We're building a high-end router. Here's the update for May 2024.

[@tomazzaman]

Apologies for the awkward audio - I record on two channels separately, one through hardware compressor. Forgot to choose the main channel, so they may seem out of phase. 🤦 Listening on speakers makes the problem somewhat go away (which is how I missed it, I guess)

[@Damicske]

Always use headphones to check the audio ;) and apologies accepted ;) also for the internal leds, make it also a software feature (permanent on with a jumper or true software so you can chose ;))

[@platin2148]

Watching on a MBP Pro 16" and I can say the listing to speakers thing is actually making these feel very weird.

[@linearburn8838]

I would love to see MQTT support as a client as well as snmp just my xmas list and any idea what your target price is looking like? also what switch chips you gona use RTL8221B (2.5gb) are fairly resonable imo uplinks should probaly be 10gb sfp+ its fairly indstry standard and could be converted to a differnt format with a different transiver this day in age 1gb ports are just useless unles for managment. If you want the gear to be revlent I would highly recomend starting at 2.5g and higher if posable 5 or 10g Just my thoughts I would use a header insted of onbord LED;s this way depending on the case you could just use or not use the leds and also please please PLEASE sell a rack mount case I hate having a bunch of loose geear floating around in my server cabnet

[@omegatotal]

Absolutely wild audio on my speakers :laughing:

[@Ben333bacc]

I'm using speakers, and it is driving me NUTS tbh. Untill I scrolled down to your comment I thought either: A) my ears need to 'pop' like when you yawn after entering different elevation / air pressure, or (less likely), B) that kinda weird effect you get when a TRS jack isn't quite plugged in all the way. Unfortunately, both my guesses were incorrect.

[@madnessandescapism]

Port status leds are absolutely required for such device, it saves huge amount of time when diagnosing problems and absence of them makes some use cases impossible. If I loose connection to remote location, I could just call anybody and ask to go and see what lights are on before hopping into my car and driving 500 km to realize somebody unplugged the wrong cable. And when on site it saves a lot of time from logging in, remembering which command shows interface status for this particular device and so on. Just use ethernet jacks with leds and disable it in software - you don't even need dip switches for this, just some spare gpio pins

[@MarkFunderburk]

Yes for sure, anyone who deals with installation / troubleshooting would hate the lack of LEDs.

[@LouisLo0olz]

I'd suggest a button outside of the case instead of a dipswitch on the MB, to cycle light modes in blinking, fixed on or off

[@migol_net]

It seems Tomaz is forgetting to whom is he making the product really. On one hand it's openhackable for pros, on other he wants to please people who hate blinking lights because they don't have a good spot for their router. Why not just do what a lot of gear does this days and make a "dark mode" software toggle?

[@SuperMopti]

The LEDs on the connectors themselves still should be there, and for me so far it always was enough. Yes, you need to ask the person to look at the back of the device, but rarely it is a huge problem.

[@MarkFunderburk]

@@SuperMopti It seemed pretty clear that he was talking about the LEDs on the connectors. And there are plenty of connectors that don't have LEDs and he would have to connect them to the phy or some other controller anyway.

[@okieplaya]

Being in the internet business for 15 years with over 5000 customers Few suggestions make sure the router can handle full bandwidth 1gb over wireguard Tailscale and do split tunnel at the same time not very many routers can do this . If you want ISP to buy the router you will need POE+ Wan port to power outdoor Wisp equipment.. and a way for wisp to manage 100s of devices at a time behind lte network and not TR-069. Some kind of dual internet like pep wave has speed fusion not very many companies have that at a affordable price

[@Geyer128]

Sorry, LEDs are very useful, especially for the ethernet ports, to see if these connections are working

[@AnIdiotAboard_]

