Raspberry Pi 4 released

I am intrested too is without vpn but sqm enabled 1000mpbs?

Seems like the latest upgrade file is broken:

https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/bcm27xx/bcm2711/openwrt-
bcm27xx-bcm2711-rpi-4-ext4-sysupgrade.img.gz

Anyone confirm?

https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=commit;h=050c31fa268461fbc0a61dc04eda1424c5542151

Might be the reason.
Probably should do a clean install.

So I've been reading all these Rpi4 posts and quite fancy making a little router out of one... It'll be to replace my R7800 so hopefully an upgrade not downgrade lol.

So I've got hardware bits I need figured out, case, cooler, pi4 8gb, micro SD, keyboard.. and a TP Link usb to Ethernet adaptor for the wan connection to my modem.

I will also want a smart 8 port switch, and I will reuse my existing wireless mesh APs.

Software is my next step, today I've done lots of learning, followed a guide and got a working image building set up sorted, I ran it and compiled an image and it completed without errors.... So I think it's ok.

My questions are... Everytime I do the 'make menu' procedure and build a new firmware from my saved config file, will it build it from the latest snapshot? If not how do I get it to update that part??

Also what extra software would you recommend for a basic bare router set up as seemingly I need to add it all seperately.... I actually looked at hnymans build for the R7800 and went through his config files as his is very minimalistic and added as many as I could find...

I thought I saw on here it's advisable to use the USB to Ethernet adaptor on the WAN side but I've seen this in another pi forum which seems to say if you do, SQM is useless..

If you're planning to use the second ethernet connection as a WAN port, the problem you're going to run into is that USB NICs have no support for Byte Queue Limits (BQL) in the Linux kernel, and it doesn't appear likely to be added any time soon. This is going to severely hamper performance, and it renders sch_fq_codel, sch_cake, etc. nearly useless. The built-in NIC is attached directly to the SoC—as you've noted—and it uses the bcmgenet driver, which has BQL.

Hi,

Because you are running master snapshots and you do not seem to require specific patches, it will be easier for you to use imagebuilder. It will be quicker everytime you update your system. So, this is basically what I do nowadays with my RPi4 which is acting as my household main Internet gateway and router.

  1. I create a backup with sysupgrade -k -b openwrt-rpi4.tar.gz —this gets me all modified files and a list of the installed packages.
  2. I save it and untar it in files_to_include directory inside my machine's Image Builder directory with tar vxfz openwrt-rpi4.tar.gz files_to_include/
  3. I use files_to_include/etc/backup/installed_packages.txt to create a file that I pass as an argument to the build parameters with cat files_to_include/etc/backup/installed_packages.txt | awk '{print $1}' | xargs > packages_to_include
  4. I use all these as parameters for the build: make image PACKAGES="$(cat packages_to_include)" FILES=files_to_include/ DISABLED_SERVICES="adblock banip sqm"

This save me a lot of time and I reckon it can be mostly scripted if you want to, in the end is just 1) download latest image builder, 2) get running openwrt config backup, 3) process backup, and 4) launch the builder.

In regard to your WAN interface, swap them, I ended up using the internal NIC as the WAN interface and the USB3 NIC (using an AX88179 chipset for now, looks like my UE300 will be in a drawer till drivers get fixed) as the LAN interface. If you are afraid of loosing connectivity with your Pi, just enable your WLAN interface for admin purposes, otherwise you can use a serial console connection, it will come handy in some situations.

Kind regards.

3 Likes

So as your main household router, how is it holding up? Working well? Trouble free...

Doing great actually. Filtering, adblocking, access scheduling for my kids, traffic shaping, DSCP traffic prioritisation, and no breaking a sweat! Very stable, so I'm very happy with it and its stability.

1 Like

That's great news... I really am tempted to give one a try.

Another quick question, some cases require a script to be installed for fan control or power button operation, can these be used if openwrt is the OS?

for the pi, you have to use a custom gpio+transistor and script... and/or an inline NTC/external thermal controller direct to vin or similar. I have not seen examples in the wild making use of the "pwm" pins... most examples are based on sysfs/thermal + high/low ( on/off ) only.

While I agree it would be great to run the AQM algorithms in combination with BQL, this is rarely useful today. Instead, a traffic shaper ensures the AQM algorithm has control of the bottleneck queue. Please see this explanation:

In combination with the shaper, a good USB NIC should work nearly as well as one connected via PCIe, adding only a small amount of latency. I don't have an USB NIC to run any tests, though.

2 Likes

usb for wan works well for me and others here... onboard does expose these tho'... not sure of they are of much use tho'?

/sys/class/net/eth0/queues/tx-0-4/xps_cpus

I was looking at the argon one case, it's a passive case but with a fan if needed... Seems to be popular on pi forums, but they say that a script needs used to control the fan. I think depending on temp the fan runs at different speeds... However as I won't be using raspbian will I be able to use this case? Will scripts run on the openwrt base?

looks like they use some RPi.GPIO ( python ) for the buttons so that would be incompatible ( off the shelf ) and some other stuff re: gui...

short answer no it is not compatible... ( long answer it could probably be made to work for someone with intermediate / advanced skills )

1 Like

That's ok then, I liked that case as it passively cooled the CPU but also the Ram chip... Others like the Flirc only do the CPU.

I don't think running as a router should cause heating issues anyway.

I use https://thepihut.com/collections/raspberry-pi-cases/products/aluminium-armour-heatsink-case-for-raspberry-pi-4 on mine, keeps it at 46-50°C.

That's cooling the ram chip as well... Excellent thank you

i'm using a teency 5v off the 3v pin and a triple sized heatsink ( down air = beneficial )

temps: 45-55...

quite a bit of heat is transferred to the underside of the board/cpu... for custom cases having a "inflow port" right under the cpu area will help alot.

This is mine, passive cooled, temp graph during last 24 hours with 22C degrees at home during the day: