Hey guys,
I am looking to build a router using OpenWRT. This will be the first time I have ever made my own router. However, I have used OpenWRT on multiple devices. I am currently using OpenWRT on my Netgear R7500V2 with a gigabit connection from Comcast. The router is not pushing the full speed though. When I connect directly to the modem I get the full speed of my connection. This is the reason for me wanting to build my own router. However, I have some question and need some help please.
Which hardware should I use? I have two laptops at my disposal. Both of them have Intel Celeron N3060 CPUs and 8gb of ram. They only have wireless cards no Ethernet. Therefore, I purchased two 2.5g USB Ethernet adapters for them which use the Realtek RTL8156B. Connected directly to my modem I am able to max out my gigabit internet using these Ethernet adapters. I also have two Dell computers and two Dell laptops given to me by a friend. They all have various speed Pentium 4s and at least 8fb of ram. Should I use one of these devices or should I just go with something like a raspberry pi 4? If so what parts will I need?
Like I said I have never done this before. Will I install an operating system and run OpenWRT inside of it, or will I install OpenWRT directly onto the devices? How many Ethernet adapters will I need connected to the drive that I choose to me the router? I would like to use the device I am using OpenWRT on handle all the wired connections. Then use my R7500V2 and some access points to handle the wireless side of things.I know I will also have to purchase a switch to connect the OpenWRT device I'm making to.
As far as installing OpenWRT onto the device is it a pretty similar process as flashing a router? Will I pretty much just install the softer and from there I can use luci to configure the device or how does that work? I know OpenWRT is built from Linux. I know very little about Linux. Will I need to know how to use it to accomplish this task? Is there a place I can read how to manually configure openwrt instead of using luci?
Thank you,
Rocky