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Open source router firmware project OpenWrt ships its own entirely repairable hardware (www.theregister.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/technology@lemmy.world
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[–] 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Well the router I use today has 4 ports (and a built in modem for that matter, but I don’t use that).
I understand I can use a switch, but that means I’ll have to buy a switch in addition to this to replace my router.

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  • [–] 43 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Which is not a bad thing, it’s more unix if you will. Router is a router, switch is a switch.

    You provide your own switch and you choose the features: port count, port speed, vlan, etc — or get a 10€ switch if you don’t care. When a port breaks you replace the switch alone.

    Multifunction tools are generally a tradeoff where you buy immediate convenience and pay with more ewaste and more money in the long run.

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  • [–] 12 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Good point.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    I also wanted to chime in with the perennial point that while this device is a pure expression of the OpenWrt project, they also support hundreds of other devices including, amazingly, a number of large switches, so if you wanted to ditch the separate route appliance altogether you could get all the features with only switch hardware.

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  • [–] 19 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    The audience of this router most likely already has a standalone switch within their network.

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago

    I have 3 but they’re not close to the router. (What I’m saying is: I’m likely target audience, but I don’t have an additional switch nearby, since so far any router I had also had a built in switch.)

    But yeah, I get it. Modularity makes sense for repairability.

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