and suck not too much current (5-15W).

You can run OpenWRT on them using the x86 build.

We usually have 5-10x of them around for emergency network tasks if everything burns down in a building.

replies(1): >>45174415 #
2. mikepurvis ◴[08 Sep 25 21:43 UTC] No.45174415[source]▶
Honestly it is tempting. I do have an old Haswell-era industrial motherboard that would manage the task just fine, and I've definitely considered this path.

That said, I'd probably spend about as much on a power supply, case, and NIC for that machine as I would on just buying a Unifi gateway, and theirs comes with an integrated UI for the APs. I'm past the stage of life where I find joy in tinkering with the infrastructure I need to do my job (WFH) so I'll probably still just go off the shelf.