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Open Source Hardware

Israel's SolidRun Creates Open Networking Kit Inspired By Raspberry Pi (venturebeat.com) 76

Reader joshtops shares a VentureBeat report: SolidRun, a developer of electronic modules and PCs, said it is launching ClearFog Base kit, an off-the-shelf open development kit that enables do-it-yourself hardware enthusiasts to create their own telecom-grade routers. The kit is based on the Marvell Armada 38x SoC processor that runs on open source software based on OpenWrt. It lets enthusiasts build telecom-grade routers capable of Gigabit speed and embedded storage. The kit is inspired by the DIY computer kit, Raspberry Pi, which has sold a surprisingly large number of units. With OpenWrt support and several connectivity options, device makers can easily utilize the ClearFog Base within their own products to bridge a variety of network standards, like LAN, Wi-Fi, LTE, Fiber, and DSL. They can also utilize mikroBUS boards for IoT type networking standards such as ZigBee, Sub GHz, Bluetooth, and others. The $70 kit was created by Tel-Aviv, Israel-based SolidRun.
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Israel's SolidRun Creates Open Networking Kit Inspired By Raspberry Pi

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  • Much as I'd like to support Israeli companies, I don't know what I'd use this for. Maybe a wifi repeater?
    • by gmack ( 197796 )
      The dual ethernet ports, so it it can be a good firewall. It has a mini pcie slot and SIM card slot so it can be a 3G gateway.
    • by Anonymous Coward

      I'm on the other side of that fence: much as this sounds cool and all, I won't support Israeli companies.

  • finally (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    been waiting forever for a company to build something like this: cheap, powerful but low-power usage.

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Ctrl-F'd for 'mesh' and on both TFA and found nothing. Does anyone know if the software will be there to make these turn key mesh networks?

    I have ~40 acres 0.15 sq km and would like to get wifi to a few parts. A few of these on solar panels would be perfect.

    • Yes. OpenWRT uses OLSR [openwrt.org]

    • Ctrl-F'd for 'mesh' and on both TFA and found nothing. Does anyone know if the software will be there to make these turn key mesh networks?

      I have ~40 acres 0.15 sq km and would like to get wifi to a few parts. A few of these on solar panels would be perfect.

      If you're just trying to get wifi to a few parts, aren't you better off with a hub and spoke network? Mesh networking seems pretty inefficient to do spot coverage over 40 acres. Mesh networking is, from my understanding, best suited to dense usage.

  • I'd love to see Untangle or another firewall option built on this. Small, low-power, cheap, no fan...

  • I like the news but can understand properly what is OpenWrt?
    • by cdrudge ( 68377 )

      WRT originally was a series of Linksys routers with open source linux-based firmware. This led to a variety of 3rd party firmware that added quite a bit of capabilities that weren't typically found in "consumer" routers at that time. OpenWRT one of those firmwares that has gone on to have versions for many different types of routers and embedded devices. It would be along the lines of pfSense.

  • And what exactly is a telecom grade router?

  • by Anonymous Coward

    What's the throughput like on the ports? The big problem with the Raspberry Pi is that the ethernet port is on the SoC's USB bus which would be a bottleneck for network gear. Presumably these guys have thought of that?

  • This sounds like a decent replacement for the ancient WRT54G I've got in my home office.
  • pci-e based nic's or usb?

    The pi's usb 2.0 ones can't even do 1 full 100 link much less gig-e or even 2 100 links.

  • Rehash of a rehash of a press release, No new news or insight here.

    SolidRun website appears to be slashdotted.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    It makes me doubly proud as a Jewish-Israeli tech worker that an Israeli company made it to Slashdot with an interesting product, and that this company was founded by two guys who are Israeli Arabs and has equal numbers of Arab and Jewish employees.

    Reference: http://www.israel21c.org/a-two-inch-computer-for-55/

    That's actually the most positive news I'd heard in a while.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    All I can find are the $90+ baseboard and $70 processor module -- so the kit is over $160 and at that price still doesn't have any wireless interfaces.

    None of the "mikroBUS" wireless boards (trying for confusion with the well-known Mikrotik wireless hardware, perhaps?) support MIMO. miniPCIe does give better options, but figure ~$50 for the radio card, then add antennas.

    Sorry, but no this is not $70, not price-competitive with Raspberry Pi, and not for serious networking.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Right now I'm really wondering what it does better for routing/switching than Mikrotik, besides having GPIO available. I just bought one of their routerboards that has 5x gigabit, 5x 100x, POE in/out, and an SFP cage to boot. I can hang an arduino off the USB port for GPIO and still end up better than the CFPro.

      . /hailcorporate

    • by fnj ( 64210 )

      WTF are you on about? From the fucking site [solid-run.com], "The package includes : ClearFog Base + MicroSoM A388", and it starts at $90.

      And who in the HELL would compare this in any way to a Raspberry Pi? The Pi has one 100-megabit (actually more like half of one 100-megabit). This has two gigabits.

      Finally, what kind of lightweight thinks that "serious networking" requires WiFi, or that something with one half of one ethernet port is usable in any way as a router? Nobody said anything about wireless access points.

  • by subk ( 551165 ) on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @02:27PM (#52637647)
    I looked for this on Digikey [digikey.com]and didn't find it, but they do have a bunch of SolidRun boards, including the ClearFog Pro [digikey.com] which has 6+1 GbE and an SFP, plus 2 mPCIe slots and 1 mSATA. At less than $175, that's a steal. I've been waiting for something like this that could replace the discrete routers, ethernet switches, and Arduino programming slaves at my transmitter sites, which only have a few hosts each. There have been other multi-nic SBC's, but I have yet to see one this cheap.
  • In my experience anyhow. I have a WRT1200AC running OpenWRT, and last I checked (couple weeks ago) support is all over the place. Builds are forked with feature support scattered across them.

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