If you thought FireWRT router board had impressive features and but still wanted more, a new product is coming soon. WiTi is also a board powered by Mediatek MT7621A dual core processor @ 880MHz, but with 4 Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports, 2 Gigabit WAN ports, 802.11 b/g/n and 802.11ac WiFi with up to 4 external antennas, two SATA ports, as well as a USB 3.0 port.
WiTi board specifications:
- Processor – Mediatek MT7621A dual core (4 threads) MIPS 1004Kc processor @ 880Mhz
- System Memory – 256MB Memory (up to 512MB later)
- Storage – 16MB SPI NOR flash for firmware, 1x micro SD slot, and 2x SATA 3.0 ports supporting 3.5″ hard drives. There’s also an optional NAND flash (not included in any Indiegogo rewards)
- Connectivity
- 2.4 GHz WiFi 802.11b/g/n up to 300Mbps
- 5 GHz WiFi 802.11a/n/ac up to 867Mbps
- 2x Gigabit Ethernet WAN ports
- 4x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports
- 4x RF Antenna Connectors
- USB – 1 USB3.0 port
- Expansion – 30-pin header including USB, I2S, JTAG, UART, and GPIO signals
- Debugging – 4-pins serial debug port
- Misc – RTC battery, 1x WPS/GPIO key, 1x reset key, LEDs for power, SATA, WiFi (2x), and LAN (4x)
- Power Supply – 12V/2A
- Dimensions – 16 x 10 cm
The board runs OpenWRT. MQmaker is the company behind the project, and is headed by Benn Huang co-founder of CubieTech. The website is still work in progress with very few technical details, but the forum is working. WiTi board comes with a 12V/2A power adapter, two external antennas, two SATA cables (data + power), a USB to TTL board for debugging, and a acrylic enclosure.
The board can be had for $59 (early bird) or $69 via the Indiegogo campaign (flexible funding) with shipping being $20 for most of the world, except China, where it will be shipped for just $5. Delivery is scheduled for September 2015.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
Support CNX Software! Donate via cryptocurrencies, become a Patron on Patreon, or purchase goods on Amazon or Aliexpress
looks nice, but “crowdfunding” isn’t “you can buy it now” and you’d still have to build yourself a case
i’m not even talking about software.
so.. not that interesting until it really should get released.
anyone heard about this company?
If not the fear about lack of support and software (typical for chinese) I would buy it right now.
@renw0rp
Completely new company. The guys in charge worked at CubieTech before.
@Dr. Azrael Tod
I believe you also get some form of case for it.
With the new FCC crap about lockdown and the freedom this board offers I’m getting one for sure. The tech specs are also very good, maybe 256 MB of RAM would have been better but I guess it’s fine.
SATA 3.0 is also great meaning you’ll have no problem making this into a NAS.
Just another FireWrt/MT7621 reference design clone?
FireWrt seems to be abandoned https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=283363#p283363, so I expect this project (similar price) will die too.
@John
Interesting. They canceled the project due to cost issues, as they could not get volume discount on the processor.
@cnxsoft
MT7621A platform is really nice and powerful, but 69 USD is not realistic price for it, especially in case of not massive production (I don’t expect more than hundreds of WiTi “sold” on Indiegogo). There are plenty of other designs based on the same platform, like PandoraBox PBR-M1 (http://downloads.openwrt.org.cn/PandoraBox/PandoraBox-PBR-M1/HW/), AmazingBox (http://www.right.com.cn/forum/thread-163344-1-1.html) or Storylink SAP-G3200U3 (http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/storylink/sap-g3200u3).
Or zero waiting and go to our big boss in China =>
http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wireless-Router-1200Mbps-dual-band-AC-Router-Support-a-SIM-card-for-3-g-4-g/32382460744.html?s=p
No waiting for cloud funding any more.
These days I bypass all crowdfounding stuff, I only buy real/ready-to-use hardware,not a promise any more.
@John
The design seems quite different
@Dr. Azrael Tod
hi,we have manufactured the product twice before the campaign ,so we can delivery the goods to the frist 100 funders very soon ,the rest funders will get in one months after the campaign.and the software is ready now.
I’ve took some video & photos of the board’s trial prodoction here
https://forum.mqmaker.com/t/witi-board-trial-production-video-photos/40/4
@xxiao
We’ve done the sample production. I think the people can get the board quite soon after the campaign 😛
@John
The price is real 🙂 and the board will be available soon
https://forum.mqmaker.com/t/witi-board-trial-production-video-photos/40/4
In my opinion shipping is to high. It makes the price to 79$ and then we have to pay taxes and import costs what makes the total price more to 110$ = almost double.
Then a BPI-r1 is more appealing to me, it doesn’t have the features but it does what I need @ home.
Another one for me is the wifi-hd -> http://www.cnx-software.com/2015/03/02/add-network-connectivity-to-2-5-sata-drives-with-wi-fi-ethernet-enclosures/
The one I received had a MT7620N and has a decent case. A shame I bricked it trying to hack it. I still have to find the serial connectors on this thing.
@eric
For me it’s just a copy of reference design. Of course, board layout is different, but what about the rest? All components are almost the same… I bet that even the PCI-E to SATA bridge chip is the same as in reference design. And I didn’t tell that it’s wrong to make board based on reference designs – it’s faster, easier and more safe. I just don’t trust this company and this product at this moment. I prefer to pay more, but get reliable and tested hardware with long support, not one-time project, founded by 100 random people, with support closed 6 months later, when another one-time project starts 🙂
@cnxsoft
Yes, you’re right 🙂
thanks for cnxsoft report!
In the end it was the price of the shipping that me reconsider buying it … it was just too expensive after adding the shipping and I still needed a good case for it to be able to use it.
@Marius Cirsta
the price in indiegogo is cheaper
the running witi with two 3.5” HDD.
https://youtu.be/2n8yi8VSudM
@benn
I know but I would have liked a cheaper price for shipping … The board itself is decently priced but it costs $20 to ship to Romania which is expensive compared to he board price.
@Marius Cirsta
It’s true. So it’s important to have a local reseller 🙂
An tutorial of making WiTi to a NAS server
https://mqmaker.com/making-your-own-nas-with-witi-board/
run syncthing on WiTi
https://forum.syncthing.net/t/successful-ported-syncthing-to-witi-board-openwrt-mips-cpu-880mhz-256mb-sata3-0/5465
tests hdd+WiTi Router Board ?
test WAN-NAT-LAN ?
WiTi router is up for sale on Aliexpress for $79 + shipping: http://www.aliexpress.com/item/WiTi-Board-Extensible-Powerful-Wifi-Router/32523122606.html
I’d like to buy one of these boards, however they are out of stock at Ali Express. Will you be doing another production run?
@Nrk
Better ask on their forums: https://forum.mqmaker.com/
hi, i’m selling one board, if someone want’s to buy.