Re: [gentoo-amd64] Re: Wifi adaptor recommendations

[Mark Knecht]

On Wed, May 25, 2016 at 10:49 AM, Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@×××.net> wrote:
>
> Ultimately I want to put together an amd64-based router, as I said, in
> ordered to be able to put gentoo on it, and build at least base packages
> for it and my main machine at the same time.  The problem I'm hoping to
> solve is that openwrt is great, but it's different than my main machine
> and single purpose, so I really don't have time to learn how to master it
> properly.  Similarly, when I had an x86 netbook, I had a 32-bit chroot
> image on the main machine to build its packages, but I found it was lucky
> to get upgrades once a year, which made them always a major pain.  So I
> decided making everything amd64 based and building most packages only
> once, was definitely the way to go.
>
> But $50-70 for temporary solution of a few months, and as a fallback when
> I do get the amd64-based router, isn't bad and can be considered a minor
> expense associated with the temporary, especially given that I'll not be
> having to worry about rent or utilities.  I /may/ not even worry about
> reflashing it to openwrt, but I definitely want to keep the option open,
> so want an openwrt compatible device.

I used to think about doing this myself, and there's some good reasons to
do it security wise, but in the end I decided it was just a bunch of work
with
more than incremental electricity costs. The cost of running a full blown
machine adds up over the course of a year or two. There's noise, heat and
the risk of downtime due to some hardware failure. There's backups to
consider
so that I don't have to reinstall and build from scratch after a big
failure.

Anyway, I think the cost difference is bigger than $50-$70 by the time
you're
a couple of years into it, but from a project POV I always thought it
sounded
like fun and I'd learn something to boot.

Now, from a selfish POV I'm lobbying that you do not watch TV and read books
for 3 months as we depend on you here Duncan!

Cheers,
Mark