What was Linus saying about using your PC as a switch?

[ViPeR9503]

I remember Linus mentioning something about using one's PC as switch as today's router's are too slow to handle all the work load given to them, can someone please link me the video or something?

[AnonymousGuy]

Untangle or pFSense make use of  PC hardware combined with a linux based OS meant for router functionality.  Commercial routers are basically the same thing (running on a linux based OS) except with ARM CPUs and usually a wireless chipset thrown in.   They're fine for home users.  You know if you need more horsepower because you're doing something like running a VPN server.

[brwainer]

@AnonymousGuyis correct, the answer you’re probably looking for is PFSense, OPNSense, Untangle, OpenWRT…. There’s a lot of options to take PC and make it a router, albeit with wired connections only, you need to add a separate hardware called an Access Point to provide wireless [you can turn your old router into an access point], and you may want a switch to provide extra ethernet ports. I want to address something else though.

 

1 hour ago, ViPeR9503 said:

today's router's are too slow to handle all the work load given to them

Depending on how long ago this was said, this was probably true for “most routers” and “gigabit internet”. Today that’s not an issue, any router claiming something like “AX1800” should have enough guts to handle gigabit internet, and if you pick wisely you don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for it.

 

Today the main reason to go with PFSense/OPNSense/Untangle/etc is because you want more features and control than the regular off the shelf hardware/software can provide you. Another viable path for this is to take one of those routers, even brand new, and flash it with OpenWRT (check compatibility on OpenWRT’s site first). The community puts in a lot of effort to enable more features than manufacturers do.