Wi-Fi access point - TRENDnet TEW-818DRU - Part 1: Hardware
Sunday, May 7. 2017
As I mentioned in my post about Swedish ISP, that I like to run Linux on my stuff. My weapon of choice for wireless networking has been DD-WRT for many years (I'm not sure how many exactly, 15+ or so). Any appliance I purchase must be supported by that.
I've been running a lot of Linksys in the past, but this time I chose to go with a Taiwanese TRENDnet TEW-818DRU. The spec is huge and it contains really good 802.11 radios, USB3-port, decent CPU and enough RAM to run it all. And finally: The manufacturer is really keen on supporting Linux.
This is what it looks like. It won't win any design awards, as obviously some software engineer designed the plastic case:
Linux /proc/cpuinfo for Cortex-A17:
model name : ARMv7 Processor rev 0 (v7l)
processor : 0
BogoMIPS : 1594.16
Features : half fastmult edsp tls
CPU implementer : 0x41
CPU architecture: 7
CPU variant : 0x3
CPU part : 0xc09
CPU revision : 0
Memory, physical is 128 MiB, but some is needed for hardware:
total used free shared buffers cached
Mem: 124536 38296 86240 0 4108 12212
-/+ buffers/cache: 21976 102560
Ports at the back:
- USB3
- USB2
- WPS-button for those who don't care much for security
- 4 x RJ-45 for LAN
- RJ-45 for WAN
- O/I for power
- Barrel connector for 12 VDC, 2 amps power input
Bottom:
It really doesn't get much simpler than that, which is perfect for engineering type persons. Like me! 
You'll get a reliable box with ton on features and possibility of tweaking it to do whatever you need.
In next part I'll put a DD-WRT into it.