The LED's on switches can and will flash with bad cables, bad ports, signals out of bound. The flashing does not mean traffic is flowing, its a visual indicator that the port is in control of the proverbial CPU, remember its all TDMP Time Division Multiplexing. The lights tell you nothing more and nothing less. Using them for diagnostics? Oh hell no it dont mean jack

[@E3_Kruger]

100% agree. While I appreciate the clean aesthetic, the fact is that mistakes happen, the wrong cable is unplugged, get's knocked or knicked or our config simply isn't perfect. LEDs let us diagnose issues SOOO much faster. If an aesthetic is still a higher design philosophy to follow, then a compromise with ARGB LEDs would be amazing, being able to configure the specific colours or even (this is a huge stretch) configure dedicated patterns and colours for specific, predefined states/errors would be HUGE.

[@Momi_V]

Regarding LEDs: I agree that there's little point in having half a dozen of them (especially for a router) as long as it can indicate: 1. Off 2. Booting/Working/Loading 3. Running normally 4. Error/Issue/General Fault (maybe with software integration for what beyond the obvious hardware/firmware problems qualities as an issue) I do however value link indicators on the networking ports as they can be useful for troubleshooting what layer a connection issue lies at. Recently had a frustrating experience because I thought there was an L1 problem but it turned out to be an improperly configured VLAN.

[@tomazzaman]

User experience is actually the most considered aspect of the device right now if we put schematics aside. We're constantly asking ourselves "how can the device get out of the way but also provide useful feedback when needed/necessary".

14:30 Definitely not the middle option. I can't imagine how I'm going to reach the button between those cables with my finger. I'd go with the top option. Because it would be easy to reach the button from the side. Also, as someone already wrote, it wants at least one USB-C port to have more distance from the others. Because some flash drives are chunky (like Kingston DataTraveler R3.0 G2 with USB-C adapter). I love this project. 🤩

[@tomazzaman]

Thank you!

[@meccu19]

agreed. Also looking for reboot button

[@omegatotal]

RE: LED(s) 1 RGBW status LED, then normal RJ45 and SFP+ Link/act status LED's with the ability to turn them off or dim them would be ideal!

[@EFazy]

a few idea: You should somehow mark (with a colored border, whatever) which is the power input, The SFP+ sockets can get hot, especially if you're using optical modules, and not DAC-s (if it will support LR modules, consider having some space, around it or at least make some thermal test) Maybe the best would be some passive metalic connection between the chassis and the SFP cages on the board, to get out heat directly.

[@DovahDoVolom]

The SFP+ heat is a big design consideration. I have a Dell rack server with very active flow through fans and the module i have when i last removed it was hot enough to leave a mark if i held it too long.

[@ledoynier3694]

you meant RJ45 modules? those get extremely hot yes. LR modules are only warm-ish usually

[@shanemshort]

@@ledoynier3694 depends entirely on the module used

[@tomazzaman]

The ports will be both clearly marked to which one serves what and also well documented, of course. And yes, the SFP+ modules can get nasty hot. Even SFP can, and I have one of each. SFP+ to RJ-45 and a SFP GPON. Both give up a lot of heat and we plan thermal pads to be between the cages and the chassis.

[@seltmitchell2965]

​@@tomazzaman fans with thermal control... Noisy as hell for the small size, to balance with the pad because I don't think heat transfer pads can be sufficient. I think just the thermal management will throw you back to the drawing board.

[@proformap]

For the rack deployment - it would be great to have power port (also?) on the opposite side as the network ports.

[@alexk4894]

Have you tried RJ45 ports with built-in magnetics and LEDs? (like in a Raspberry Pi) I'm not an engineer, but I think it can help a little bit with a board design. Also those tiny LEDs aren't bright and almost invisible in the dark, but will give a good indication when you connect something and want to make sure that link is OK

[@andrewmittelstadt3270]

I know if I was on the board I would enjoy receiving information this way instead of having to reading it. Great work, you really break things down and make it easy to follow you.

