OK, I do not use onboard Wifi cards, I was referring to something like this:
or the one I use now
that I am to replace with two other “more stupid” devices. If I can find them, or just throw in anything with 802.11ac, which is enough.
for a family member I converted an old Asus RT-N66U router (I think it is not in production anymore), which has the possibility to install an opensource firmware and can be set very conveniently in bridge mode. Had it for years and has always been very reliable. The only complain I have is that the on/off switch broke years ago. However with a toothpick I managed to fix the problem.
Maybe you can find a similar asus model, which supports the open source firmware.
I know what you refer to. OpenWRT. I am familiar with the RT-N66U.
I was hoping for less antennae… but ah well, yes, I am aware of the start button issue as well.
With OPenWRT I just add lots of functionality I wont use…
maybe this: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/MikroTik-RBwAPG-5HacD2HnD-BE-wAP-4-core-710/dp/B08S7D1QMJ
No, it is not openwrt. Quote from the link:
Asuswrt is the name of the firmware developed by Asus for use on all their recent routers. It was originally based on Tomato, and got extensively modified by Asus over the years as they added their own features to it. Asuswrt-Merlin is an alternative, customized version of that firmware.
I completely ignored all the features. Just set the one thing I cared, the bridge mode. Also, I disabled the 2.4 Ghz network and left only the 5 Ghz running.
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Ohh, ok. Sorry. I thought OpenWRT was kinda “the” standard to go for custom firmware.
I am an Asus Prosumer, how did I miss that…
maybe you could consider a completely different category of products. A range extender. As far as I know, those are quite dumb, basically already in bridge mode. A friend of mine uses one made for being outside (with POE) for his blue network with IPFire in an old APU1 machine.
Edit: I think it is TP-Link EAP225-Outdoor.
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You do seem to have a thing for large antennae…? 
I second this though.
Anything that supports OpenWRT.
You can not count on firmware updates from the manufacture.
With OpenWRT you can get WPA3 support.
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A range extender still needs an existing wifi to hook up on and … extend.
I am finding getting another one of these the simplest and cheapest option since it is what I have already
and it is small enough for where I need to put it, plus PoE.
And there it is OpenWRT latest release supported:
That’s sweet. Going to test reflashing it …
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it’s a fuzzy marketing-based categorization. Many products defined as range extenders have also an AP capability.
nice.
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@hvacguy
I agree completely. Just keep in mind that Asus hardware has a completely different open source implementation from OpenWRT. The code-base is derived from Tomato which evolutionary speaking forked from OpenWRT a long time ago therefore I would expect the code has diverged.
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There are dozens of Asus devices that are supported on the current release of OpenWrt (22.03.3). Your Mileage May Vary. See: OpenWRT Table of Hardware
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yes, but for several of them it is better to use the asuswrt because the limited Broadcom chips support in openwrt, as that driver has a limited floss support. Asuswrt is a fork of Tomato and has been further forked by asus-merlin. Because they come from asus original fork, they maintain a fully functional driver.
I need smaller devices with inbuilt antennae, that’s my main reason to not choose Asus, even if I have used them a number of years before
The Aruba AP 303 is not bad.
Similar to the Unifi.
They share similar hardware.
I bought them to flash to OpenWRT.
They Do not seam to have the coverage that my old
Unifi AC Pro did.
The Unifi can be a problem to flash with OpenWRT.
Hoping these will be less of a problem.
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Jeez, what prices for the Aruba ones, even used, I have no contacts to get those cheaper… 100’s of euros…
I bought a Joowin AC1200 (rebranded Comfast CF-EW72) about 18 months ago, and reflashed it with OpenWRT (currently, v22.03.3). It serves as an outdoor AP.
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