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Re:How to Turn Anything into a Router by doubled112 on Monday March 30, 2026 @03:26PM (#47578614)
Like most things, really. I used to build routers from old PCs, but eventually those tiny appliances caught up with the performance/functionality I need.

You can do a lot of routing on a $70 Mikrotik, although they might not be "easy".

Re:How to Turn Anything into a Router by esseph on Monday March 30, 2026 @04:00PM (#47579040)
I really want to end up with one of these for at least a few months: https://mikrotik.com/product/rds2216
Re:How to Turn Anything into a Router by bombcar on Monday March 30, 2026 @07:06PM (#47580822)
At $2k out the door that's way more reasonable than I thought it'd be.

Too bad I can't fill it with old spinning rust.

Re:How to Turn Anything into a Router by a96 on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @01:37AM (#47583132)
And no (mention of) ECC.
Re:How to Turn Anything into a Router by simoncion on Tuesday March 31, 2026 @06:12AM (#47585111)
On printed page five of the brochure [0] it mentions

  Size of RAM   32 GB ECC
  RAM type      DDR4
On the one hand, it'd be nice if that was mentioned everywhere that the RAM size was mentioned. On the other hand, perhaps ECC RAM is effectively mandatory for Enterprise equipment, so mentioning it is redundant? IDK, I don't often purchase that sort of stuff.

[0] <https://cdn.mikrotik.com/web-assets/product_files/RDS2216-2X...>

Re:How to Turn Anything into a Router by a96 on Friday April 03, 2026 @05:34PM (#47632590)
It's because it's mandatory that it should be front and center on any list of specs. But better late than never, I guess. Thanks for digging it up.
Re:How to Turn Anything into a Router by simoncion on Saturday April 04, 2026 @11:07AM (#47639676)
> It's because it's mandatory that it should be front and center on any list of specs.

Eh... I could go either way on that. Spec sheets and marketing copy for these things don't include the phrase "Runs on electricity!" because that property is effectively mandatory. If ECC is effectively mandatory for enterprise-grade networking gear, I can totally see not mentioning it.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure it's -infuriatingly- not at all mandatory for SOHO/"prosumer" gear, so it's important to mention for things you're selling in those markets.

Re:How to Turn Anything into a Router by j45 on Monday March 30, 2026 @03:37PM (#47578731)
For sure, it's a path and passage towards devices like that.

Everyone has a starting point, starting with soemone has lying around is one thing.. the quicker they can get going the more they can get to leveraging the real power in most devices.