[@rumplin]

I have one suggestion about the space between USB C ports, please make one with more space. There are some USB devices that need a bit more space than just a basic USB cable.

[@tomazzaman]

Gotcha, makes sense!

[@n-steam]

I would much prefer to have diagnostic LED's visible without opening the device. To think of having to open the device upon an internet outage to just answer "is it me or them" sounds absolutely horrific. Maybe a 'window' width a sliding cover, if you're adamant to hide them. (opinion of a curious observer only)

[@bastian775]

Try to test ethernet modules in the SFP+ slot too and make sure they do not overheat, or at least 1 of 2. Those usually run quite hot. Also performance on PPPoE is also something to account for if possible.I don't know what other providers use this legacy pain in the rear protocol, but it is a problem getting a router routing PPPoE at full speed (in my case 4 gigabit/sec) except for the providers router that has an ASIC that knows how to deal with it and can route it at full speed on a single thread unlike a lot of those mini pc's I tried using. Also directly supporting XGS-PON SFP+ modules would be nice. I also sometimes watch the mastermilo videos, I was already wondering why this video was listed under your video. There is a summary in the comments under the video if you want to know what they are discussing.

[@tomazzaman]

Thermal behaviour is one of our largest concerns honestly. I have both SFP GPON and a SFP+ to RJ-45 and they get seriously HOT. We're doing an extensive thermal analysis on this, both on paper and with a thermal camera. Will get a dedicated video because it's a very complex topic.

[@pauljacob750]

@@tomazzaman In my Lenovo M720Q, I use a Mellanox ConnectX 3 with a GPON SFP, and the temps go up to 45C. One good idea would be to redirect some of the case airflow onto the SFP+ cages. You can improve the product using CFD simulations once the electronics are finalized. I also think 3D printing duct assemblies would be great for such a product.

[@Martin42944]

Option 1 allows for better use of reset in a cramped rack with all the ports used. Option 2 and 3 look cleaner

[@hosquiat]

I agree. The other two would be an awkward reach.

[@samstringo4724]

I would absolutely LOVE if you took the time to port Coreboot to this baby! it would really put your name on the large scene I think since the open-source firmware crowd is growing and are thirsty for small embedded routers. Now Protectli is the only option and we would certainly need a replacement for the outdated PC Engines APU boards that soon fall out of production.

[@DangoNetwork]

Ethernet and SFP+ port need the standard LED indicator. (Speed light and activity)

[@scoutg001]

honestly I was just going to be happy if one of the 10g ports can negotiate down to 2.5g and 5g over sfp+ to rj45, but this is looking way better than I've ever expected

[@MarkFunderburk]

You should mockup the enclosure with actual cables attached and see how it feels trying to cable manage and plug / unplug them. How it looks without the cables isn't important except on an Apple product page. I suspect you will not want the PD input to be that close to the others.

[@omegatotal]

Would love to see the two 10Gbit SFP ports support Multi-gig speeds (10/5/2.5/1 Gbit) for RJ45 and Fiber XGS-PON ONT SFP adapter support

[@ernstoud]

Why is the audio so thin?

[@OstenTV_DK]

It sounds like he is talking behind me.

[@DuskHorizon]

Doesn't help that he's competing with a piano and talking at his usual 1.1x speed.

[@jeremyfmoses]

It sounds to me (though I have not tested this), that it was recorded in stereo, but the left and right channels are played back out of phase.

[@tomazzaman]

Sorry. Missed that :/

[@Eugensson]

Is it out of phase?

[@Roman_4x5]

Option 1 is more familiar. Plus with cables attached, it will be easier to access if needed.

[@plagosus]

Ohh I like that it does not blink like a lunatic, but it makes me happy that it's possible to still have blinkenlights as an option :)

[@Tokyodb]

Re: LEDs, Apple’s “AirPort Extreme” and “Time Capsule” routers use a single hole in the housing with a diffuser to help the light get through. The LED is solid green for normal operation, orange if there are issues… and I think it pulses white while booting? It’s a nice solution to providing more status information while simultaneously avoiding all of the flashing lights.

