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Merlin or Openwrt or Other
(lemmy.world)
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this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2026
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I've been looking to do something similar, but I've been leaning toward the opnsense route with a little htpc with two 2.5G ethernet ports, but haven't pulled the trigger yet.
Mostly because my 10yr old unifi USG still works.
Having switched from a (now Arista) Untangle server I've maintained for 17 years, to a new OpnSense box, I can say it was refreshing, though it comes with a bit of a learning curve. So far I am very impressed with what it can do.
See I only have ISP stuff, and I want to get decent equipment, preferrably nom US unless foss.
GL.inet is HK but opensource.
Opnsense is foss, pfsense is less so. You can install it on pretty much any computer with two lan ports.
openwrt is great for flashing onto router embedded system hardware (check compatability first).
I'm leaning htpc (I'm brand agnostic) mostly because I've had a lot of routers die on me. Unsure why, they just get slower and slower till reboot. Rinse and repeat until even that stops working.
Both for ISP hardware and 3rd party. Not sure if it's planned obscelescence or something else. Which is why I want a pc where I can swap hardware like ram or ssd if things start dying.
All I can find for HTPC is home theatre?
Sorry, I was referring to the form factor. you can hop on aliexpress and search for topton. There's a wide variety to choose from. Some are barebones with no ram/ssd. Some have 6x 2.5G others have spf+ for 10G or a combination. they're small, quiet, energy effecient, and made for being a router/firewall. There are other similar brands, but this will get you shopping in the right direction for what I was referring to.