Category: Mediatek Wi-Fi

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on GL.iNet Puli AX (GL-XE3000) WiFi 6 & 5G router integrates a 6,400 mAh battery

GL.iNet Puli AX (GL-XE3000) WiFi 6 & 5G router integrates a 6,400 mAh battery

Puli AX GL XE3000

GL.iNet Puli AX (also known as GL-XE3000) is a WiFi 6 and 5G cellular router with an integrated 6,400 mAh battery and running a fork of OpenWrt 21.02 on a MediaTek Filogic 820 dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 router SoC. If the design looks familiar it’s because it’s based on the same platform as the GL.iNet Spitz AX 2.5GbE, WiFi 6 and 5G cellular router that we reviewed last May, except the new Puli AX model comes with a 6,400 mAh which makes it even more convenient as a travel router. Puli AX (GL-XE3000) specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7981A (Filogic 820) dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.3 GHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot Networking 1x 2.5GbE WAN Ethernet port 1x Gigabit Ethernet LAN port Dual-band IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi 6 up to 574Mbps (2.4GHz), 2,402Mbps (5GHz) RM520N-GL 5G cellular modem and 2x Nano SIM […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments on Linux 6.4 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.4 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.4 release

Linux 6.4 has just been released by Linus Torvalds on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML): Hmm. Final week of 6.4 is done, and we’ve mainly got some netfilter fixes, some mm reverts, and a few tracing updates. There’s random small changes elsewhere: the usual architecture noise, a number of selftest updates, some filesystem fixes (btrfs, ksmb), etc. Most of the stuff in my mailbox the last week has been about upcoming things for 6.5, and I already have 15 pull requests pending. I appreciate all you proactive people. But that’s for tomorrow. Today we’re all busy build-testing the newest kernel release, and checking that it’s all good. Right? Released around two months ago, Linux 6.3 brought us AMD’s “automatic IBRS” Spectre defense mechanism, additional progress on the Rust front with User-mode Linux support (on x86-64 systems only), the NFS filesystem (both the client and server sides) gained support for […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on GL.iNet Spitz AX review – Part 2: a router with 5G NR, WiFi 6, 2.5GbE, failover and load balancing

GL.iNet Spitz AX review – Part 2: a router with 5G NR, WiFi 6, 2.5GbE, failover and load balancing

Gl.iNet Spitz AX review 5G failover testing

Earlier this month I introduced the GL.iNet Spitz AX (aka GL-X3000NR) router with 2.5GbE, WiFi 6, and 5G NR cellular connectivity listing the specifications, doing an unboxing, and going through the initial setup. I’ve now received a new SIM card for testing and installed it into the router to continue the review. 4G/5G cellular connectivity on Spitz AX router After powering the router, the SIM card was detected and showed a 5G connection, but quickly fell back to 4G as can be seen with the cyan icon in the screenshot below. Shortly after, I lost 4G data connectivity, and after a while, the modem was not detected at all. But after restarting the router, and clicking on the “Auto Setup” icon everything looked to be working fine and I was always on a 5G connection from “house 1”. You’ll notice an envelop icon on the top right corner of the […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 6 Comments on GL.iNet Spitz AX (GL-X3000NR) 5G NR WiFi 6 router review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, and first boot

GL.iNet Spitz AX (GL-X3000NR) 5G NR WiFi 6 router review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, and first boot

GL-X3000NR 5G NR WiFi 6 router review

GL.iNet Spitz AX, also known as GL-X3000NR, is a compact 5G NR WiFi 6 router running OpenWrt 21.02 on a MediaTek Filogic 820 (TM7981A) dual-core Cortex-A53 processor coupled with 512MB DDR4 and 8GB eMMC flash, as well 2.5GbE and GbE interfaces, and a USB 2.0 port. The company sent us a Spitz AX router for evaluation, and in the first part of the review, we’ll go through the specifications, and do an unboxing and a teardown, before connecting it for a first boot. GL.iNet Spitz AX router specifications SoC – MediaTek MT7981A (Filogic 820) dual-core Arm Cortex-A53 processor @ 1.3 GHz System Memory – 512 MB DDR4 Storage – 8GB eMMC flash, MicroSD card slot up 1+ TB Networking 1x 2.5GbE WAN Ethernet port 1x Gigabit Ethernet LAN port Dual-band IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi 6 up to 574Mbps (2.4GHz), 2402Mbps (5GHz) RM520N-GL 5G cellular modem and 2x Nano SIM card slots […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments on Linux 6.3 release – Notable changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.3 release – Notable changes, Arm, RISC-V and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.3 release