[@tomazzaman]

Agreed, we're looking at something similar, but instead maybe use a "halo" instead of a directly visible LED.

[@therealgelno]

I know you cannot incorporate everything, but if possible consider those of us who are colorblind. Yellow, green, and orange LEDs can be EXTREMELY difficult to distinguish between. For my eyes, if you can pick 2 colors at most, maybe blue and green, and use pulses of light to indicate different information, that would help.

[@therealgelno]

…a small display would be the ultimate solution here, but probably outside the scope of your plans. Don’t let me add feature creep to you project, unless you want to hire this mechanical engineer with years of experience in prototyping and design ;)

[@erwinmoegger]

will there be an alternative enclosure to install the router in a 19" rack?

[@tomazzaman]

Yes, it's planned.

[@RoyvanLierop]

You might want to consider USB CDC-NCM instead of a serial port. This would give the user a nice web-interface instead of fiddling around with PuTTY and the baud-rate. Also TI has some nice USB-PD delivery ICs with integrated high-side switch.

[@pandapan0001]

I already love this project. I will definitely be waiting for the next update.

[@claycurtis8300]

Please please do not do this project without network port link/act LEDs. These are crucial for validating PHY connectivity. It is used all the time by network operators. Maybe there is a way to toggle them in software, or build a simple shroud that you can attach/remove that would cover them.

[@esra_erimez]

I love the transparency of the project.

[@tomazzaman]

Thank you!

[@FlaxTheSeedOne]

Reset on the right is probably best. If the device is all lplugged in with cables and I need to reset its hard to get in between. Further I hope the firmware of the Device if its custom and not something open like OPNSense, will support IPv6 in its fullest form. Any router not supporting it especially in the EU where IPv6 adoption is pretty high is something where I considder the device broken.

[@MrDiogoFSP]

Nice update! I've been following from the beginning! On the UX, have you considered USB-A for UART and data? It may not be as sexy but it will likely save you some cost on materials. If you keep all USB C, I would segregate the power in to avoid problems with users plugging power where they shouldn't (even if you accont for that on the hardware side), you can do this by either giving the port a different orientation or moving it to the other side of the device. Good luck!

[@rusenemirramazanoglu7761]

In terms of design, the front panel can have RGB LEDs (2 or more). m2s and other debug points can be on the bottom panel, which is made of plastic and can be closed using only two screws and nails (to save money and labor). The top panel can have fins for cooling. Optionally, by placing a total of 8 legs in the 4 corners, the device can be used both upright and upside down. I couldn't see it clearly from the video, but it seems there might be more space between the ports. Since Type-C USB cables extend beyond the ports and RJ45 and SFP cables take up the entire port space, there must be at least 1.5 cm of space between the ports (for fat fingers and to fully grasp the ports). The restart button must be on the far right or far left, otherwise pressing it, which is already difficult, will become unnecessarily difficult.

[@78wesley67]

Awesome to see this project, Nice to hear that there are dutchies working on it :D

[@HaradaLabTech]

A cool idea would be implement a XGPON port on it, so it can be used as a ONU, without using one SFP cage with those ONU sticks, just spoof the MAC address and que serial number, also, WiFi 7 would rock too. Then we could ditch the ISP's ONU, or it could even be used by ISPs themselves.

[@tomazzaman]

Yep, that should work out of the box - I see no reason why it wouldn't.

[@pederstrmKollenborg]

First or third option for the design. The button will be a pain ti reach sandwiched between the SFP cages and rj45 jacks. You could risk unplugging power with the 3rd if rotated. And usb ports being next to each other for power / UART/storage could also face a slight risk of the same. Allowing the sfp cages some direct contact with the case might also be good,as they can get rather hot. Thanks for the update! 🤞

[@jreklund]

If you are going to support SFP+ to RJ45 adapters I would prefer a design that separates them from the standard RJ45, even a space between both of the SFP+ modules so you can use two adapters. Kinda like the Cisco switch CBS220-8T-E-2G-EU.

