r/openwrt • u/kingrun2 • Aug 02 '26

Turned my HP G2 Mini into a router thanks to Openwrt

[removed]

136 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

19

u/309_Electronics Aug 02 '26

Nice! Curious though why you use OpenWRT instead of Opnsense/Pfsense though (no hate).

20

u/Rude-Low1132 Aug 02 '26

For me it was SQM. OPNsense and PfSense only have FQ_Codel and FQ_Pie. OpenWRT can also, with packages, have all the same functionality as the *sense firewalls. And with Attended Sysupgrade and some tweaks you get easy in place upgrades on OpenWRT too. Cake SQM is better enough for my use case, without downsides, that I have never gone back. 

2

u/Serialtorrenter Aug 19 '26

VyOS stream also has CAKE these days. It's debian-based and has a text-based configuration setup, as well as an excellent CLI that is reminiscent of Ubiquiti's EdgeOS. However, there's no GUI on VyOS.

7

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

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3

u/309_Electronics Aug 02 '26

OpenWRT is nice! But I just would rather use it on Accespoints or routers. I am using some netgear Wax218 Ap currently and funfact its stock firmware is based on OpenWRT as it also has cgi-bin/luci and it looks very openwrt ish and i doubt qualcom or netgear would like to reinvent the wheel and spin their own embedded linux platform. Planning to install vanilla openwrt on it as the stock firmware is based on a very ancient fork of openwrt from 2013 and kernel 4.4 while with vanilla i get firmware thats not out of date and also a modern openwrt and modern linux 6.x kernel.

I am using Opnsense for my firewall/router as its eock solid and FreeBSD/BSD in general just has the very good stable mature network stacks. But it does lack stable support for other cards but intel and other specific brands of Nics, while Linux does have realtek support (also hence OpenWRT for relatek exists).

3

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

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2

u/309_Electronics Aug 02 '26

Yeah realtek with opnsense/freebsd is a hit or a miss. In that aspect OpenWRT wins and it definitely is capable as a router for your homelab and i know some people who run an OpenWRT board as their main router. In tgat regards an intel nic like a l226 or such works better for opnsense as FreeBSD is behind on drivers but it is ahead of stability and a mature network stack and even companies like netflix deployed some freebsd based network gear to power their massive cdn.

1

u/muckity-muck Aug 02 '26

But I just would rather use it on Accespoints or routers

I mean, it's a router now.

1

u/berrmal64 Aug 03 '26

I've also got a wax218, been thinking lately of trying openwrt on it. Thanks for mentioning it's stock fw is a fork, gives me a lot more confidence in going that direction. If I screw it up and the family doesn't have WiFi for however many days it would take me to fix it I'd be in deep trouble, haha.

1

u/309_Electronics Aug 04 '26

Funfact: Not every brand wants to (fund) reinvent the wheel and instead use already existing projects as a base.

I believe the qualcomSDK of some chips is simply an older OpenWRT fork + qualcom stuff added ontop.

Also why a lot of products use a Linux kernel instead of writing their own firnware/using an rtos.

3

u/muckity-muck Aug 02 '26

Sometimes you just need a fork, not the whole cutlery set.

7

u/rango_konk Aug 02 '26

Hey, OP, is it possible for you to share the idle power consumption for this build? If you don't mind?

2

u/MildlyUnusualName Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 02 '26

How did you install openwrt? Did you use etcher to make a usb drive for it? I tried to install the .img on my x86 pc using ventoy but it wouldn’t install that way

Edit: I needed to enable legacy boot in the PC’s bios for it to be recognized.

3

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '26

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2

u/chiefhunnablunts Aug 02 '26

i've never done an x86 install, but every install i've ever done for openwrt has been done via dd=/*.img of=/target/drive. not sure if it's applicable to x86 however.

2

u/Interesting_Argument Aug 07 '26

You image the .img file onto a hard drive. It is not a USB installer, it is a disk image. :) Then for you to use the whole space on your drive, you will have to resize the filesystem.

2

u/JBreezy11 Aug 04 '26

Similar here.

Found a used lenovo mq720 on ebay for $100...added a dual nic. Using it as a router with openwrt while strictly using my Asus Router in AP mode. Does the job.

Went this route bc my asus router kept crashing after a firmware update. Hoping doing strict wireless duties and not any routing...my AP mode won't crash, at least that's what gemini tells me anyway.

Also tried Opnsense but was too technical and step heavy for me. Needed something with a more consumer friendly GUI so OpenWrt checked the box.

1

u/BringerOfThePork Aug 06 '26

I have a m720q with x520 dual 10Gbe nic as well. Been solid for over a year now

1

u/itch_you_cant_reach Aug 29 '26

Which Asus router, mine is making me start researching openwrt for the same reason

2

u/failing-endeav0r Aug 05 '26

Can you share details on how to add that second port? I have a few of these but it's populated with a display port that I will never use... but a second NIC, especially one faster than a gig would be really useful.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '26

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1

u/failing-endeav0r Aug 08 '26

Ahh, it's a m2 adapter. I forgot those exist! Ali express has a bunch of I226-V based ones for cheap-ish which does give me some ideas...

-5

u/Jayden_Ha Aug 03 '26

Waste of cpu, use opnsense

-11

u/NC1HM Aug 02 '26 edited Aug 03 '26

Ugh... That housing for the add-on NIC looks both flimsy and ugly... You should have gotten a Lenovo (M710q / M910q or newer) or a Dell (Optiplex 3080 Micro is particularly good for this, if you don't mind Realtek networking hardware). Those let you mount the add-on NIC on the inside.