Jeff Geerling

There's never been a better time to build your own router—a practice which the FCC will hopefully not *also* ban for US #homelab consumers :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04oL0qVSWJE

Homebrew routers just got a whole lot more important in the US

Knowing how to build your own router for your homelab is going to be a useful skill, until this FCC ruling is reversed:https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-updat...

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Show threadMarkus Sugarhill 8h ago
@geerlingguy but is it made in US when all your components for it are not made in US?
Show threadMcTwist8h ago
@geerlingguy Exactly my thought when I heard about this silliness.
Show threadAho8h ago
@geerlingguy a silly question I sometimes ask Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, thinking of moving to the land of the free or as some call it Canada?
Show threadmaya_b 🇨🇦8h ago

@geerlingguy

shakedowns are not tariffs.

Show threadMichael T Babcock8h ago
@geerlingguy as a guy who's been building his own routers professionally for decades now, this is great advice. Also its really quite easy (and always has been with the right knowledge).
Just PLEASE don't run additional software on your routers. Run them on a device *behind* the router. You'll thank me eventually.
#firewall #router #sysadmin #networking
Show threadMadagascar_Sky5h ago

@mikebabcock @geerlingguy

Lol, that sounds like wisdom earned through blood and tears

Show threadMichael T Babcock5h ago
@Madagascar_Sky @geerlingguy among other things, your 'forward' rules used to restrict access to your LAN don't apply directly to local services. Your INPUT rules for local services don't apply to forwarded things. And if you have an allocated fixed IP range from your ISP, you probably want to bridge instead of forwarding your interfaces as well.
Should totally document my standard Linux router setup some day.
Show threadMadagascar_Sky5h ago

@mikebabcock @geerlingguy

Make YouTube shorts, you'll reach the youngins so easily. Linux wisdom by bonafide sorcerer. Blood magic Linux this way.

Show threadSGOTI8h ago
@geerlingguy The "Forbidden Router" from Level1 techs. Thanks Jeff, I agree 100%!
Show threadBurak Gürsoy8h ago
@geerlingguy
Show threadchexum7h ago

@geerlingguy hmm, one of the reasons wifi chipset vendors (for example to provide #OpenWrt support) more and more grown to refuse not just source code but also hardware/programming specifications because of a blind reference to the #FCC not allowing it. It’s understood that with documentation *anyone* can then modify it to use frequencies or modulations not permitted by the #FCC

This is now a completely useless argument, if the FCC doesn’t approve routers anyway, so I’ll say, let them release the full specs! It would actually benefit the router ecosystem to bring up everyone to at least the security of OpenWrt…

Show threadDiane7h ago

@geerlingguy

After thinking of my stash of old routers and hoping I can still get new dev boards... I went and complained to my representative because this is also a stupid rule and congress could overturn it.

Show threadBruce Simpson, Ph.D.7h ago
@geerlingguy Or snag yourself a Dell VEP aftermarket like I did this week for OPNsense development.
Show threadNoah Bailey7h ago
@geerlingguy so true. I’ve been running a #Debian firewall with iptables for the better part of a decade and it’s worked incredibly well. Basically any computer that can boot Linux will work. I even used a USB Ethernet dongle for a while.
Show threadPhilip7h ago
@geerlingguy so if they can't sell to consumers but can sell to businesses does that mean that you can still rent a router from your ISP? Is that too "small potatoes" to be the motivation behind this?
Show threadEcho Nar7h ago
@geerlingguy it's also the worst time cause you have to pray that your ISP overlord allows you to use your own hardware 🙃
Show threadSteve7h ago
@geerlingguy trying to ban DIY router builds would fail just like age verification will fail in the open source OS space..
Show threadKroc Camen6h ago
@geerlingguy I hate to say it, but this is exactly the action you take if your plan is to back-door the internet connection of every US American, in a shoddy fashion
Show threadluca6h ago
@geerlingguy FCC will agree if you add an open tap for NSA free access.
Show threadLykso5h ago
@geerlingguy Here's how I set up mine: https://lyk.so/debian-router.html
Show threadCarlos Solís6h ago
Is there some solution to replace a fiber optics receiver? I'd like to try self-hosting without requiring a VPS, but I'm not sure if there are any routers that allow me to substitute the one provided by my ISP for that specific case.
Show threadpanu3h ago

@csolisr
So you have an FTTH type of setup, right? So why don't you just put your own router right behind the ISP provided fibre to ethernet box?

That's what I do. I treat the ISP device as an untrusted device, a part of the public internet as far as I'm concerned. No need to try to circumvent the ISP device.

Show threadGrumpyDad 🇺🇦🇵🇸4h ago
@geerlingguy You'll have a Microslop-made router and you'll like it mister.
Show threadpanu3h ago

@geerlingguy
OpenWRT One [1], anyone? By buying the product you will also support, through SFC, development of OpenWRT.

https://openwrt.org/toh/openwrt/one

[OpenWrt Wiki] OpenWrt One