[@tylertc1]

Continuing to love this video series and process. Esepcially the connection between business but also the deep dives into tech. I prefer the top or bottom design. People have made good points with the usb-c port spacing. At least one spaced out a bit more to allow for chunkier devices. Good points on the SFP SFP+ heat issues but seems you've got that considered and thermal testing when you get to it will tell you if you're good or not. I like the white minimalist design ubiquiti / apple esq. And it looks like it'll be a fairly small form factor which is super nice. I'm sure someone will print or make a 10" rack mounting plate and a 19" plate when the time comes. Also like the idea of the halo light with status for if something is off vs normal operation vs boot. And I think you'll certainly get people that want the lights. I think it's more a mental thing though honestly a comfort of seeing what's going on ...but there are better ways to do that now. All in all awesome work and thanks for sharing your journey with us!

[@ubertgold]

You should have at least 1 LED externally to show that the device isn't frozen and is actively processing just for troubleshooting purposes, or at least some indicator for that. As long as the indicator is able to show that the device is actively doing something it would help a lot.

[@tomazzaman]

Agreed. Though there are plenty of ways to make sure users know the device is functioning correctly.

[@kenwoodjeff]

What I would love to see in a router is: DC output/input to an external battery ex. (12v SLA) battery. The router would float charge the SLA and failover to it when it loses DC input. Gracefully shutdown when a low voltage threshold is reached.

[@paulwojcik1856]

Looking forward to this. I have two use cases for this board. One as an edge device (firewall/routing) for home network, and the second is as a higher end NVR running a Dual Edge Coral TPU. It will be nice to have something more performant than a Raspberry PI (or similar) without running desktop hardware.

[@DayZilya]

Great video! Love the bottom design on the Router

[@legalizeskyscrapers]

I have been loving following your process - absolutely amazing videos! I love how you include so much about both the technical router design and details on how you started up a company, including both your reasoning and so much cost transparency! I agree with your choice of the three possible port placement designs - the only thing I can think of to change would potentially placing the reset button between the power usb c and the other usb c's. I can imagine a user accidentally using the wrong one, and that might make it clearer for them...

[@Pistolshot]

How technical are those guys. Amazing. Keep going.

[@j2klegend]

The bottom row design is good as reset button giving gap for USB and Network slots. Aesthetically and practically good choice. One suggestion to keep air wents in a way not to collect dust from top to accumulate it on PCB over a period of time. Also a good air gap under the case for better heat dissipation.

[@AnnatarTheMaia]

I just love this to bits, everything I wanted to know, even the PCB design, as I'd like to design my own server based on OpenSPARC T2 microprocessor some day.

[@vomKuckucksfelsen]

@14:10 No. 3 but with the reset hole on the left or the right (or... - behave... - even in the front). So its reachable when network is plugged in.

[@capability-snob]

8-12 hours / week is the perfect work week, very nice

[@JTrickZ]

RGB status LED, have it default to White, but allow advance users to set it to strobe different colors for status?

[@GearSeekers]

I am so keen for this!

[@tomazzaman]

Thank you!

[@psylenced]

Are the USB ports wide enough apart that you can fit in a fairly chunky USB flash drive without interfering with the other cables?

[@seltmitchell2965]

I would turn it into a rackmount and slap a heat transfer pipe to move the heat away in more space to fan it out to reduce noise. Use the space to mount a battery as an internal ups module, dunno if you can cram enough capacity for the sfp ports though.

