SFC has announced the launch of OpenWrt One, the first wireless router designed specifically for OpenWrt software. Free hardware available starting this weekend for everyone’s price: 89 dollars in a complete version with a jacket.

In case you don’t know, say OpenWrt is a Linux based open source firmware created in 2004 from the source code Linksys developed for its WRT54G. It has been very well received by the community, especially by networking enthusiasts and free software enthusiasts. Manufacturers like Netgear, D-Link and ASUS officially support it on some of their devices or have left the door open at the hardware level for users to install it.

OpenWrt One shines for OpenWrt

The dedicated router project was announced last January to celebrate 20th anniversary of OpenWrt firmware. From the very beginning, it was emphasized that the hardware was not intended to compete with commercial developers, but to be a project “fully compatible with copyleft and other FOSS licenses” which you use.

And here it is. As designed in the original project, it was built around single-board computers, Banana Pione of the alternatives to Raspberry Pi. The Chinese manufacturer actively collaborated on the project, and after delivering about twenty technical samples, it is finally coming to the market after verification of compliance with the license by the non-profit organization Software Freedom Conservancy.

The OpenWrt One uses the MediaTek MT7981B SoC as the main engine and the MT7976C chip provides the wireless capabilities. Dual-band Wi-Fi 6. It includes 1 GB DDR4 RAM, 128 MiB SPI NAND + 4 MiB SPI NOR flash. It has two Ethernet ports (2.5 GbE and 1 GbE), a USB host port, M.2 2042 for NVMe SSD or similar devices and a mikroBUS expansion header.

OpenWrt offers both PoE (Power over Ethernet) via a 2.5 GbE port and direct power via a USB-C power port with 12V USB-PD. A practical USB serial interface is integrated into the second USB-C port. The freedom to ‘hulit’ is absolute because it provides a switch to flash the NOR and NAND parts of the flash memory separately.

It’s clear that OpenWrt One is not intended for those looking for maximum network performance, but it is get more features which are not available in commercial software and firmware development for network devices. Of course, even though this is an official development, you can still use the firmware separately on compatible routers.

OpenWrt One is available in two versions. The most complete (and recommended for most) includes the chassis, external antennas and external power supply. The second, more basic one, only offers a plate. They can be bought on Aliexpress and it has a price for Europe 106 euros or 80 eurosrespectively both versions. For each sale, $10 will be donated to OpenWrt to continue improving the development of the most exciting project in terms of open source firmware for network devices.