Raspberry Pi(rate) Box vs. WRT Pirate Box

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Raspberry Pi(rate) Box vs. WRT Pirate Box
June 11, 2014 07:49PM
Hello,
I've got a spare Raspberry Pi but an old version B with 256Mb and also a TP-Link MR3040 that I barely use.

What would be the pro and cons of each solutions ? Is there one that you would recommand over another ?
Re: Raspberry Pi(rate) Box vs. WRT Pirate Box
June 11, 2014 08:00PM
RPi solution - pro
* more powerful solution (transfer speeds and simultanly users)
* More flexible and easier to extend (with Linux skills)
* In case of problem, just exchange the SD Card (even for different purposes)

RPi solution - contra
* Bad USB-chipset support (some wifi dongles aren't working properly or need more work to get them working)
* Some USB wifi dongles need additional power source
* less portable
* bit more complicated to setup

OpenWRT MR3040 - pro
* easy to setup
* AR71xx based, like MR30xx: sufficant for the most cases
* MR3040 only included battery with lifetime for around 6 hours

OpenWRT MR3040 - contra
* AR71xx based, like MR30xx: bad I/O perfomance for simultanly accessing users
* hard to extend with other software setup
* not so easy to customize
* Reflash can brick the device unrepairly (quite rare, but can be hard to repair anyway)
* No easy multi purpose usage


That are the things which came to my mind quickly.
BTW: I'm using the tiny 256MB device for testing and that is sufficient in most cases.

Matthias
Re: Raspberry Pi(rate) Box vs. WRT Pirate Box
June 12, 2014 12:29AM
I've had the TL-MR3040 for a day and a half now, I'm considering buying a Raspberry Pi instead due to all the issues I have with it...

To add to the pile, here's some more cons on the TP-Link MR3040:
- Must format storage & install drive with FAT32 (No files larger than 4GB, 2TB disk size limit)
- Even while plugged in, you can drain the battery if you plug in a HDD or other thirsty device
- Pain in the ass to get internet access on the device, makes it really difficult to add packages (samba, afp, nfs, etc.)
- Limited wireless range due to internal antenna design
- DLNA maxes out CPU when lots of files or simultaneous users
- Slow upload over HTTP is *awful*, peaks at 1MB/s. Even SCP transfer is, at best, 1MB/s. That's atrocious, especially when you're trying to attract people to the platform!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/12/2014 12:31AM by xxsj.
Re: Raspberry Pi(rate) Box vs. WRT Pirate Box
June 12, 2014 04:49PM
Thanks for the answers. Regarding to your experiences, I'll try with the RasPi first. My MR3040 could still be useful for traveling, even if the WiFi to WiFi function is hard to get working most of the time (but that's another story).