Archive for the ‘routers’ Category
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/12/09
For my link archive a router I bought a few years back: [Wayback/Archive] GL-SFT1200 Secure Wi-Fi Router On The Go – AC1200 Dual-Band Gigabit Wireless Internet Router | IPv6 | USB 2.0 | MU-MIMO | 128MB RAM | Repeater Bridge | Access Point-M Mode: Amazon.de: Computer & Accessories
- It is USB-C powered (the power brick delivers 3A at 5V, but in reality it uses far less).
- Mode and reset buttons are behind the antenna (see picture below).
- It is specced as AC1200, but that’s just theoretical a number.
- It came with EU and UK plug.
I needed it because from prior experience, I knew GL.iNEt can support a special Wireless Repeater mode where it still functions as a router (hiding the LAN/WLAN behind NAT)
Two physical drawbacks likely due to the portable nature:
the plastic RJ45 ports are slightly too wide which means that these keep falling out [Wayback/Archive] Inline® Dust cover, for RJ45 socket, color: green, 100pcs. Pack: Amazon.de: Electronics & Photo- no holes in the base to hang it to a wall
One firmware drawback: it shipped with v3.212 for which I could not find release notes. Luckily the firmware v3.215 I upgraded to had: [Wayback/Archive] Firmware v3.215 is released – Technical Support – GL.iNet.
Links to product and manuals (the paper manual are just two thin sheets, but the on-line documentation is OK; I was surprised WireGuard and Tor were supported!):
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Communications Development, Development, DHCP, Ethernet, GL.iNet, GL.iNET GL-SFT1200, Hardware, Internet protocol suite, Network-and-equipment, Power User, routers, UDP, WiFi, Windows, WinSCP | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/08/15
I have been contemplating on pfSense hardware as there has been a large shortage on that market especially for having more than 2 ports (similar to for instance Mikrotik PoE router unavailability).
If by now I have not found any, I might want to revisit [Wayback/Archive] Gowin R86S mini PC offers 2.5GbE and 10GbE networking for $310 and up – CNX Software has 3 RJ45 ports and 2 SFP+ cages.
They found it via this 4 page review:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Ethernet, Hardware, MikroTik, Network-and-equipment, pfSense, Power User, routers | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/07/09
I wasn’t aware that [Wayback/Archive] [OpenWrt Wiki] MikroTik was available. Many devices are incomplete in support, but it is good to know there is an alternative to the buggy scripting interface of RouterOS.
For the hEX series, support seems good enough to give it a try this summer, but I need to figure out of the hEX PoE RB960PGS is supported. I have good hopes as other models of the RB9* series are.
A few warnings from the below links:
- First Things First: Don’t Lose Your RouterOS License
- OpenWrt is not compatible with the bootloader of RouterOS v7. Do NOT upgrade the firmware on your device to RouterOS v7 or, if you did, downgrade to RouterOS Firmware v6 before installing OpenWrt. RouterOS doesn’t allow to downgrade below factory firmware version, but OpenWrt boots and works fine with versions up to 6.49.10 or beyond. Confirmed working: 6.47.10 (tested on SXTsq 5 ac), 6.49.10 (tested on SXTsq 2nD).
- If the installation fails, you might need to upgrade/downgrade to RouterOS 6.49.2
- Warning: Don’t upgrade RouterOS packages & bootloader to 7.2.1 otherwise ‘sysupgrade image’ install will fail!
- If latested release of RouterOS does not work, try an older version. 6.45 is reportet to work as a first debrick, you can upgrade later with the Winbox Software to latest release
These hEX related models are supported on the web-site (which also explains major differences with Fast Ethernet (100 Mbit/s) and Gigabit Ethernet (1 Gbit/s) models:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Development, Hardware, MikroTik, Network-and-equipment, Power User, routers, Scripting, Software Development | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2025/04/18
I wonder how well [Wayback/Archive] H3/H2 Net Card – ODROID is supported by pfSense. It is an M.2 based PCIe network card that adds 4 ethernet ports of 2.5 gigabit each to an ODROID H2 or H3 series (so you have 6 ports total), ideal for some hefty router.
