<div>I had thought you might be slightly overextending the capabilities of that device.</div><div><br></div><div>OpenWRT is optimized for the situation and as such, it's limitations are by design and aren't necessarily a flaw. (It's just a matter of using the right tool for the job.)</div>
<div><br></div><div>I'm glad you got it working though!</div><div><br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Jul 23, 2012 at 10:31 AM, Tom Schouten <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tom@zwizwa.be" target="_blank">tom@zwizwa.be</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
It works and I'm happy with the setup.<br>
<br>
The main plus point is that Debian's asterisk works without trouble
after some tuning. I can now switch off the PC without worrying
about the desk phone. Next to pbx and normal router functions it
has a USB backup drive attached to receive remote backups.<br>
<br>
It takes about 5W, so that goal is more than met. Also it's cheap.
I used this to purchase a 2nd one for experimentation. Total price
was $20 for the router, $12 for the 16GB mini USB flash drive and
about $100 for the external USB backup disk. Prices where
amazon/newegg deals so might be a bit higher now.<br>
<br>
Currently it starts standard OpenWRT config that serves as a backup
configuration. From there it detects if the USB flash drive is
present, and will proceed booting into Debian, killing the OpenWRT
deamons and start the Debian ones. I do keep the OpenWRT dropbear
daemon running to be able to log into the real root. Debian ssh
daemon logs into the Debian chroot.<br>
<br>
The downsides:<br>
<br>
- Needs A LOT of work to tune for memory use and make robust. My
approach just starts a couple of daemons from the Debian chroot to
keep the memory usage low, so the rest of the Debian boot is done
manually, i.e. I'm not running the main Debian init script.<br>
<br>
- I'd advice to install a hardware serial console from the start.
The board already has the 4-prong header soldered on it. I broke it
once after I switched it to be my main router, cutting myself out
due to some network configuration error and a non-working
(non-tested) failsafe. Of course this is just me not being careful.<br>
<br>
- Device is not supported in standard OpenWRT (yet). I'm not sure
if this is just an organizational problem or if there are licencing
issues. Compiling it is a pita.<br>
<br>
- The main disappointment is that ssh/rsync is very slow. I don't
get over 2MB/sec and the limit here seems to be CPU, but for my
purpose this is OK (receiving rate-limited incremental backups over
the internet).<br>
<br>
- It seems to need swap to run some of the more resource-intensive
Debian apps. Especially during "apt-get install" things can get out
of hand. I have this swap on a USB flash drive which is not ideal.<br>
<br>
It was a nice learning experience, but I did not expect it to take
so long to get going. In retrospect, what I have running as daemons
can probably be done in pure OpenWRT, but it sure is handy to have
the convenience of a Debian system even if somewhat slow and
memory-constrained. OpenWRT is great for its intended purpose, but
has its limitations.<div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
<br>
On 07/05/2012 05:42 PM, Bryan Laur wrote:
<blockquote type="cite">So, how is this working out?<br>
Did this end up being a viable solution?<br>
<br>
<br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 22, 2012 at 1:57 PM, Tom
Schouten <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tom@zwizwa.be" target="_blank">tom@zwizwa.be</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">To run
debian I had to recompile the image on this page<br>
<a href="http://manojpi.blogspot.com/2012/05/openwrt-on-belkin-share-max-n300.html" target="_blank">http://manojpi.blogspot.com/2012/05/openwrt-on-belkin-share-max-n300.html</a><br>
and enable FPU emulation. Compilation didn't go without
problems so if anyone is interested in the .trx or the *.ipk,
drop me an email (strip the [GLLUG] tag in the subject line).
<div>
<div>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 06/21/2012 07:02 PM, Tom Schouten wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
I bought the N300. Let's see if I can scale down
requirements a bit..<br>
<br>
Next is "debootstrap --foreign --arch mipsel squeeze
squeeze" on a USB 2.5"<br>
Looking for more info I ran into this page: <a href="http://wiki.debian.org/DebianWRT" target="_blank">http://wiki.debian.org/DebianWRT</a><br>
<br>
I used OpenWRT + chrooted Debian system a couple of
years ago on an old SimpleTech SimpleShare NAS. Worked
well only for very basic stuff since the disk was very
slow and the machine was a bit low on memory (32M). The
Belkin has 64M so should be a little better, but still
seems quite tight. I'm curious if it will run asterisk.<br>
<br>
<br>
On 06/19/2012 12:38 AM, Charles Ulrich wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Not a bad price for a hackable router, even if the
stock firmware is a bit crap. I might grab one to be a
wifi bridge.<br>
<br>
Also, what OpenWRT class? :)<br>
<br>
Charles<br>
<br>
On 06/18/2012 11:56 PM, Tom Schouten wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Thanks a bunch for all the answers.<br>
<br>
In the OpenWRT class I ran into this one today,
currently $19.97 on amazon<br>
Belkin Share Max N300<br>
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Share-N300-Wireless-Router/dp/B004B1Z6EE" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Belkin-Share-N300-Wireless-Router/dp/B004B1Z6EE</a><br>
There are patches for OpenWRT<br>
<a href="http://manojpi.blogspot.com/2012/05/openwrt-on-belkin-share-max-n300.html" target="_blank">http://manojpi.blogspot.com/2012/05/openwrt-on-belkin-share-max-n300.html</a>
<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
Tom<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On 06/18/2012 08:23 AM, Tom Schouten wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
Hi List,<br>
<br>
Recently I've been doing some math and found out
that running a 100W<br>
machine 24/7 at my parent's back home cost me
about 150 Euros/year<br>
(Belgian electricity is quite expensive, about 20
Eurocents/kWh more<br>
than double of what it is here). The 100W was
measured with power<br>
meter over period of 24h so is probably quite
accurate. Includes PC,<br>
GB ethernet switch + wireless router.<br>
<br>
Anyone have an idea of how to replace this with
something more<br>
power-efficient?<br>
I recently ran into [1] which seems like a nice
solution. Not sure<br>
about the power though.<br>
It probably can go lower still. This[2] might be
nice too.<br>
<br>
The main purpose for the server is backup, VPN,
asterisk, email with<br>
spamassassin+clamav, apache and to serve as print
server and gateway<br>
for the home network, maybe also PLEX but that can
also run on a<br>
"real" PC if necessary.<br>
<br>
[1]<br>
<a href="http://mocko.org.uk/b/2012/06/17/how-i-store-my-1s-and-0s-zfs-bargain-hp-microserver-joy/" target="_blank">http://mocko.org.uk/b/2012/06/17/how-i-store-my-1s-and-0s-zfs-bargain-hp-microserver-joy/</a>
<br>
<br>
[2] <a href="http://www.androidauthority.com/via-android-pc-arm-49-dollars-88209/" target="_blank">http://www.androidauthority.com/via-android-pc-arm-49-dollars-88209/</a><br>
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