My N100 mini pc comes with:
Intel Corporation Ethernet Controller I225-V
have not seen any dropouts on Ubuntu 22, it ran 24h for over a year before I flashed openwrt.
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I used to build NSS-enabled images for my ipq806x routers. Some are posted on this epic thread. It was a ton of work.
Gave up, flashed vanilla OpenWrt, moved them to access points (now replaced with Flint2 units), and switched to OpenWrt x86/64 appliances (as ACwifidude did, I keep following his steps, it would seem) with J6412 CPU and i226-V (rev 04) Ethernet ports. Containerized OpenVPN, Wireguard, PiHole, LibreNMS and more. Much simpler to manage.
Zero issues. No drop outs. Rock solid. 2 years in. Will last long time, as long as I can live with a 2.5GBE backbone.
N100 won't be an issue. The revision of the i226-V might. Using a recent kernel with recent drivers will go a long way. (This has a bit more information than the typical "Anyone getting crap from i226-V chips? Yeah! I do!" low value threads you find here or there).
Need serious networking and have money to spare? Go x86/64 (N100 or anything comparable). You won't regret it.
Hacking NSS was fun. Would still be at it if I had the time (this latest twist of removing DSA from 24.10 so NSS works again was genius). Would continue with it for fun. If you have the time, enjoy; have fun!
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Because... it's pure genius, I wish I had thought of it, as far as I follow the latest posts on the thread, someone reverted the DSA conversion of ipq806x for these NSS builds.
These builds are running 24.10... but a very special version of it. Means getting latest mainstream kernel and packages, and still using NSS. Smartest thing ever to keep NSS going.
I am not smart enough to debate the benefits of DSA. DSA threw me a curveball with a package I support, and it was really tough (for me) to fix. IMO weird stuff happens with DSA. Just know it's here to stay, as is apk, and many other large OpenWrt enhancements.
Edit: Here the reason why DSA is taking over swconfig.
So... it's always about fun decisions... use vanilla OpenWrt without NSS? Or use these very special builds with NSS but no DSA and very limited support? Whatever works for you is good.
Thank you for you explanation. I'm using a c2600 device as an accesspoint, but find it a waste to not be able to use the nss cores. seems i'm not using the device to its full potential. I've been doing this for years, and every once in a while i check the status of the nss builds.
My wish would be to run vanilla openwrt with nss cores enabled, but it seems this is not going to happen. Now that dsa creates an extra obstacle for ipq806*, i'm really wondering if my c2600 if futureproof in that way.
I have no need for wifi 7, and the 1733mhz max speed on 5ghz for the c2600 is more then i need. But i'm looking for a device that can be fully utilized using openwrt with minimum binary blobs and closed source stuff. That doesnt seem to be the case on ipq8064. So now i'm considering switching to a mediatek device with better support. Will open a new topic for this soon.
Do you really care about DSA? Do you really need it? Because NSS with 24.10.1 with swconfig works great.
I wouldn't worry about DSA.
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I have an EA7500 with the IPQ8064 CPU. Is it possible for me to use an NSS firmware with this device?
so far r30006-93b21a89ad is fine for me
Uptime is 4 days now.
NSS with C2600 as an access point...
If you feel like reading an old post, I posted this ages ago on this thread:
NSS cores (maybe core, as I think these patches end up using just one, BTW, but I'm probably wrong) noticeably help an access point. In the end it was not worth the hassle of using NSS builds for 11ac WiFi, and I wanted to upgrade to 11ax.
Priority for our setup is mainstream support and simpler upgrades (and minimal time spent on pampering it). Vanilla OpenWrt works well on a C2600 access point. NSS builds (my way) were a PITA to build, had their quirks, and I had to maintain my own repo (simpler nowadays with GitHub, but nevertheless). Compared to being able to use the online ImageBuilder, use standard repos, and being able to rely on the full OpenWrt community for support, decision was easy for me.
It's your setup and your call if you want something different. If I had the time I'd be tinkering with this in a hearteat.
IMO, don't replace the C2600 if you are OK with 11ac WiFi. That's the spirit of OpenWrt... keep a good device out of landfill if it still works for you.
My wish would be to use an device which can run a very simple access point setup based on a vanilla build. I dont want to spend to much time and effort constantly reading up on nss builds and dsa vs swconfig issues. I would like to run a vanilla build which on its own utilses the full hardware of the device, not having to run special builds in order to enable certain parts of the hardware in my device. And with a vanilla build, the simplicity when new openwrt releases are out, to just upgrade it with a stable release buil though luci. This is why i'm considering migrating from c2600 to something mediatek based. More on that later.
@apccv Thank you for your reply. Your findings make it clear that the c2600 really needs its nss cores enabled to be able to run on advertised speeds. I'm wondering how this goes for an ac mediatek based ac 2600 class device. Will open a new topic for that soon.
a binary build? Or did you build it from source. May I ask which one?