Pictures (from the above link) of the board, cases and mainboard below.
But first: Realtek NICs is not vendor supported on FreeBSD (which pfSense and OPNsense are based on).
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in *nix, BSD, Ethernet, FreeBSD, Hardware, Network-and-equipment, pfSense, Power User, routers | Tagged: homelab, serverbuilds | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2024/07/05
Two interesting posts on fast network routing:
–jeroen
Posted in Ethernet, Hardware, LifeHacker, MikroTik, Network-and-equipment, Power User, routers | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2023/12/11
Last year, after an already long sequence of doing stupid things, Ubiquiti sued Brian Krebs.
For many this was a reason to think about what to replace their Ubiquiti.
My cloud key had already died, I never installed the USG router, so this is the reminder to see if anything has come up to replace the Unifi access points that is easy to manage in a self-hosted way are powered over ethernet, do the same seamless handover and cooperative WiFi antenna management.
Some links from back then:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Cloud Key, Ethernet, Hardware, MikroTik, Network-and-equipment, pfSense, Power User, routers, Ubiquiti, Unifi-Ubiquiti, USG Ubiquiti Unifi Security Gateway, WiFi | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2023/10/27
Some links on the pfSense hardware I am planning to use.
Whereas apu1 was totally different, apu2, apu3, apu4 and apu6 are very similar. The letters after the first digit indicate evolution of the boards. The first and last digit set apart features. Together, they form a confusing matrix which is not really made clear at the PC Engines web-site as some intermediate categories are missing which makes it hard to get an overview.
Basically their shop site has the list of most current products and is easiest to get links to the actual product names. Like many Swiss companies, they accept multiple currencies, so there are three links to the shop:
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in APU, Hardware, Network-and-equipment, pfSense, Power User, routers | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2023/04/24
It was great while it lasted, so be sure to order within the next 12 months as [Wayback/Archive] PC Engines apu platform EOL:
|
PC Engines apu platform EOL |
| The end is near ! |
After a long production run, AMD will accept last orders for the SOC used in our apu2/3/4/5/6 boards by end of June 2023. |
| apu phase-out |
We will do a life-time buy for a quantity of the AMD SOC and some other key components. We are willing to schedule customer shipments through end of June 2024. There is a 26 week lead time on the AMD SOC, expect limited supply until late 2023.
First ordered, first served. Binding orders may be required for large quantities.
|
| New products ? |
Despite having used considerable quantities of AMD processors and Intel NICs, we don’t get adequate design support for new projects. In addition, the x86 silicon currently offered is not very appealing for our niche of passively cooled boards. After about 20 years of WRAP, ALIX and APU, it is time for me to move on to different things. |
| Thank you ! |
I would like to thank all of our customers for their business, and sometimes patience. |
–jeroen
Posted in APU, Hardware, Network-and-equipment, pfSense, Power User, routers | Leave a Comment »
Posted by jpluimers on 2023/04/13
MikroTik switches and routers are very flexible to configure, as everything is done through [Wayback/Archive] RouterOS settings.
This means that given enough ports, you can split a physical switch into logical switches. This can be very convenient when you run multiple networks without VLAN.
Earlier this week, I already wrote about Torching a specific port on a MikroTik switch or router running RouterOS which involved turning off hardware acceleration off for specific ports in order to have the flow through the underlying switch chip prohibiting torch and filter features.
For splitting noticing which ports are connected to which switch chip is also important: splitting works best if you can configure each logical switch to exclusively use network ports on one switch chip.
This post was to both research how to configure this, and if my MikroTik devices would allow for hardware acelleration.
Here are some links that should help me with configuring (via [Wayback/Archive] mikrotik split switch in two – Google Search):
–jeroen
Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Development, Hardware, MikroTik, Network-and-equipment, Power User, RouterOS, routers, Scripting, Software Development | Leave a Comment »
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 