The modular Turris

As the owner of both the original Turris and the newer Omnia, I got the opportunity to back the latest project — the MOX. And I waited. For a long time. A really long time — until this June I finally got my hands on it. The Super Early Bird was essentially an AP for the Turris.

First I was unpleasantly surprised by the absence of an SD card — alright, let's check the documentation. The documentation that, at the time the first units are shipping, isn't complete and contains errors. I'd understand that for a first product, but when you're making your third?! I found out I needed to get the MOX into rescue mode #6 — okay, let's go… it's not exactly straightforward or intuitive. I managed it, it's blinking, but how do I know it's done? I don't.

It ended with me getting a new SD card and asking a colleague to format it (BTRFS) and boot into rescue mode #4, which I eventually managed after several attempts. Foris loads, I configure it and lo and behold — there's only one WiFi (Super Early Bird). So no 2.4G and 5G — I have to pick one. Well, nothing to be done about it.
I set the SSID, password, parameters, save and… connect with my phone. I place the AP in its spot and after a moment it drops the connection. Network gone — where's the problem? The interface says I have no WiFi module? What?! That's pretty much the last straw.

I understand it's hard to design and debug hardware together with software in such a short time. But it shows the dark side of Open hardware too. We can design and build it, we can write software for it — but stability or support? That lags behind… which is a real shame. The MOX hasn't matured yet. Back in the box it goes.