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"Past failures I used to use a Soekris net6501 as my home gateway, but its CPU maxes out NAT'ing about 300 Mbps, sadly, so I started looking at alternatives wh

"Past failures I used to use a Soekris net6501 as my home gateway, but its CPU maxes out NAT'ing about 300 Mbps, sadly, so I started looking at alternatives when I got Centurylink fiber. I used to use a UniFi Security Gateway Pro but it failed one day and wouldn't power on any more. Dave had a backup for me handy, but the Unifi controller software wedged itself and wouldn't let me remove the old (dead) one ..." There is much adoration of Ubiquiti hardware on forums and message boards. I do not doubt for a moment it has been well-deserved. However, I have a question about the software. I would like to use own kernel and custom utilities. If I understand correctly, installing one's own choice of OS on Ubiquiti hardware is not always possible and even if successful it carries a penalty in terms of performance versus retaining the Ubiquiti pre-installed proprietary OS. Soekris made it easy for the user to install the OS of her choice. Tradeoff: More user "control", but a slower router. The question is: Are there other alternatives to Soekris that can exceed 300mbps and allow for user-chosen OS? This is another line of (faster) routers where the vendor has allowed for easy installation of user-chosen OS. https://protectli.com/product-comparison/ https://protectli.com/product-comparison/ There are comments in some other forums and message boards about these computers but I have not seen this company discussed on HN before. Note the website claims models FW1, 2 and 4 have no Intel ME, SPS or TXE. https://protectli.com/kb/intel-management-engine-vulnerability-update/ https://protectli.com/kb/intel-management-engine-vulnerabili...

voltagex_ 8y ago
Hey textmode. I'm still very very new to this - I jumped from the Turris Omnia [0] to the whole kit and kaboodle of Unifi gear. I don't think Intel ME is at the top of my threat model - by the time someone's using that kind of stuff on me I'm screwed anyway. I do, however, pay insane prices for power (28-34 cents AUD per kWh). This has pretty much meant I look for ARM and MIPS devices everywhere, but the latest gen Intel stuff is looking good. I hadn't seen those Protectli boards before and they look quite cool - I'll keep them in mind. At full tilt, it'd cost me about $85 AUD per year to run. If Marvell ever open sources the switch drivers for the Espressobin [1] [2] then that may be an option to exceed 300mbps. 0: https://omnia.turris.cz/en/ https://omnia.turris.cz/en/ 1: http://wiki.espressobin.net/tiki-index.php?page=Topaz+Switch http://wiki.espressobin.net/tiki-index.php?page=Topaz+Switch 2: http://espressobin.net/ http://espressobin.net/

voltagex_ 8y ago

Hey textmode. I'm still very very new to this - I jumped from the Turris Omnia [0] to the whole kit and kaboodle of Unifi gear. I don't think Intel ME is at the top of my threat model - by the time someone's using that kind of stuff on me I'm screwed anyway. I do, however, pay insane prices for power (28-34 cents AUD per kWh). This has pretty much meant I look for ARM and MIPS devices everywhere, but the latest gen Intel stuff is looking good. I hadn't seen those Protectli boards before and they look quite cool - I'll keep them in mind. At full tilt, it'd cost me about $85 AUD per year to run. If Marvell ever open sources the switch drivers for the Espressobin [1] [2] then that may be an option to exceed 300mbps. 0: https://omnia.turris.cz/en/ https://omnia.turris.cz/en/ 1: http://wiki.espressobin.net/tiki-index.php?page=Topaz+Switch http://wiki.espressobin.net/tiki-index.php?page=Topaz+Switch 2: http://espressobin.net/ http://espressobin.net/