5 ms·

There are a ton of ARM based routers out on the market, both in user-friendly products (most current high end routers), and geek-friendly products (EspressoBIN,

by subway 8y ago

There are a ton of ARM based routers out on the market, both in user-friendly products (most current high end routers), and geek-friendly products (EspressoBIN, Turris Mox). I'm personally running OpenWRT on an EspressoBIN with an Atheros card, but I keep eyeing the Turris pretty hard.

hsivonen 8y ago
ARM-based products may be stuck on whatever kernel snapshot the board support package had. With x86_64 one can expect proper kernel security updates.
- ryacko 8y ago
  There is insufficient demand for software warranties. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask for a warranty of at least two years, which means one would get two years plus how many additional years the product continues to be sold. Could even encourage security by using read-only flash, only a reboot is needed to clear any viruses.
  - hsivonen 8y ago
    You don't need a warranty to get kernel security patches _in practice_ if you run a mainstream distro on x86_64 hardware (which is available passively-cooled with low power consumption).
  - walterbell 8y ago
    Microsoft has proposed a model where they provide Linux security updates for 10 years, licensed separately from a device vendor that may go out of business. Let's see if Azure Sphere routers make it to market in 2019 - and at what price point. Maybe they can bundle the hardware in a single subscription service, or partner directly with cable companies.
- subway 8y ago
  The boards I suggested are well supported in Mainline linux (though there are a couple minor patches that haven't yet been merged).
rubatuga 8y ago
Espressobin is really bad, they didn't implement pcie drivers properly. I would stay away, and use an intel atom board from the 2010's.
- subway 8y ago
  Yeah -- that's probably a good point. Don't run the vendor kernel. That's honestly a good rule for most ARM boards -- you should avoid the vendor provided kernel tree. To clean up the odd PCIe behavior on the Espressobin with mainline 4.17, there are 6 kernel patches required. Arch and OpenWRT both already ship them, and I'm in the process of getting them in to Buildroot. I'd expect they'll land in the mainline eventually. https://github.com/jrb/buildroot/tree/espressobin/board/globalscale/espressobin/patches/linux https://github.com/jrb/buildroot/tree/espressobin/board/glob... edit: sorry; 3 PCI patches. The other 3 mitigate other board/chip oddities.
- freebsd4me 8y ago
  You know that FreeBSD and pfsense run on espresso.bin, right?

by subway 8y ago

hsivonen 8y ago

ARM-based products may be stuck on whatever kernel snapshot the board support package had. With x86_64 one can expect proper kernel security updates.

ryacko 8y ago
There is insufficient demand for software warranties. It doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask for a warranty of at least two years, which means one would get two years plus how many additional years the product continues to be sold. Could even encourage security by using read-only flash, only a reboot is needed to clear any viruses.
- hsivonen 8y ago
  You don't need a warranty to get kernel security patches _in practice_ if you run a mainstream distro on x86_64 hardware (which is available passively-cooled with low power consumption).
- walterbell 8y ago
  Microsoft has proposed a model where they provide Linux security updates for 10 years, licensed separately from a device vendor that may go out of business. Let's see if Azure Sphere routers make it to market in 2019 - and at what price point. Maybe they can bundle the hardware in a single subscription service, or partner directly with cable companies.
subway 8y ago
The boards I suggested are well supported in Mainline linux (though there are a couple minor patches that haven't yet been merged).

rubatuga 8y ago

Espressobin is really bad, they didn't implement pcie drivers properly. I would stay away, and use an intel atom board from the 2010's.

subway 8y ago
Yeah -- that's probably a good point. Don't run the vendor kernel. That's honestly a good rule for most ARM boards -- you should avoid the vendor provided kernel tree. To clean up the odd PCIe behavior on the Espressobin with mainline 4.17, there are 6 kernel patches required. Arch and OpenWRT both already ship them, and I'm in the process of getting them in to Buildroot. I'd expect they'll land in the mainline eventually. https://github.com/jrb/buildroot/tree/espressobin/board/globalscale/espressobin/patches/linux https://github.com/jrb/buildroot/tree/espressobin/board/glob... edit: sorry; 3 PCI patches. The other 3 mitigate other board/chip oddities.
freebsd4me 8y ago
You know that FreeBSD and pfsense run on espresso.bin, right?