router News - CNX Software - Embedded Systems News

July 18, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

$39 Acelink SM81 MediaTek Filogic 820 WiFi 6 system-on-module runs OpenWrt 23.05 or Debian 11

ACELINK SM81 MediaTek Filogic 820 system-on-module

Acelink SM81 is a compact (50x36mm) system-on-module based on the MediaTek Filogic 820 (MT7981A/B) processor with WiFi 6 and Ethernet connectivity designed for IoT applications such as routers, access points, and gateways. The wireless module ships with up to 1GB DDR4 memory, a 2MB NOR flash for the bootloader, a 32GB eMMC flash for Linux or an optional NAND flash, and exposes various I/Os such as gigabit Ethernet, USB 3.0, PCIe 2.1, UART, and more through castellated holes. Acelink SM81 specifications: SoC (one or the other) MediaTek MT7981AA (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz MediaTek MT7981BA (Filogic 820) dual-core processor @ 1.3 GHz without PCIe interface System Memory – 1GB DDR4 @ 2133 Mbps Storage 2MB NOR flash for bootloader 16GB or 32GB eMMC flash for main OS (OpenWrt) Footprint for NAND flash Wireless Radio Mode – 2.4GHz 2×2 + 5GHz 3×3 MIMO via MT7976CN RF IC Radio Frequency […]

July 9, 2024July 9, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 21 Comments

Banana Pi BPI-R4-NIC-BE14 WiFi 7 module for BPI-R4 SBC launched for $74

The Banana Pi BPI-R4 was introduced last year as a WiFi 7 router board with two 10GbE SFP cages and four GbE ports based on MediaTek Filogic 880 SoC. The only issue is that WiFi 7 is implemented through a dual mini PCIe module that was not available until now. The good news is that the tri-band Banana Pi BPI-R4-NIC-BE14 WiFi 7 module for the Banana Pi BPI-R4 board can now be purchased for $73.69 on Aliexpress. It is based on MediaTek MT7995AV WiFi 7 chipset, MT7976CN dual-band (2.4GHz and 5 GHz) chipset, and MT7977IAN 6GHz chipset. Banana Pi BPI-R4-NIC-BE14 specifications: MediaTek MT7995AV WiFi 7 – IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax/be compliant 32-bit RISC-V MCU for Wi-Fi protocols and Wi-Fi offload Embedded SRAM and ROM UART interface with hardware flow control MediaTek MT7976CN dual-band 2.4GHz 2×2 MIMO and 5GHz 3×3 MIMO MediaTek MT7977IAN 6GHz 3×3 MIMO Bandwidth 2.4 GHz – 20 and […]

July 4, 2024July 4, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 4 Comments

GL.iNet GL-B3000 “Marble” WiFi 6 router ships with a photo frame

GL.iNet GL-B3000 “Marble” is a typical WiFi 6 AX6000 router that ships with a photo frame acting as a stand for the router and makes it look like an office or home decoration item rather than another bland white box on the desk. The Marble router is powered by a Qualcomm IPQ5018 dual-core Cortex-A53 networking SoC coupled with 512MB RAM and 128MB NAND flash. Like other GL.iNet routers, it runs an OpenWrt fork with GL.iNet Admin Panel, OpenVPN and Wireguard VPN client/server support, Adguard Home, parental control, and other features. GL.iNet GL-B3000 specifications: SoC – Qualcomm IPQ5018 dual-core Cortex-A53 processor @ 1 GHz System Memory – 512MB DDR3L Storage – 128MB NAND flash Networking 1x Gigabit Ethernet WAN port 2x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports Dual-band IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax WiFi 6 up to 574Mbps (2.4GHz) and 2402Mbps (5GHz) 4x internal antennas Misc – Reset button Power Supply – 12V/1.5A DC Input via […]

June 7, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 1 Comment

Fibocom FG370 dual-band WiFi 7 and 5G cellular module targets 5G FWA routers

Fibocom FG370 is a compact module that combines WiFi 7 and 5G cellular connectivity designed for 5G FWA routers for the home, SMB (Small and Medium-sized Business), and industrial applications. Based on the MediaTek T830 quad-core Arm Cortex-A55 SoC, the FG370 supports 5G NR sub-6GHz, two 10Gbps USXGMII interfaces, and dual-band BE7200 WiFi 7 achieving an MLO (Multi-link operation) speed of up to 7.2Gbps. Note this is not the first “FG370 announcement” from the company, as global operators have used the 5G-only FG370 since October 2023, and the company introduced the FG370 with 5G and tri-band BE19000 WiFi 7 at MWC2024. The company has unveiled a mid-range variant of the FG370 module with 5G and BE7200 at Computex 2024. The company has yet to release a datasheet for the 5G + WiFi 7 variants, but for reference, here are the Fibocom FG370 (5G-only) specifications: (North American version) SoC – MediaTek […]

