Re: [PLUG] best router distros for x86?

[Greg Helledy <gregsonh@gra-inc.com>]

> What unit did you purchase off of Aliexpress ?

Here it is:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Mini-PC-Celeron-j1900-Quad-Core-4-LAN-Ports-Firewall-Mini-Computer-Pfsense-WIFI-VGA-Router/32822565590.html

$196 with 4GB RAM/60GB storage option and a $3 coupon, free shipping.

Today's revelations:
1.  It DOES support booting off of the USB ports.  However, it's not 
possible to set that in BIOS, you have to hold down the F11 key at boot. 
 It comes with no documentation so if you didn't remember that from the 
ad, you're out of luck.
2.  The WIFI unit is an AzureWave AW-NU708H.  This odd device is a 
"Wireless USB half-mini card"--it's USB from the software perspective, 
but fits into a slot that looks nothing like USB.  It is not being 
detected by the kernels in the current releases of Sophos UTM (9.5) or 
Untangle (13.1, using kernel 3.16).  Here's a description of it: 
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/AzureWave_AW-NU706H
A "modprobe -v rt2800usb" produces a weird error:
ERROR:  could not insert 'rt2800usb': Invalid argument

I'm told it IS detected by PFSense, I'll try that.  Playing around with 
Untangle, I'm not that knocked out about it, I like Tomato on my router 
better.

--
Greg Helledy
GRA, Incorporated
P:  +1 215-884-7500
F:  +1 215-884-1385
www.gra.aero
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