Linux Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.3 on the Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML): It’s been a calm release this time around, and the last week was really no different. So here we are, right on schedule, with the 6.3 release out and ready for your enjoyment. That doesn’t mean that something nasty couldn’t have been lurking all these weeks, of course, but let’s just take things at face value and hope it all means that everything is fine, and it really was a nice controlled release cycle. It happens. This also obviously means the merge window for 6.4 will open tomorrow. I already have two dozen pull requests waiting for me to start doing my pulls, and I appreciate it. I expect I’ll have even more when I wake up tomorrow. But in the meantime, let’s enjoy (and test) the 6.3 release. As always, the shortlog […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 7 Comments on Linux 6.2 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.2 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linux 6.2 release

Linux 6.2 has just been released with Linus Torvalds making the announcement on LKML as usual: So here we are, right on (the extended) schedule, with 6.2 out. Nothing unexpected happened last week, with just a random selection of small fixes spread all over, with nothing really standing out. The shortlog is tiny and appended below, you can scroll through it if you’re bored. Wed have a couple of small things that Thorsten was tracking on the regression side, but I wasn’t going to apply any last-minute patches that weren’t actively pushed by maintainers, so they will have to show up for stable. Nothing seemed even remotely worth trying to delay things for. And this obviously means that the 6.3 merge window will open tomorrow, and I already have 30+ pull requests queued up, which I really appreciate. I like how people have started to take the whole “ready for […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 19 Comments on GL.iNet GL-MT3000 pocket-sized Wi-Fi 6 Router review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, and teardown

GL.iNet GL-MT3000 pocket-sized Wi-Fi 6 Router review – Part 1: Specs, unboxing, and teardown

GL-MT3000 portable WiFi 6 router

GL.iNet Beryl AX (GL-MT3000) is a pocket-sized Wi-Fi 6 router running OpenWrt on a MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz and equipped with a 2.5GbE port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a USB 3.0 port. The hardware is basically the same as the Brume 2 (GL-MT2500A) security gateway, except it adds support for WiFi 6 connectivity and as an AX3000 router more than doubles the bandwidth compared to the earlier Beryl (GL-MT1300) AC1300 router. The company has sent me a sample so I’ll start the two-part review by checking the specifications, doing an unboxing, and tearing it down to have a closer look at the hardware design, before trying out OpenWrt and testing WiFi 6 and 2.5GbE performance in the second part of the review. GL.iNet GL-MT3000 specifications Beryl AX specifications: SoC – MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz System Memory – 512MB DDR4 […]

Posted on by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments on GL.iNet GL-MT2500A security gateway review – Part 1: Unboxing and teardown

GL.iNet GL-MT2500A security gateway review – Part 1: Unboxing and teardown

Brume 2 Review

The Brume 2 security gateway/router is powered by a MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz and is available as the GL-MT2500A with a metal enclosure or the GL-MT2500 with a plastic case. GL.iNet sent me the GL-MT2500A for review. In the first of the review, we’ll have a look at the device and accessories, and tear it down to check out the hardware design and main components. I’ll then need some time to test OpenWrt 21.02 and features such as WireGuard and OpenVPN, AdGuard Home, Tor Anonymity, and soon. GL.iNet GL-MT2500A (Brume 2) unboxing The router ships with a short Ethernet cable, a 5V/2A USB Type-C power supply with EU, US, and UK plug adapters, and some minimal documentation that points to the users to more detailed online documentation and support on the company’s Facebook page. There’s not much too see on the front panel and right […]