NanoPi R6S RK3588S mini PC & router review – Part 2: Ubuntu 22.04

NanoPi R6S Ubuntu 22.04

NanoPi R6S is both a mini PC and a router based on Rockchip RK3588S processor. I received some samples in November and started the NanoPi R6S review with OpenWrt/FriendlyWrt quickly testing the 2.5GbE interfaces and routing with iperf3, and it worked pretty well. But using a system with an octa-core Cortex-A76/A55 processor and 8GB RAM as an OpenWrt router only feels like a waste of resources, so I wanted to install a more versatile operating system – Ubuntu 22.04 – for further testing. My struggles installing Ubuntu 22.04 on NanoPi R6S FriendlyELEC provides various images on the Wiki either booting from an SD card, installing from a MicroSD to the eMMC flash (aka eFlasher imagers), or flashing through USB with Windows tools. I like the eFlasher images since the OS runs from the internal eMMC flash and no special tools are needed. I had just used the FriendlyWrt eFlasher image, […]

Snapdragon X75 modem brings 5G Advanced to smartphones, IoT, and FWA routers

Snapdragon X75 5G Advanced modem

Qualcomm Snapdragon X75 is the latest 5G Modem-RF System from the company bringing 5G Advanced connectivity to smartphones, PCs, industrial IoT, vehicles, and 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) routers. 5G is getting more confusing than ever, as after just having launched a 5G NR-Light modem for smartwatches, industrial IoT, and XR glasses, Qualcomm introduced the first “5G Advanced” modem with the Snapdragon X75 targetting a wide range of applications that benefit from the improvements in speed, coverage, mobility, power efficiency, etc… made possible by the 5G NR Release 18. Snapdragon X75 key features and specifications: Cellular Technology –  5G NR, LTE, LAA, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, GSM/ Edge, CBRS, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS), EN-DC, NR-DC, mmWave, sub-6 GHz 5G Spectrum – mmWave-sub6 aggregation, sub-6 carrier aggregation (FDD-TDD, FDD-FDD, TDD-TDD), FDD-TDD support for uplink-CA, Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) 5G Modes – FDD, TDD, SA (standalone), NSA (non-standalone) Up to 10CC aggregation in mmWave, […]

Robustel R5020 Lite 5G router targets industrial applications

Robustel R5020 5G Lite Router

Robustel R5020 Lite is an industrial 5G router with 4G LTE Cat 18 fallback, two Gigabit Ethernet ports and WiFi 5 connectivity, as well as features such as an RS232 or RS485 serial port,  wide 12-36V DC power input, and support for an extended temperature range. The company says the R5020 Lite is especially well suited for “Enterprise / SD-WAN applications as a ‘5G managed modem’”, and it can also be used as a backup for fixed line broadband, for primary broadband access, as well as for Industrial IoT (IIoT) applications like industrial automation, autonomous robots, and Smart Transportation applications. Robustel R5020 Lite 5G router specifications: SoC – Undisclosed System Memory –  “Available for SDK”: 128MB RAM Storage – “Available for SDK”: 5MB flash Connectivity Cellular – 5G/4G/3G Global frequency bands 5G: NR SA/NSA: n1/n2/n3/n5/n7/n8/n12/n13/n14/n20/n25/n26/n28/n29/n30/n38/n40/n41/n48/n66/n71/n75/n76/n77/n78/n79 4G LTE FDD: B1/B2/B3/B4/B5/B7/B8/B12/B13/B14/B17/B18/B19/B20/B25/B26/B28/B29/B30/B32/B66/B71 LTE TDD: B34/B38/B39/B40/B41/B42/B43/B48 LAA: B46 (only supports 2 x 2 MIMO) […]

GL.iNet Beryl AX OpenWrt router review – WiFi 6 performance, repeater, NAS, and 4G hotspot modes

Power bank GL.iNet GL-MT3000 Beryl AX router

In the first part of the review of GL.iNet GL-MT3000 “Beryl AX” pocket-size WiFi 6 OpenWrt router we had a look at the specifications, the package content, and the hardware design with a teardown of the little router. I’ve now had more time to play with the router focusing the review on WiFi 6 performance, and some of its functions such as repeater, NAS, and 4G hotspot. The router also supports VPN client and server modes, the Tor network, and Adguard Home, but I’ll invite readers to check out the GL.iNet Brume 2 security gateway review since I went through all these, and the hardware is very similar minus wireless connectivity. Initial setup of the Beryl AX router If you connect an Ethernet cable to the router you can switch to step two. If you only rely on WiFi for the setup that works too as the Beryl AX router […]

Storaxa is a 3-in-1 5-bay NAS, WiFi 6 router, and 4K media center (Crowdfunding)

5-Bay NAS WiFi 6 router 4K media center

The Storaxa is a multi-purpose device powered by an Intel Celeron N6005 Jasper Lake processor which works as a 5-bay SATA NAS, which also happens to take up to four NVMe SSDs, a 4K media center with HDMI and DisplayPort interfaces, and a WiFi 6 router equipped with four 2.5GbE ports. The solution is fitted with 16GB RAM, comes with four 10 Gbps USB 3.2 ports and two USB 2.0 ports, and runs Proxmox VE to handle both TrueNAS SCALE and OpenWrt for the NAS and router functions respectively. Storaxa specifications: SoC – Intel Celeron N6005 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 3.3GHz (Turbo) with 32EU Intel UHD graphics @ 450 / 900 MHz (Turbo); 10W TDP System Memory – 16GB (2x 8GB) DDR4-3200 SO-DIMM memory Storage 128 GB SATA SSD for OS 5x 3.5-inch SATA bays 4x M.2 2280 sockets for NVMe SSDs (connected via ASMedia ASM2812X PCIe […]

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 […]

Jlink WiFi 6 router sells for just $35 (Promo)

cheap low cost WiFi 6 router

If you are interested in upgrading your wireless network to WiFi 6 but don’t want to spend too much on it, the Jlink WiFi 6 (AX1800) may be an option as it is now sold on Amazon for about $35 with a 30% coupon (CGWTG9GR if ticking does not work). Jlink AX1800 dual-band router highlights: Wireless 2.4GHz and 5GHz MU-MIMO WiFi 6 with up to 1.8 Gbps wireless speeds Support up to 128 concurrent devices Coverage of up to 1700 sq feet or 160 square meters TWT technology for low-power IoT devices Security – WPA3 4x external antennas Wired networking – 4x RJ45 ports with one Gigabit Ethernet WAN port, 3x Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports USB – None that I can see “Storage Memory of up to 256MB” I could not find the specifications for the router, so all we really have are user reviews on Amazon. Most users are […]

Gowin R86S mini PC offers 2.5GbE and 10GbE networking for $310 and up

Gowin R86S

Gowin R86S (aka GW-R86S) is an affordable Intel Celeron N5100 or Pentium N6005 Jasper Lake mini PC, router, and firewall appliance with 2.5GbE and 10GbE networking that sells for $310 and up on Aliexpress. 10GbE used to be reserved for the enterprise market due to the cost of hardware, but costs have gone down a lot as illustrated by the Gowin R86S system with up to three 2.5GbE ports, two 10GbE SFP+ cages, as well as ports that you would typically find a mini PC such as HDMI 2.0 video output, M.2 socket for NVMe SSD, two USB 3.0 ports, and a WiFi module. Gowin R86S specifications: SoC (one or the other) Intel Celeron N5105 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 2.9GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics 605; 10W TDP Intel Pentium N6005 quad-core Jasper Lake processor @ 2.0GHz / 3.3GHz (Turbo) with Intel UHD graphics @ up to […]

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