I just installed a pihole (and a leafnode server) on a Pi Zero W I
just got. The Zero of course has only Wifi, but I was thinking if for
network stability it might not be better to just use a USB to
Ethernet converter to connect it directly to the router. Does that
make sense? I mostly am thinking it might be more stable than having
my local network DNS run over Wifi.
I just installed a pihole (and a leafnode server) on a Pi Zero W I just
got. The Zero of course has only Wifi, but I was thinking if for network stability it might not be better to just use a USB to Ethernet converter
to connect it directly to the router.
Does that make sense? I mostly am thinking it might be more stable than having my local network DNS run over Wifi.
Kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:
I just installed a pihole (and a leafnode server) on a Pi Zero W I just
got. The Zero of course has only Wifi, but I was thinking if for network
stability it might not be better to just use a USB to Ethernet converter
to connect it directly to the router.
Does that make sense? I mostly am thinking it might be more stable than
having my local network DNS run over Wifi.
Don't see why not, prevents you from being affected by wifi interference.
One thought though, if you want an Ethernet Pi it could be worth upgrading
to a fullsize Pi with Ethernet included. The cost of a used Pi 1/2/3 might be in the same ballpark as buying a USB ethernet adapter: a 2 or 3 would
give you better performance and you get spare USB ports where the ethernet would block the Zero's single USB (and you need an OTG cable for the Zero on top of the ethernet dongle).
A counterpoint though is that the Pis before the 3+ only have 100Mbit ethernet, whereas a gigabit USB dongle would get you about 300Mbit. I'm not sure what bandwidth you get out of the Zero W wifi, but perhaps more than 100Mbit. So it depends if you're going to be bandwidth limited or not.
Theo
On 1/27/2024 12:33 PM, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 27/01/2024 10:52, Kyonshi wrote:
I just installed a pihole (and a leafnode server) on a Pi Zero W I
just got. The Zero of course has only Wifi, but I was thinking if for
network stability it might not be better to just use a USB to
Ethernet converter to connect it directly to the router. Does that
make sense? I mostly am thinking it might be more stable than having
my local network DNS run over Wifi.
I wouldn't want to run anything that is critical to the whole network
over wifi.
Id be tempted to substitute a Pi4 B or similar By the time you have
added all the extra hardware to the Zero....
Part of why I want to do it with the Zero is to make it as low spec and
low cost as possible. Of course now I have checked for USB-to-ethernet connectors, and it turns out micro usb ones are 5 times as expensive as normal ones.
A counterpoint though is that the Pis before the 3+ only have 100Mbit ethernet, whereas a gigabit USB dongle would get you about 300Mbit.
I'm not sure what bandwidth you get out of the Zero W wifi, but
perhaps more than 100Mbit.
Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
A counterpoint though is that the Pis before the 3+ only have 100Mbit
ethernet, whereas a gigabit USB dongle would get you about 300Mbit.
Ah but that's assuming that the Pi Zeros are quick enough to run
the USB network interface at the maximum possible speed.
Unfortunately benchmarks show that's not the case. Here they only
get 56Mbits/s to 111Mbits/s on a RPi Zero W using a USB Ethernet
adapter:
https://notenoughtech.com/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-internet-speed/
I'm not sure what bandwidth you get out of the Zero W wifi, but
perhaps more than 100Mbit.
The built-in WiFi is even worse, 38.8Mbits/s max., and they also
say that its performance depends on the orientation of the board.
In any case, in this case I want it for DNS resolution and some nntp
feeds. It even has more or less acceptable speeds on wifi
(microseconds), I just want a more stable connection. I don't think that should make much of a difference.
On 1/27/2024 10:45 PM, Computer Nerd Kev wrote:
Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:
A counterpoint though is that the Pis before the 3+ only have 100Mbit ethernet, whereas a gigabit USB dongle would get you about 300Mbit.
Ah but that's assuming that the Pi Zeros are quick enough to run the USB network interface at the maximum possible speed. Unfortunately benchmarks show that's not the case. Here they only get 56Mbits/s to 111Mbits/s on a RPi Zero W using a USB Ethernet adapter: https://notenoughtech.com/raspberry-pi/raspberry-pi-internet-speed/
I'm not sure what bandwidth you get out of the Zero W wifi, but perhaps more than 100Mbit.
The built-in WiFi is even worse, 38.8Mbits/s max., and they also say that its performance depends on the orientation of the board.
In any case, in this case I want it for DNS resolution and some nntp
feeds. It even has more or less acceptable speeds on wifi (microseconds),
I just want a more stable connection. I don't think that should make much
of a difference.
Part of why I want to do it with the Zero is to make it as low spec and
low cost as possible. Of course now I have checked for USB-to-ethernet >connectors, and it turns out micro usb ones are 5 times as expensive as >normal ones.
On 28/01/2024 10:34, Kyonshi wrote:^^^^^^^^
In any case, in this case I want it for DNS resolution and some nntp
feeds. It even has more or less acceptable speeds on wifi
(microseconds), I just want a more stable connection. I don't think
that should make much of a difference.
Used to do that over a 9600kbps modem back in the day
Certainly fine on 10Mbps Ethernet
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