OpenWrt's first "unbrickable" reference router is now available

[Alfonso Maruccia]

In a nutshell: Nearly a year after its initial announcement, OpenWrt enthusiasts can now purchase the first "official" router powered by the namesake open-source firmware. The OpenWrt One model includes everything necessary for a robust networking experience – though it comes at a price.

Non-profit Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) partnered with OpenWrt to develop OpenWrt One, the first reference router based on the OpenWrt project. Announced in January, OpenWrt One is a wireless router focused on software freedom and the right to repair.

The router features a MediaTek MT7981B SoC CPU and an MT7976C chip for Wi-Fi 6 connectivity. Its base hardware specifications include 1 GB of DDR4 RAM, 128 MB SPI NAND and 4 MB SPI NOR flash storage, two Ethernet ports (2.5 Gbit and 1 Gbit), a USB host port, and an M.2 2042 slot for NVMe storage devices. A USB-C port is also available as an alternative power source.

The hardware is built on Banana Pi's open-source boards and is available in two options: a pre-assembled unit priced at $89 or as a router board for $68.42. According to SFC, the OpenWrt One is versatile, hacker-friendly, and essentially unbrickable, thanks to a dedicated switch that allows separate flashing of the NOR and NAND portions of the flash memory.

OpenWrt One comes with the "stock" OpenWrt firmware, a Linux-based embedded operating system that can be configured either through a command-line interface or the LuCI GUI. SFC assures that users and developers can modify almost every aspect of the device, and the base unit has passed all FCC compliance tests. Source code and schematics are available under a GPL open-source license.

SFC stated that OpenWrt One customers can achieve copyleft compliance, software right to repair, and FCC compliance within a single product for the first time. While some industry professionals claim that FCC requirements can conflict with the right to repair, SFC argues that these concerns are merely unfounded fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

OpenWrt One could make an interesting gift for technology enthusiasts and programmers interested in pioneering advancements in the open-source router scene. Additionally, the OpenWrt project and SFC receive a $10 donation with every purchase, which will help fund future OpenWrt development efforts and support the software freedom movement as a whole.

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OpenWrt's first "unbrickable" reference router is now available

 

[opckieran]

Interesting product, personally I’d like to see a more robust version with expandable ports like what are on enterprise-level network chassis and switches. A SO-DIMM or LPCAMM2 slot, active cooling option, and cellular modem option would be nice as well.

 

[Obiwanbill]

If you want all of that … just buy a computer and configure it yourself as a firewall/router whatever you want.

The point of SFC’s product is … “to get the price down”, so everybody can buy it.

For that, I say “Kudos to SFC!”

Bill

Interesting product, personally I’d like to see a more robust version with expandable ports like what are on enterprise-level network chassis and switches. A SO-DIMM or LPCAMM2 slot, active cooling option, and cellular modem option would be nice as well.

 

[nismo91]

This is definitely interesting, if the hardware holds up well after many years of use.

I've went through some wireless routers, including those flashed with openwrt, and I noticed that the weakest point is always with the hardware itself (dropping connections, high latency etc) rather than with the software.

personally I'd probably wait until they sold a lot of these to the openwrt community, and have people's feedback about them. I won't be surprised if they came up with v1.1 or v2.0 next year or so. I just don't wanna be a beta-tester.

 

[ZedRM]

Needs more LAN ports. 4 more, bare minimum.