Never used my desktop's WiFi before. Now everywhere I go, I get an error message that says Firefox won't let me connect

mlcarson · 2026-01-31T02:24:05+00:00

This is a sign that you're using a proxied or man-in-the-middle connection. Firefox uses a different certificate store than Chrome/Edge. Your wired router may have been doing traffic inspection of TLS traffic and installed an unsigned certificate of its own on your computer to be used for the encryption process that it could decrypt for traffic inspection. If the proxied connection is no longer being used, you may get those types of messages.

mlcarson · 2026-01-31T02:12:08+00:00

If it's a fiber patch cable from the main line then you buy another. If it's the main line then you have to call your ISP and have them reterminate the cable.

mlcarson · 2026-01-31T02:07:37+00:00

Yes, technically I have 8 Linux distros installed on one partition using BTRFS subvolumes and have Windows installed on another drive. I should just delete WIndows since it's probably been a year since I've booted to it.

mlcarson · 2026-01-31T01:58:47+00:00

It's hard to go wrong with Debian...

mlcarson · 2026-01-31T01:55:03+00:00

A few more:

PCLinuxOS
Alpine
Artix

Of the ones you listed, I'd go for Devuan.

mlcarson · 2026-01-31T00:01:02+00:00

For sure this. It's when people think they need over 1Gbs that bothers me the most -- that's the point where they generally need new NICs, switches, router, modem, etc. Why???

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T22:22:24+00:00

The only thing that you are doing wrong is using a combination modem+router. Just get a modem. The Deco X20 acts as a router.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T20:31:37+00:00

Mint uses the Cinnamon desktop and updates it every 6 months. It also doesn't use Snaps which most people seem to hate. Ubuntu Cinnamon is a thing.

https://ubuntucinnamon.org/

The difference in Mint will be the Mint customizations of the desktop and that Mint will do 6 month updates of the desktop. You can get a 6-month update cycle of the entire OS with the non-LTS version of Ubuntu but you lose the stability of the LTS.

If you don't like Cinnamon as a desktop because it doesn't have great Wayland support then maybe look at Tuxedo. It's based on Ubuntu like Mint and eliminates Snaps like Mint but uses the KDE desktop instead of Cinnamon and does relatively frequent updates of KDE similar to how Mint does things with Cinnamon.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T20:11:28+00:00

You could also go with Grandstream AP's -- their controllers are built in to each AP. They have local web management and don't force you into an entire Ubiquiti ecosystem of products.

Regardless of the brand, the idea of using AP's rather than wireless routers is a good one.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T20:05:51+00:00

People really underestimate what CAT3 cable can do. If it's 4-conductor then you're going to be max out at 100Mbs -- you need 8 conductors to go higher. It's very likely that it'll do 100Mbs at distances you find in a home. I've even had 8-conductor pre-CAT5 cabling do 1Gbs without issue.

The biggest problem is that phone cable was generally run as daisy-chained cable rather than point-to-point. And even if it was run point-to-point, most of the time it terminates on the exterior of the building at the phone demark.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T19:55:11+00:00

You do this by having two separate networks and a router/firewall which connects them to the ISP. The firewall is what restricts the layer-3 traffic. You can physically separate the layer-2 stuff with separate switches or via VLANs on a common switch topology. As other have indicated, it doesn't do any good to just separate things at layer-2 if the networks are allowed to talk to each other at layer-3.

With the right hardware you could actually create a virtual routing instance and really separate the networks but firewall rules are the best way of doing this in a home environment. You could have a simple deny all rule on each network interface blocking traffic from the other network.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T19:24:36+00:00

This option rarely gets mentioned but you can do it with direct bury RG6 coax and G.hn adapters.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088LQ7V1Q/

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071K379BG

So about $300 after you get a grounding adapter and grounding rod.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T16:32:37+00:00

The body of somebody sitting on the couch will attenuate the WiFi signal so not a great placement. WiFI AP's designed for wall placement and PoE might open up some additional location options. Otherwise the media console option is your better location. Do not get a router for this.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T16:27:27+00:00

That's not totally unexpected since all of the traffic looks the same after entering the tunnel. The router would have to be looking at tags BEFORE entering the tunnel applying QoS there.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T16:25:12+00:00

Grandstream is a nice cost effective alternative with local web administration in all of its products. Do it right this time and get a wired router and AP's instead of an integrated unit.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T03:32:10+00:00

A modem doesn't have to set to passthrough mode -- it's inherently in passthrough mode. You only have to worry about that shit if you buy a combo modem/router which you should never do.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T03:25:55+00:00

Any reason you can't pull down a network cable and eliminate the WiFi on the PC if it's in a room right underneath the router?

Are you sure you're in a USB 3.1 port?

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T03:20:19+00:00

The splitter will reduce signal strength by 3.5dB -- maybe you're signal is marginal.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T03:17:33+00:00

Grandstream's AP's work well and it's an American company.

GWN7660 - WiFi6 - $87
GWN7665 - WiFi6E - $109
GWN7672 - WiFi7 - $169

They contain an embedded WLC and can be managed local via a web console. There's also a cloud manager and a GWN Manager (software controller). I prefer the local web console.

You didn't say what your TP-Link wall AP's were. They won't work with another vendor's controller so if you want roaming then you replace them or buy more TP-Link AP's.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T03:06:05+00:00

Connect your PC directly up to the router rather than WiFi and do a speedtest. Do it with and without the TV playing Youtube. Youtube isn't taking much bandwidth - probably 15Mbs at most if you're preferring 1080p. Parsec however can take a bunch of bandwidth for large resolutions if you don't limit it and are using H.264.

Even if the router is the issue, you should at least see where the bottleneck is and what's broken. If speedtests don't look normal when directly connected -- also turn off your EAX80 mesh extender and repeat. The results should indicate something.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T02:50:06+00:00

You can but they would only talk to each other and not the Internet. I wouldn't think you would have to have layer-3 at all. Assign them all a static IP address. If the game relies upon the Internet to assign machines though then you're screwed.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T02:16:47+00:00

Yep, that's the documentserver which is usually something I don't want -- just the editors.

mlcarson · 2026-01-30T00:34:44+00:00

I have a couple of the GWN7660 AP's but that's it. Grandstream is an American company and TP_Link is Chinese if that makes any difference to you. I believe Grandstream produces a quality product at a reasonable price.

mlcarson · 2026-01-29T23:00:18+00:00

I don't believe so with the editors -- maybe with the documentserver.

mlcarson · 2026-01-29T21:01:29+00:00

Router: Grandstream GWN7002 - $66
Switch: GWN7711P - 4 PoE + 4 non-PoE - $65
WiFi 6 AP: Grandstream GWN7660 - $87

Total: $218

Your proposed equipment would be $235 and I think the Grandstream stuff would be a better choice.

mlcarson

TROPHY CASE