Re: Getting along without a keyboard

On 17/09/2024 16:08, Scott Alfter wrote:

In article <vcbji2$3evhe$4@dont-email.me>,
The Natural Philosopher  <tnp@invalid.invalid> wrote:

Moral. Get a decent router so at least you can eliminate it from your
problems

 Another recommendation: Look for something that can run OpenWRT, so you're
not stuck with whatever firmware the router manufacturer provides.
 A third recommendation: a Raspberry Pi Compute Module 4 and a carrier board
that adds a second Ethernet port make a pretty good platform to run OpenWRT.
The CPU and memory on the CM4 will blow the doors off of most of the routers
you'd likely buy for home use, and I suspect they're competitive with nearly
anything short of rack-mountable enterprise-grade routers.  The onboard WiFi
(on models so equipped) probably isn't so hot, but it's a solid option for
wired connections up to at least gigabit speeds and WiFi can be provided
with a separate access point or a USB dongle.
 

I have just replaced my router after 12 years fine continuous service. It was TP-Link model bought because it could run OpenWRT. But it turned out the OpenWRT 5GHz driver performance was poor so I locked down the TP-Link software as much as I could. I regularly tried various ways of breaking in but never could. It was good and fast enough. It was an AC1300 class router.
Earlier this year it started locking up... Wifi would fail then the UI would fail. A power cycle restored it and it would run for another week or so. Then Wifi range started dropping and the lock ups became more frequent. I'm assuming there are some electro lytic caps that have dried out. After 12+ years I bought a new one, another TP-Link Wifi6 unit as the last had worked well. The unit had a number of decent reviews. Throughput is noticeably better than the old, especially if say there are 2 TVs accessing Netflix plus wired computers and assorted Wifi devices. The 5GHz signal is significantly stronger about the house.  I should look at the old one sometime but I had won an Amazon voucher so this was a quick fix at effectively no cost. The software seems to have fewer features than the old one but it does what it claims very well.
I did think of the CM4 route and OpenWRT but when I was last minded to faff about lockdown was on and there were no Pis for love nor money.