When I got the notification that my Nighthawk R7000 reached "end of life" I started down the rabbit hole of looking to install custom firmware to keep what is otherwise perfectly functioning hardware secure. While I didn't manage to keep my R7000 in service, I did find this hidden gem of a router.https://www.notebookcheck.net/This-Tailscale-Docker-and-Wireguard-equipped-router-is-OpenWRT-compatible-and-blows-away-the-competition-on-features-and-price.947052.0.html
I think you have lept way over line of could vs should. A docker server needs adequate ram and drive space for starters. Then it needs a decent processor.
This is an incredible device, good replacement choice!
Looks like a great replacement for my Superhub 4 (SH4 is awful will randomly make the 5Ghz band dissappear after a couple of months and restoring to factory default is only way to get it back).
could i possibly use this as my main router and reconfigure my current mesh repeaters to utilize it instead of the current main mesh node?
Very unstable WiFi and multiple vlan support made this device useless for me. Spent a week trying to make it work properly before sending it back.
I disagree about the value proposition, at $159 in 2025 without even WiFi 6E it's too expensive.
I purchased an open box Belkin RT3200 for $20 which runs the same SoC and is supported by openwrt, normal price is $50 to $65.
It doesn't have the internal eMMC but it has USB which can be used for application storage.
Quote from: Blackburd on January 15, 2025, 23:38:03I think you have lept way over line of could vs should. A docker server needs adequate ram and drive space for starters. Then it needs a decent processor.
This router runs OpenWRT, which is just Linux on ARM. Docker on Linux has essentially no overhead, unlike Mac or Windows, which require a virtualization layer. This means your containers use just as much ram or cpu as whatever process they're wrapping. For lightweight services like redis, nginx, dns, heck even a PostgreSQL db for local use, it's totally doable.
Been running Freshtomato for many years now on my R7000 and the maintainer is still going strong with regular updates. Don't be afraid