[@macdememe]

For design I prefer first one, it looks kinda less chinese xD About led's: you say some of led's be on the board w/ dip switch. You can try rgb led on front of device and use colors as you using few led's or do like unify and put oled :)

[@macdememe]

@tomazzaman and I forgot about two things. 1. What is the approximate expected price? 2. Please make the RJ-45 ports 2.5 gig! and if possible, it would be great to see sfp+ at 10 gig ;)

[@sturcot]

for the ports placements, the UART USB-C port being beside the Power Delivery and regular USB-C one might be a bit confusing. I'd recommend adding a 'cap' on it written UART, nothing complex, just a plastic cover that inserts into the USB-C port and covers it? Other than that! Good progress so far! :)

[@EasyNetDev]

Question: what are differences between DPAA2 and NPU (Network Processing Unit)? I'm curious about this difference between LS1046A and MediaTek Filogic 880 MT7988A regarding the network processing. Can you do a video about this? I wasn't able to find too much information about any of these technologies.

[@EdwinvandenAkker]

14:29 To have that space between the different ports-classes makes it easier to find them, in case you have to wire them blind. That hole, is there a reset button behind it? It might be harder to get to it, when all network ports are occupied. What about putting the USB3 ports between the 1GB and 10GB ports? That would make it easier to distinguish. IMHO 🤔

[@ILike2Tinker]

I like the first and third layout for the ports.

[@stephanszarafinski9001]

No blinking lights??? But that’s the whole point of networkdevices! I can stare at them for hours 😅 btw, thanks for all the details you give, it’s very interesting!

[@fullstack_journey]

for fans, a cutout or slot for a 40x40x10 mm fan could prove useful for those who live in more "hot" regions and want to just have less thermal load on the hardware just to be safe.

[@tygi]

This. Please consider that for ex. Ubiquiti Unifi products get so hat that many of them needed workarounds bc of heat.

[@slidetoc]

Would it be possible to add GPIO/I2C headers to the device aswell? (like RaspberryPI does it). This would be awesome for semi-industrial applications or tinkerers at home who would like to hook up an LCD to show some status information, etc. Maybe you've gone through this already in another video, but will there be the option of just buying the board? You could publish the case files on the internet, so people could 3D print their own cases?

[@akselbering291]

This is pretty late in developement I realize, but have you looked at getting it made out of sheet metal? Some minor design changes like the sharp corners on top being rounded, it'd probably be so much cheaper on materials that you could go back to the old size and still save. You would probably have to order 100+ to be worth it tho compared to cnc. Oh and I think you'd be a very big fan of a stainless version with a glass blown finish. Juuuuuust sayin.

[@pianoman4Jesus]

Tere Tomaž, As for connector layout, I prefer the bottom two. I would suggest not putting the reset button at the convenient end. Yes I realize.... must push a pin in to cause the reset. I like reset burred between other connectors than on the end advertising itself, "Hey, go ahead, push me!" Is there benefit for more space between RJ-45 connectors and the SFP+ ports? If so, then middle option makes more sense.... stick the reset between as a spacer. What?! No link and activity LED's per port?!!?!? I am skeptical about that decision. Yes, viewed the entire video. Bravo. Excellent update. Ciao!

[@berndeckenfels]

I would Seperate power delivery and data usb ports - the 3 designs I guess are equivalent

[@ChaseAlberti]

Jeez did not know NXP charges that much just to use their IDE! My company, Renesas, provides the IDE, compilers, and some debuggers (integrated J-Link) for free. Really cool project, keep up the the great work!!!

[@tomazzaman]

Yeah, I honestly don't know why the IDE is a paid product. 🤷‍♂️

[@WitFamily-t9g]

Handling HEAT from the SFP+ cages is crucial. Also must support speeds 1g, 2.5g, 5g, 10g Layout doesnt matter much. Same with M2 keep them cool

[@andreag23900]

Will the SFP+ ports support HSGMII syncing? As to support 2.5GbE GPON sticks

[@aran384]

I think you should separate the usb-pd port from the other two ports. Perhaps by putting the reset switch between them

[@fjdkfdfjdf33]

Mr. Anderson is on board!

