Any BLACK AX APs?

[KOA]

this could be an option (i have a fried that did a few cases/prints for me) - what system do you have in mind?

Any router which fits your requirements can have its case 3D printed in black.

[maurer]

do you know where I can get the designs for case of Dynalink DL-WRX36 ?

[KOA]

3D scanning

or use a mould based approach

[maurer]

@KOA

mould based approach

thanks but unfortunately my friend doesn't have a 3d scanner nor the time to spend for a mould based approach and I have zero experience on the topic to help out with anything

I think it's cheaper and less time consuming to paint it black myself the only uncertain point is finding the right paint

[hecatae]

I would recommend the Mikrotik hAP ax2 and ax3 but current RouterOS7 openwrt support is ongoing development, plus they are IPQ6010 devices.

[maurer]

Looks like great devices. Any link I can follow development?
Thanks

[hecatae]

Mikrotik RouterOS v7.x and OpenWrt sysupgrade

Since some time a warning is given in the general Mikrotik/OpenWrt instructions to downgrade to a v6 ROS before attempting a sysupgrade. Of course it would be better to figure out what is wrong and correct that. Would like to share some experiences so far and perhaps somebody has an idea to overcome the last hurdle. Tests here: Mikrotik SXTsq-5ac upgraded to ROS 7.7rc5 and OpenWrt Dec. 2022 home compile r21516+5-1b8c8864c5. What works: 100% OK: loading and booting kernel.bin image via bootp…

and

Add support for ipq60xx based devices

Hello everybody. Couple of weeks ago i've tried to add support for my Yuncore AX840 (ipq6010) access point. At the moment there is similar chipset already added to owrt master branch ipq8071A (xiaomi ax3600). So based on this commit i've made a commit for yuncore ax840. Unfortunately, all I managed to do was get the firmware to compile and then boot the device. The kernel starts, but neither etnernet nor wireless work. If somehow get the firmware work, then we can add support for a whole bu…

both threads are worth following, of course the Linksys MR7350 is also IPQ6010 so if IPQ6010 becomes supported, there's going to be more options for a black AX access point

[maurer]

Am I correct that you also have a mr7350 - do you recommend it as an AP?

[VA1DER]

@maurer

Wifi6 (802.11ax) dual band access point BLACK (OR GREY

At risk of sounding like a broken record, I highly recommend the Banana Pi BPI-R3.

• Black metal case
• Quad-core 2GHz ARM MediaTek mt7986 (Filogic 830) SoC
  Hardware offload/WED is a dream - the CPU barely flickers when routing gigabit
• WiFi 6 4T4R for both 2.4 & 5GHz
• 2GiB RAM, 8GiB emmc storage or use a microsd card
• 1 x GBE WAN, 4 x GBE LAN switch
• 1 x 2.5GB SFP WAN, 1 x 2.5GB SFP LAN
• m.2 PCIe plus USB 3 expansion

Short of a homebrew x86 or thousand-dollar-range professional device, it is hands down the finest hardware I've ever used. The price/performance ratio is off the chart.

In addition to the above, it also has a slough of GPIO, PWM, SPI, I2C interfaces to play with if you feel like experimenting or want to use it to control other things. If not, use the device as it is.

[maurer]

Great hw indeed but a bit overkill for just AP use

[VA1DER]

@maurer

a bit overkill for just AP

Agreed, but keep in mind that for WiFi 6, if you cheap it down to just the bare essentials for an access point, you often find that it can't actually handle the full throughput.

And it's not actually all that pricey. Just sayinnnn......

But yes, probably more than you strictly need. I just like putting it out there.

[maurer]

@VA1DER

And it's not actually all that pricey

let's be honest here - it heavily depends on what point of globe you're in - for most of the planet 130 usd/eur is a lot compared to plastic boxes that cost 10 or come free from the isp.
one extra point I don't like about bpi-r3 is that you need to buy all wifi accessories like pigtails and antennas and be careful about it as it will clearly influence your experience/throughput.

[hecatae]

it's lovely as an AP, just awaiting proper IPQ6010 support

[shdf]

@maurer

one extra point I don't like about bpi-r3 is that you need to buy all wifi accessories like pigtails and antennas and be careful about it as it will clearly influence your experience/throughput.

you can buy the complete set on Aliexpress :
Board + case + antenas + dissipators + psu

116.52€ 50% de réduction|Pi gels BPI R3 avec boîtier en fer Power MediaTek...

I was very close to buying it a few weeks ago, but the BPI R4 will soon be released...

[VA1DER]

@maurer

for most of the planet 130 usd/eur is a lot compared to plastic boxes that cost 10 or come free from the isp.

I was mostly being that little tempting devil on your shoulder.

But absolutely it's a matter of perspective. Compared to a $10 Chinese lowest-common-denominator knockoff, it's quite expensive. Compared it to the cost of getting even a moderately performant device from Staples, it's the same price or cheaper - in many cases much much cheaper.

The killer these days is shipping from anywhere in the free world will triple the price of anything used.

The only other device I can think of that meets your requirements is the Xiaomi Redmi AX6000, which is basically a BPI-R3-lite. Same Filogic 830 SoC, 512MB RAM, AX on both 2.4 and 5GHz, and it comes in black. About 90EUR shipped to Romania.

The big limitation on that device is that it is that the SoC is vastly over-horsepowered for the amount of future expansion it has. It has zero expandability - not even USB. At 2/3rds the price of a BPI-R3, it's a device I never really recommend since you can get something so much more future-useful for only a third more. But, if the price is a huge breaking point, it's an option.

[shdf]

The TP-Link XDR-6088 is also interesting, but more a router than a simple AP.

CPU: MT7986A
CPU Cores: 4
CPU MHz: 2.0GHz
Flash MB: 128NAND
RAM MB: 512
Ethernet 1Gbit ports: 4
Ethernet 2.5Gbit ports: 2
WLAN Hardware: MT7976GN + MT7976AN
WLAN 2.4GHz: b/g/n/ax
WLAN 5.0GHz: a/n/ac/ax
WLAN Comments: 4x4:4

[maurer]

@shdf

TP-Link XDR-6088 is also interesting, but more a router than a simple AP.

Oh well at 300$ I have PCs that I've bought for less so definitely won't spend that much money on an AP

[mith]

https://wiki.banana-pi.org/Banana_Pi_BPI-R4

Looks amazing. Picture shows it will need 13 antennas!!!

[shdf]

I can count 14

[maurer]

any wifi (6/7?) modules for the "beast"?