Last week I played with mini routers (like TL-WR703N) and to me it looks like they could do what CHIP does, but much better.
TL-WR703N can run OpenWRT which is a version of Linux for routers. It has USB port so peripherals can be added, including USB flash drive for storage and RTL-SDR stick for reception, so there is a chance that Outernet software can be ported to this devices. Size and weight are also similar to CHIP.
Now the benefits:
Extremely low power consumption. Yesterday I tried how long TL-WR703N can work autonomously using the same power bank that can support CHIP for ~5 hours. TL-WR703N worked autonomously for whopping 22 hours and 39 minutes (with USB flash drive attached and while running airodump-ng in SSH session)!. And that’s not even new power bank, it was made of recycled laptop battery (4 x 18650 Li-ion pieces). According to my measurements it consumes 0.1A @ 5V without peripherals or 0.2A with USB flash drive attached. With solar battery it could run for weeks or more, depending on weather.
More than decent, fully configurable wifi. TL-WR703N uses Atheros wifi chip which has fully configurable wifi module that can work in all possible modes. Power output is configurable from 1 mW to 500 mW.
My experience with mini routers:
i am running a GL.Inet (WR-703 clone) since months with a modified Librarybox/Rachel. Before that it worked with OpenWRT and dump1090 and cheap DVB-T-stick as an airplane-spotter also for a couple of months very stable. Also, it is already in a nice enclosure!
I agree, it would be nice to have an " Outernet-Extension" in the Open-WRT-repository!
It’s not that we’re opposed, it’s just that there are only so many hours in a day. And when gremlins start popping up (AlphaSat server, Dreamcatcher debugging), we have even fewer. Anyone interested in taking up the challenge of an OpenWRT port?
I’ve done development for small Linux router firmware like OpenWRT in my past life. Since I am really having bad luck with the GUI stuff, which was not my specialty, I’d like to help with porting over everything to OpenWRT.
@threekay Are you on GitHub already? We could collaborate there if you are interested.