[@gabrielpi314]

15:18 Should also offer an option to disable the status LED in software. Few things are worse in a light-controlled environment than that one damned status LED glowing like a beacon of Gondor in the corner.

[@fedemtz6]

yes, at least when it is working properly. If there is an error, it turning on red or flashing is ideal. of course you should be able to tell it that you are aware of the problem to turn it off

[@tomazzaman]

That exact thing was discussed at our last meeting as well. Either make it dimmer or completely eliminate the LED being visible in the first place and go with a subtle "halo" effect.

[@ppandgg]

Please make sure its available in India. It is a niche product but i am sure many of us are not buying extremely good products like these as they are not available in our region which can be purchased with INR.(barrier of Forex and the charges that come with it. Also benefits of making the second largest population as prospective customers comes with this)

[@tomazzaman]

You make a valid point, I wasn't aware there are any barriers in the first place. Thanks!

[@okoeroo]

Master Milo video shout out!

[@uros8lilek]

The last one looks best to me!

[@macdememe]

and I forgot about two things. 1. What is the approximate expected price? 2. Please make the RJ-45 ports 2.5 gig! and if possible, it would be great to see sfp+ at 10 gig ;)

[@raduandreinegrila215]

I hope to follow your journey and take inspiration from it. It seems daunting to leave the corporate environment to start something innovative in the world of atoms and not of bits. Just saw your last video but I imagine you had an MVP before you could pitch to VCs. How do you get attention with a real game changer while you do not have the money for IP protection?

[@tinmank]

Some RJ45 Sockets has it’s own caps, which if ports are too close to each other, makes it hard to use it.

[@platin2148]

Other idea on that side do you think it would make sense to back light the ethernet jacks maybe even the SFP's?

[@asmi06]

Please for separate USB port which is designed for a thumb drive from the rest, otherwise once you actually plug in that thumb drive, it will likely occlude nearby ports.

[@johtib]

I guess I'd go with whatever port placement helps thermals, especially if copper is used in the sfps.

[@idiotspieltminecraft1032]

And if you are in School / University Solidworks, Altium and Fusion along with pretty much everything else is more or less free (with a few exceptions in functionality). Thanks Autodesk!

[@EasyNetDev]

Hi @tomazzaman. Regarding the LED. Why are you not using a GPIO pin / some GPIO pins from CPU to control some MOSFETs that are turning On/Off the activity of these LEDs? Using DIP switch is looks like an old fashion solution. Then we can control the LEDs from OS. We can create a schedule to turn off them in night and keep them ON over the day. Most Linux OSes can access GPIO. Or I believe they can be controlled by defining in DTB as a special pin function.

[@tomazzaman]

Agreed, I don’t see why not both - the dip switch controlling a GPIO pin. Then we can have all possible combinations.

[@EasyNetDev]

@@tomazzaman Then make sens :). We can cover all situations.

[@ernstoud]

I must have missed it, but what will the OS be? OpenWRT?

[@bigpod]

I belive he stated in past that user installable

[@tomazzaman]

It'll ship with OpenWRT yes.

[@bigmak40]

Are the rj45 ports upside down? Tab up is always preferred.

[@tomazzaman]

Depends on who you ask. I have devices with all possible configurations, they all work fine regardless of the tab direction :)

[@locusm]

So these reference boards dont support generally available languages and IDE's ?

[@tomazzaman]

They do, but like with any other vendor, they prefer their own tools, so to speak. But that doesn't stop you from using a third party JTAG programmer and use whatever you want.

[@RandomUser2401]

I was wondering the same thing. Surprised I had to scroll down so far. There‘s other IDE for these processors available but their super expensive one??

