router that runs linux?

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budec

Gawd
Joined
Jul 10, 2002
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Anyone know of a low power router that can run linux? Basically I want to give up my huge power hungry server for a low watt reliable linux router.

to be clear, I want to run a "full" linux disto.
 
DlStreamnet said:
So then you want a computer.
Click to expand...

I lol'd a bit. :p

How low power do you want?

Can you specify exactly what distro you're going to be running? I'm assuming by "full" you mean those such as Smoothwall/m0n0wall/pfsense, et cetera?

A nice 1u atom server with 1~2GB can usually meet and exceed most specifications for the light distros. IIRC, someone had a config that pulled somewhere like 25~35W.

A UTM like Untangle requires a bit more processing and memory - therefore your specs will go up a bit, and so will your power consumption.

Your hardware choice is going to vary a bit depending on your overall configuration. Bandwidth, OS, additional packages, et cetera.
 
-Jess- said:
I lol'd a bit. :p

How low power do you want?

Can you specify exactly what distro you're going to be running? I'm assuming by "full" you mean those such as Smoothwall/m0n0wall/pfsense, et cetera?

A nice 1u atom server with 1~2GB can usually meet and exceed most specifications for the light distros. IIRC, someone had a config that pulled somewhere like 25~35W.

A UTM like Untangle requires a bit more processing and memory - therefore your specs will go up a bit, and so will your power consumption.

Your hardware choice is going to vary a bit depending on your overall configuration. Bandwidth, OS, additional packages, et cetera.
Click to expand...

i just wanted to note that if you're not loading up the features on the untangles, they run just fine on atoms as well..

i've got.... 15-20 boxes out there running untangle on 4GB ram atoms w/ 0 performance issues... most of the time in the CPU usage box at the top it just says "low"
 
Yea, that is what I've been looking at; an atom or i3 35w.

Seems like overkill though, was hoping I could get away with a ARM based distro and some type of router-like device.
 
Why do you want it to run "full" linux? You usually want your router to be as lean as possibly so you can maximize connections and reduce latency.

Edit: Granted whenever someone asks "why?" I'm usually the first person to answer "why not?" so I'm feeling a bit of irony here.
 
Not too many ARM distros available outside of the proprietary ($$$) solutions. Many of the commercial solutions are still x86 architecture also.

Have you seen these? http://pcengines.ch/alix.htm
Again, it's a balance between low-power usage, price tag and performance. It boils down to the old adage: "There's Cheap, Reliable, and Fast. You can only have 2"
 
devin_m said:
Why do you want it to run "full" linux? You usually want your router to be as lean as possibly so you can maximize connections and reduce latency.

Edit: Granted whenever someone asks "why?" I'm usually the first person to answer "why not?" so I'm feeling a bit of irony here.
Click to expand...

Well, I don't want an router. I want a very low watt unix server. Like I said, even a atom would be much for my needs (was running everything comfortably off an old 486) so was hoping I could hack something together.

A raspberry pi would be nice, but only 1 Ethernet.

A router would be prefect (hardware wise), but can't find one that will run the software I need.

An atom or i3 would be decent, but has higher cost, both of front and long term power usage.
 
Ok, we all are now confused as to what you want. Specifically, you want the run linux on a router-type platform. What do you want to do with it?
 
Nate7311 said:
Ok, we all are now confused as to what you want. Specifically, you want the run linux on a router-type platform. What do you want to do with it?
Click to expand...

Just very basic stuff for a home setup. Currently I'm running FreeBSD, but linux would be fine too.

dns (named), ntpd, email (courier-imap), fetchmail, sendmail/procmail, http (apache, php), proxy (squid), file server (nfs, samba), ssh, sshguard, dhcpd, perforce, etc firewall/nat. Some scripting, perl, python, bash, etc

I'm running this all on an AMD MP, but eats over 160W. Previous it was a 486.

read my post above yours.

probably won't work, but thought it was worth a shot. Ideally, a router is very low power and cheap ($50 compared to $200+ for atom) - but probably doesn't have enough juice and/or have the software.
 
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budec said:
A raspberry pi would be nice, but only 1 Ethernet.
Click to expand...

i was thinking about this too. But I also wondered whats stopping one from using a usb Ethernet adapter, if one can manage to crack out the modules for ARM
 
The onboard Ethernet is actually connected to the system via USB on the back end, so as long as you have an open USB port, just add another. The limiting will always be the USB bus.
 
If you want to run squid, and/or not do this same exercise a year from now, my recommendation is to bite the bullet and build and Atom or i3 mini-ITX computer. There are some embedded hardware platforms that are even lower powered, but their price is considerably higher. You can get an Atom to under 30 watts, IIRC. Or just buy a used laptop. Instant Linux server.
 
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