Long time, as it happens a bit out of the loop anymore with the newest tech. Is there a "goto" model like the wrt54gs of yore right now? Whats the flagship product that can run just about whatever you can think to throw at it?
I got a WRT3200ACM for myself and a family member years back, but I'd like to upgrade myself with something that has the space and memory to handle a more bloated install of openwrt, along with pihole running in docker in it (currently using a raspberrypi 5 at home for it, and a 4 for it for family member).
I now see a lot of GL-MT6000 and Openwrt One recommendations. There was a thread recently on what router to get for "future proofing". People were recommending expensive stuff too.
There's a lot on newer mediatek target. (i.e. filogic) And just getting one of the mini PC's now that they have lower power consumption.
So you want to be able to run containers on your openwrt router? Unless you have power dissipation or form factor issues. Separating that is probably better?
Didn't know they were working on their own to sell, cool. Shame doesn't seem available yet, and USB2. I was thinking so far the best bet seems to be a raspberry pi 5 with an M.2/Ethernet HAT example .
Edit: n/m, I see it for sale, just aliexpress..
If it's something like a WRT3200ACM I'd agree, it likely would suffer performance/stability/longevity issues as they wouldn't be set to handle the extra overall load/heat without modification. But if it's something with harder usage in mind, or simply like the raspberry pi that's built for modularity and 3rd party expansion, I'd rather just put them all on 1 device if their of similar purpose/use. I'd rather just the power usage went up 2-10watts rather than the 20 the newer pi 5 uses in addition to my router.
My main concern is that I assume it's all supported correctly (snapshot only still), I don't know the wifi range, throughput, or if there's been other issues(dropouts from heavy loads, etc), really can't find much on it beyond base howtos. No visible antennas..
While that (or its predecessor, the RPi4 - but not any earlier) is an option, an alderlake-n/ n100 or n97 likely ends up being cheaper, faster, more flash, more RAM, more ports (4* 2.5GBASE-T) and complete with case, NVMe SSD and PSU (starting around 120 EUR during a sale, incl. VAT and shipping).
So just a pre-built minipc with a recommended wifi chip, 6th gen I assume is what you're saying? Do you have a few that are higher end that you could post links of? I'm fine with shelling out for this a little, so long as it's not exorbitant.
No wifi, that is generally unusable for AP purposes on these devices - but that's no different than your proposed RPi4/ RPi5 where WLAN isn't an option either. --> dedicated OpenWrt support wireless router or AP to cover wifi.
Am I missing something, it has hardware and support for it I thought? I was counting it as an option, just not a certain one, since nobody has documenting trying it in this manner I believe. Cypress CYW43455 chipset for pi5.
PCI connections on most of the offerings, no? No good cards to use in any of the alderlake n100s?
if you just want something cheap, and gigabit capable, have a look at the ARK-1123 on eBay, they usually go for $30 or so, RAM (max 8GB) and disk (2.5" SATA) can be upgraded.
out source the wifi to router (configured as an AP) or AP, the cost of having proper wifi in a PC are higher than getting dedicated wifi hw.