# Can I create a router from scratch??



## belikeyeshua (Dec 13, 2009)

I'm wondering if anybody here has ever done this. My problem is that pfsense does not [yet] support my 802.11n card... its not detecting it when I assign interfaces. 

Pfsense 1.2.3 is based on FreeBSD 7.2 so couldn't I just install FreeBSD 8.0 and configure it as a router/squid server??

I really like the way the canned distros are... canned. And pfsense seems to have every thing I'd need, and not much more. Plus it has a gui. If I make my own router, will it have a gui?? I really like the way I can log into the router, and see traffic charts and such.

Thanks,
~Shawn


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## aragon (Dec 13, 2009)

belikeyeshua said:
			
		

> If I make my own router, will it have a gui??


If you paint a picture, will it be a picture of a flower?  Only you can answer that.

NanoBSD


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## SirDice (Dec 14, 2009)

Pfsense is Freebsd plus a few custom scripts. Sure you can build your router using FreeBSD. Will it have a fancy gui? That depends on your skills. If you can create it, you will have a fancy gui.


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## johnblue (Dec 14, 2009)

belikeyeshua said:
			
		

> I really like the way I can log into the router, and see traffic charts and such.


To be fair, I currently have a box running pfSense, and IMO .. it's okay.  However, if I am messing around with a GUI, I want it making changes in proper config files.  pfSense doesn't do that (see attachment) and that is why I finally buckled down and busted out marathon PF self-help tut this weekend.

Graphs are nice, but tcpdump is where the real action is at.



You might be time/money ahead by getting a wifi card that pfSense can talk to and be done with it.


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## malexe (Dec 19, 2009)

belikeyeshua said:
			
		

> I'm wondering if anybody here has ever done this. My problem is that pfsense does not [yet] support my 802.11n card... its not detecting it when I assign interfaces.
> 
> Pfsense 1.2.3 is based on FreeBSD 7.2 so couldn't I just install FreeBSD 8.0 and configure it as a router/squid server??
> 
> ...



Have you tried an alpha version of pfSense 2 ? It is based on FreeBSD 8


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## Deleted member 9563 (Dec 19, 2009)

I guess the amount of work depends on the application of the router. I've used IpCop which is intended to be a firewall, but it is also a router. IpCop is trivial to install and it certainly has a slick interface with very colourfull "charts and such".


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