Very cool to see development on this topic, this device has good specs for using it as a router/wifiap.
I tested the latest img on vim2, looks good, wifi 5ghz work, but ethernet not.
I’m exited for a stable release for vim2 and testing the performance.
Samba on ubuntu server is a big inprovement in speed compared to a pi, looks promising.
Cool to know this device is full gigabit and not a usb to ethernet bridge crap, make it esier with usb to ethernet adapter for wan without bottleneck the lan
WiFi limited to 107 mbit/s over several distances, seems not to be a WiFi bottleneck (not 100% sure if the vim is the problem)
Change IP address range results in dead ethernet (build on own and change the settings before works)
No ethernet hotplug
SQM not working (one of the top reasons why i use OpenWrt)
Building from source results in opkg error (edit: already fixed, hadn’t seen)
Everything else working fine:
SMB speed = USB Speed
no issues in fps gaming on pc (eth) while use 1 4K streaming device (eth) and 5 smartphones (5ghz) (only little performance drop in WiFi, i will test later with 2 wifi antennas, now only 1 antenna is connected)
DHCP and DNS speeds good
Use a axix usb ethernet adapter as pppoe interface with vlan tagging works without problems
Change IP address range results in dead ethernet (build on own and change the settings before works)
this is mainline kernel Ethernet driver problem only for VIM2 (this problem exist in every distros which use mainline kernel but nobody try to solve it poor quality of stmmac driver )
openwrt make ifdown & ifup for every netrork interface changes
… and after ifdown exec ethernet interface can not up again
simple solution just reboot device
another one possible solution is change openwrt iface scripts libs - its ugly way - but i can try to do it later
WIFI … channels
i will check it soon
SQM
i need to check kernel and may be enable or rebuild some modules
we use not native openwrt kernel - and we need to do something by hands (load modules or rebuild … etc )
i will try include SQM in next release
SMB speed = USB Speed
sure because VIM2 have USB 2.0 only, but u can test samba transfer by special test samba_test which work via RAM share
and can rich full gigabit channel
another situation for VIM3 openwrt with USB3.0 there samba not limitted by usb bandwidth, i will present it soon (still wifi problem not solved)
look like we very close to make new openwrt release for VIM3 VIM3L VIM2 pro - with full supported WIFI and other hardware !!! i have test already all boards and all wifi chips (Wifi AP6398S + mainline kernel)
Hi @hyphop,
I have this need:
I want to share internet access (a fast rj45 and gigabit wifi is already there) inside a room where 4g reception is very bad, is it a good idea to use vimx as an always on openwrt server connected over a long usb cable to an 4g dongle ouside, and sharing internet access through 5ghz connection to the existing router ?
Tks in advance
Yes it should be possible and vim1 can do this work easily.
I hope it is just internet access sharing.
From you explanation what I understand.
Isp 4G tower > 4G usb dongle outside your house > vimx > internal switch or wifi ap > rest of the devices on the network.
This should be possible if you can get the 4g dongle drivers and support in the kernel rest is normal networking.
any config for openwrt - not problem but !!
u must remember maximal usb connection length is about 4-5 meters - but for modem with big power consumption it’s about 1-2 meters only !!!
Does using active USB cable help to go to 4-5m anyway with a modem at the end ? I have no idea ho many watt such modem could need…
Other option could be to go thru the wall with longest USB cable possible, and then use poe to supply power to vimx, more complicated and probably more expensive, I having the vim far from reach can make debugging painful,
What about LTE repeater ?
My budget us very limited, so the cheaper the better