[@faoliveiras]

Appreciate the transparency. Already think to ditch my Asus router to this

[@faoliveiras]

And take a separate access point later

[@rogluka]

Ledice na terenu rešujejo ure troubleshootinga. Mogoce po defaultu brez, po potrebi se jih prizge? Ali pa en RGB Led ki bo za vsak port utripal s svojo barvo

[@tomazzaman]

Jup, planiramo nekaj, kar bo olajsalo troubleshooting. Ledic bo cel kup, samo bodo skrite med normalno operacijo.

[@DavidJones-ws2vz]

Will you be able to run opnsense in such hardware?

[@TehFreek]

Not sure about RTOSes, but Linux has/allows for LED drivers that can be configured via SysFS through /sys/class/leds. It would require firmware and hardware effort, but then it would be dead simple for the end user to use them for whatnot.

[@xajten]

My left ear has jealousy problems.

[@ldpolli]

Hey, why don’t you input a SIM card also so you can have a safe backup (second or third) provider create redundance and don’t have a internet failiure❓❓❓

[@talkalotsonius]

Whats the reasoning for using SFP+ instead of RJ45 for 10Gb? And I prefer Design Option 1 for better accessibility of the reset button, but the cleanliness of Option 3 is also compelling. It will be the trade-off and dependent on the customers preferring function or "form over function". I say: "know your customer" :)

[@tomazzaman]

SFP+ is more versatile. You can use fiber, DAC or RJ-45 with them.

[@sanjikaneki6226]

Is that MBbus a MDIO in actuality? Also why is the lower PCIe buss/lane limited to gen 1? and not 3 like the other one it can negotiate down if needed. Why is there a free interface on the right SeRDES block?

[@xgeko2]

I would but the reset pin away from the plugs so it can be accessed without having to potentially unplug any usb or ethernet cables.

[@tomazzaman]

Makes sense!

[@aleksandarvasilevski7410]

This chip 1046a is already 10 years old. Strange to see it in new design. I worked with it probably 2014-2015 but with other software ecosystem. I think that software development is 20times more demanding than pcb design in this usecase. Hope to see progress in firmware development in year from now.

[@tomazzaman]

It does the job, there's no point in using newer parts for the sake of using them. 1046a does exactly what we need and maybe even more importantly, it's well tested in the field. Like me. 🤣

[@benchy5769]

for the LED hear me out, instead of just one single color LED, why not RGB and integrate it with whatever router software that will be running on it to make it change color depending on the device status also I also prefer LEDs for each interface, its super useful when trying to debug connection speed, make it one light for both link speed and activity but the activity can be turned off in settings

[@Karthig1987]

All the best

[@MegaCyklops]

Why don't you socket the memory? Memory Training/Validation can be hard, but the payoff is huge! People could deploy the memory capacity that they need, and have a upgrade path if they need more.

[@jonjohnson2844]

Two questions: 1. What can we expect from the management/software side? I'm definitely committed to buying the router, I've only ever had ISP provided ones! 2. (Personal question) Have you had to risk a lot of your own money/assets on this project?

[@samuelhulme8347]

Software will be OpenWRT

[@kjeldschouten-lebbing6260]

Honestly, I would've gone for SFP28 considering the proces of those adapters are pretty on-par in pricing by now.

[@tomazzaman]

Honestly, not yet. 99.999% of home users (even power users) don't use SFP28.

[@monad_tcp]

I had a prototype of a smaller router with less hardware features I was creating last year out of spare parts I found on dubious Chinese sites. Maybe I can help with the software side, I have some ideas and I would definitively buy your product to test them.

[@BromTeque]

I also prefer the bottom port arrangement.

[@Hoerli]

How big can the heat sink be? YES I would connect the CPU to the case to have the beste heat dissipation as possible. (Example: MikroTik 5009) I like it cool.

[@tomazzaman]

In fact, in our last meeting with the case designers we had a discussion around just this. How can we mount the PCB so that the CPU will align with the case in a manner that will allow us to just use a thermal pad in between.