May 13, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 2 Comments

Linux 6.9 release – Main changes, Arm, RISC-V, and MIPS architectures

Linus Torvalds has just announced the release of Linux 6.9 on LKML: So Thorsten is still reporting a few regression fixes that haven’t made it to me yet, but none of them look big or worrisome enough to delay the release for another week. We’ll have to backport them when they get resolved and hit upstream. So 6.9 is now out, and last week has looked quite stable (and the whole release has felt pretty normal). Below is the shortlog for the last week, with the changes mostly being dominated by some driver updates (gpu and networking being the big ones, but “big” is still pretty small, and there’s various other driver noise in there too). Outside of drivers, it’s some filesystem fixes (bcachefs still stands out, but ksmbd shows up too), some late selftest fixes, and some core networking fixes. And I now have a more powerful arm64 machine […]

May 10, 2024May 9, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 5 Comments

SONOFF ZBMicro Zigbee USB smart adapter adds any USB device to your Smart Home setup

SONOFF Micro Zibgee USB Smart adapter, or SONOFF ZBMicro for shorts, is a Zigbee 3.0 USB adaptor to remotely control USB devices via your smartphone app or home automation solution based on Home Assistant or other solution to turn on/off the device, set timers to control charging times, configure smart scenes, or control with voice commands. The new home automation device from ITEAD is based on a Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 multiprotocol SoC, works with the usual eWelink app, as well as Home Assitant and OpenHAB open-source solutions when the server is fitted with a compatible Zigbee 3.0 USB dongle SONOFF ZBMicro specifications: Wireless MCU – Silicon Labs EFR32MG21 MCU core – Arm Cortex-M33 microcontroller @ 80 MHz Memory – 96KB SRAM Storage – 352KB flash, 1024KB ROM for protocols and library functions Wireless – Zigbee 3.0 USB – USB 2.0 Type-A port Misc User Button – single press: Turn on/off […]

April 22, 2024April 22, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 10 Comments

Testing ntttcp as an iperf3 alternative in Windows 11 (and Linux)

ntttcp (Windows NT Test TCP) is a network benchmarking utility similar to iperf3 that works in both Windows and Linux written and recommended by Microsoft over iperf3, so we’ll test the alternative in this mini review. iperf3 is a utility of choice for our reviews of single board computers and mini PCs running either Windows or Linux, but we’ve noticed that while Ethernet (up to 2.5GbE) usually performs just as well in Windows and Linux, WiFi is generally much faster in Ubuntu 22.04 than in Windows 11. So when XDA developers noticed a post by Microsoft saying iperf3 should not be used on Windows 11, it caught my attention. Microsoft explains iperf3 should not be used in Windows for three main reasons: The maintainer of iperf – ESnet (Energy Sciences Network) – says “iperf3 is not officially supported on Windows, but iperf2 is. We recommend you use iperf2. Some people […]

April 17, 2024April 17, 2024 by Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft) - 20 Comments

The first OpenWrt One WiFi 6 router board samples are ready, some will be auctioned at OpenWrt Summit on May 18-19

John Crispin has recently received the first samples of the “OpenWrt One/AP-24.XY” Filogic 820-based WiFi 6 router board, manufactured by Banana Pi. Those will be officially supported by OpenWrt developers with assistance from MediaTek. Announced in January 2024, we only had the specifications of the OpenWrt One router so far, but since the first samples are now available we have more details including several photos of the board, and some units will be auctioned away at the OpenWrt Summit taken place in Cyprus on May 18-19. John explains fifteen prototypes will be manufactured, a website will be set up (maybe openwrt dot one), and that MediaTek helped with documentation: Just dropping a quick update on the OpenWrt One project. I’ve received the first batch of three PCBs for testing today. I am in the process of testing the hardware to make sure everything works as intended. There are twelve further […]