Ohh this is a really good idea. I can run pfSense on a separate machine. Think a Pi 4 8GB is enough? Or need an NUC or similar?
Discussion
I think pfsense is Intel only. Pihole is the router OS for raspberry pis.
I can get a low end but still reasonably modern NUC for about $100 or possibly less, think I'll do that rather than pay $350 for the linked box.
Then I just need a second NIC for pfSense. Not sure if I can install one internally for an NUC but externally should be easy.
Depending on old wrt could work
PfSense can run on DD-WRT? Ohhh that's very cost efficient.
Yes
Is there a good guide you'd recommend for what routers in particular have the best support?
I assume I'd connect this between the modem and router as well so it is checking all network traffic?
Will have to do some reading!
You should also follow the haiku OS project releases. The next release will have gpu hardware acceleration for opengl apps and games. But they don't have any API hooks or apps for streaming as of yet, but the OS is very media centric and I think some early podcasters used it to self host their own stuff? A lot of early AmigaOS hackers like it. It is the open-source clone of BeOS.
Apparently a Pi running Pihole overheats. The Seeed mini (Pi CM4) is 150usd. https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/2021/06/11/how-to-build-a-raspberry-pi-router-step-by-step-tutorial/
Being a computer guy, I guess I'm spoiled as I have 15 desktop computers, all of which can have 2 NICs and run pfSense. Even an old desktop computer from 2005 can be used as a router with decent performance: https://duckduckgo.com/?t=h_&q=build+a+router+out+of+an+old+pc&ia=web
Another choice is to check craigslist and compare the results with hardware and features supported by ddwrt/openwrt/tomato.
My concern there is power usage. We can all get Pentium 4's literally for free but there's a reason for that haha. Very little CPU power but it eats electricity.
This is why I buy NUCs and more recently Asus Mini PC's with AMD Ryzen chips. I'm getting a lot more CPU power with much less energy usage.
I see. In that case, the ddwrt/openwrt/tomato is better because it is free& open Linux built on actual risc/mips router hardware using the sources released by Linksys long ago.