So you want to build your own router...

[sfx2000]

Maybe Netgear, Asus, Linksys, D-Link don't meet your needs - well, you can roll your own...

Cute little Dev board - AllWinner A20 with a 4 port switched lan (Broadcom 53125 ethernet switch)...

http://www.banana-pi.org/r1.html

OpenWRT is supported, along with a few other ARM variant linux distro's...

The Banana Pi R1 is a router based Banana Pi running on the same SoC as the M1 Classic Pi.

The R1 is a open hardware router that can run on a variety of open source operating systems including OpenWrt, Android, and Bananian. The R1 has slim router form factor with a bay for 2.5" HDDs. It also has 4 Gigabit LAN ports, 1 Gigabit WAN, and 300Mbs wireless N capabilities.

Banana Pi is an open platform device, it is for anyone who wants to play and build with developer technology instead of simply using consumer technology. Backed by our community, starting a project and building servers is fun and rewarding. We welcome all companies, DIYers, and tech loving people within our community! Together, we can make a difference, we can discover our passions, inspire others, and build a practical project.

Key Features

• Dual-core 1.0GHz CPU.
• 1 GB DDR3 memeory.
• Mali-400 MP2 with Open GL ES 2.0/1.1.
• 4x Gigabit LAN 1x Gigabit WAN

Nice layout - note that it also has a SATA connector... along with other ports that might or might not be useful for a router (Camera, Mic, HDMI out, audio out - along with the GPIO's, but it's a dev board...)

Can find these on all the normal China HW sites - Alibaba is a good one to check...

 

[hggomes]

Good alternative:

http://pcengines.ch/apu2c4.htm

 

[sfx2000]

I think a lot of folks might find it harder than it might seem...

 

[RMerlin]

Now, for your next exercise, have a look at a GPU-based packet processor...

 

[pege63]

Are you now going to do a step by step project off this post?

 

[yorgi]

I think a lot of folks might find it harder than it might seem...

Yea since not everyone in here are masters of routers
But seriously maybe a how to guide with a PC and Pfsence by SfX2000
......

 

[hggomes]

PC Engines is definitely a great product for the price (100€/$110), QuadCore x86/x64 CPU (not ARM) with AES-NI (Encryption HW Acceleration), 4GB RAM, SATA connector, 2x mini-PCIex (you can setup 2 radios), mSATA, USB 3.0, etc, and it can work with legions of different OS (Debian, Ubuntu, Voyage Linux) or 3rd party FWs (OpenWRT), you will never find a router with those specs at that price, but obviously not all users will find the ideal setup due to the extra efforts / knowledge needed, which btw is not that much.

So the full setup (with radios, power supply, mSATA/SDCard, case, antenna, pingtails) will cost you near 160€/$180, the price of a RT-AC68U, but looking at the specs...

The unique negative part IMO are the 3xGBit LANs only (in theory 1xWAN 2xLAN) which can be a problem without a Switch connected, but there's always something missing on every available product on the market, this one is not differente.

 

[joegreat]

So the full setup (with radios, power supply, mSATA/SDCard, case, antenna, pingtails) will cost you near 160€/$180, the price of a RT-AC68U, but looking at the specs...

Any ideas where I can get such a complete set...?

 

[hggomes]

On the official site:

http://pcengines.ch/order.htm

But probably you will find resellers on your country, the prices shouldn't be too much different.

 

[tomsk]

Dont know about an entire router... but a Pi Zero as a flexible co-processor for an existing router might be an interesting project...I think i saw in the forums that its already been done for specific applications.

 

[hggomes]

Banana BPI R1 costs half-price of Alix product:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Set...81539.html?spm=2114.12010108.1000023.4.FHJbky


But obviously with alot more limitations...

 

[sfx2000]

Banana BPI R1 costs half-price of Alix product:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Set...81539.html?spm=2114.12010108.1000023.4.FHJbky


But obviously with alot more limitations...

That's the same board I started this thread on...

It's cheap enough, and with OpenWRT support - it's a nice little hobby box that folks can consider as a learning project...

 

[hggomes]

Indeed, but the price was not mention...

 

[sfx2000]

Dont know about an entire router... but a Pi Zero as a flexible co-processor for an existing router might be an interesting project...I think i saw in the forums that its already been done for specific applications.

Lot's of fun things can be done with a Pi - anything from an NTP time source (see the GPS thread) to remote access including serial UART access for a bigger box.

I've got a Pi2 configured as a Jump Server so that I don't need to expose the Gateway/Firewall ports directly (SSH/FTP/HTTP).

 

[sfx2000]

Indeed, but the price was not mention...

True - it's cheap enough for most folks - and the upside is that rather than booting out of onboard NAND, it's on an SDCard - which can make things a lot easier for dev purposes...

The PC Engines board is a common platform that many pfSense folks like to use...

 

[RMerlin]

I wasn't joking BTW about GPU acceleration:

http://shader.kaist.edu/packetshader/

Not sure how this would work out with something like Mali versus a desktop class AMD/NVIDIA GPU however.

 

[sfx2000]

I wasn't joking BTW about GPU acceleration:

http://shader.kaist.edu/packetshader/

Not sure how this would work out with something like Mali versus a desktop class AMD/NVIDIA GPU however.

SEM brought up something similar (might be the same project actually) - there's certain advantages, and there's a fair amount of work being done in similar cases using FPGA's...

 

[L&LD]

Not sure that gpu acceleration is needed for anything remotely 'home based'?

Just the power requirements (not to mention the 10GbE switch hardware required to see any improvements) are scary vs. any current router I've used.

 

[Screwdriver]

I dig these dev boards. I got a few Rpi3's as security cameras. A network music player running Moode and a ODROID C2 running Kodi.

This looks like an interesting project.

 

[sfx2000]

I dig these dev boards. I got a few Rpi3's as security cameras. A network music player running Moode and a ODROID C2 running Kodi.

This looks like an interesting project.

The little ARM based dev/hobby boards are a lot of fun to play with, and surprisingly useful for some... one of the nicer points is that most of them boot from SDIO, which removes a gating item for novices (brick it, pop the card out, flash the card, and back in business). One can still drive the GPIO's and what not, depends on how deep one wants to go, but if one is mostly interested in the SW side, this is easier than having to source a TTL serial cable and all the fun things there (e.g. even JTAG)..

And the price is right

I'm not sure I would consider using the Banana Pi R1 board as a full-time router, but it's a good tool for learning OpenWRT and other embedded OS's, and the cost of entry is fairly low...

One can do the same functionality with a Rasp Pi and a USB ethernet adapter, along with a cheap gigabit switch - and OpenWRT supports the Pi2/Pi3 already...