hAP lite

Wed Feb 18, 2015 10:53 am

We are happy to announce our new low cost home AP, the hAP lite:
http://routerboard.com/RB941-2nD

Recommended list price is $21.95

hAP-lite-s.png

joegoldman · Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:44 am

How does this differ much from the 951-2n? Is it meant to be direct replacement of it or do they tackle 2 different needs?

Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:52 am

Has one less Ethernet port, but two Wireless chains instead of One. It is also cheaper and has faster CPU.

Wed Feb 18, 2015 12:10 pm

Has one less Ethernet port, but two Wireless chains instead of One. It is also cheaper.

Also seems to have a more powerful CPU, but no PoE in support.
The product picture shows ether1 marked as "Internet", while others are marked as "LAN". Is the first port completely independent, or can be put into the same switch group the other ports are in?

NathanA · Wed Feb 18, 2015 1:04 pm

The product picture shows ether1 marked as "Internet", while others are marked as "LAN". Is the first port completely independent, or can be put into the same switch group the other ports are in?

I noticed that, too, but the RB750 and 751 also have that very same restriction (and maybe the 951-2n as well; I don't know because I haven't played with one), and if it is running full RouterOS (and I have no reason to believe it isn't), there is no reason why you could not bridge ether1 and ether2 together.

I'm more curious behind the design decision to use a Micro-USB connector as the power port instead of a traditional barrel connector. I don't have anything against it, but it just seems a little weird if the port is only for power-in and isn't going to serve in any other capacity. Is it because restricting it to 5V (vs. the generously wide input range that most RouterBoards are famous for) made the power regulation side easier to design and cheaper to manufacture, and since USB has standardized on +5V, using Micro-USB ensures that nobody will plug a power supply with the wrong voltage in and cause damage? (Actually, when I stop to think about it, if that's the reason, that's kind of genius...)

Any word on NAND storage? Is it going to be like a normal RouterBoard with somewhere between 32-64MiB minimum, or is it going to be more like an mAP in that respect, with the same kind of software update procedure as an mAP?

-- Nathan

blingblouw · Wed Feb 18, 2015 1:05 pm

Looks awesome. If only it had POE. Cant use it without that unfortunately.

Wed Feb 18, 2015 1:10 pm

Any word on NAND storage? Is it going to be like a normal RouterBoard with somewhere between 32-64MiB minimum, or is it going to be more like an mAP in that respect, with the same kind of software update procedure as an mAP?

-- Nathan

yes, it is a SMIPS

total-hdd-space: 16.0MiB

Caci99 · Wed Feb 18, 2015 2:51 pm

It looks promising, but a bit low on wireless power, very good price/feature ratio anyway.
Isn't it time to have all ethernet ports on gigabit speed? What could be the cost of it? Nowadays all laptops and desktops, or network HDD cases ship with gigabit ethernet.
I would also like to see a 5GHz product, or even better both bands on same device, because all mobile platforms support 5GHz.

Good job MikroTik.

marrold · Wed Feb 18, 2015 3:25 pm

It's always nice to see new products.

So, when's the hAP PRO announcement?

honzam · Wed Feb 18, 2015 4:58 pm

It is your secret rb941 (in another topic)

Wed Feb 18, 2015 5:27 pm

Ok. It is cheap.

But having only 32MB of ram?? Now, when wee see that it is very limiting for running v6.x and expecting that v7.x will be again more requesting? Why?
Powering by unreliable small tiny micro usb connector? Why?
No POE in? Why?
Not possible to use wide range of power adapters like for other devices? Why?

This is not the thing I would like to see to be announced. From technical point of view I consider it to be big step back.

Hope you will sell milions of pieces and get at least 50% of list price as your profit to be able to produce devices that would help us to build networks more effectively.

Caci99 · Wed Feb 18, 2015 7:09 pm

Ok. It is cheap.

But having only 32MB of ram?? Now, when wee see that it is very limiting for running v6.x and expecting that v7.x will be again more requesting? Why?
Powering by unreliable small tiny micro usb connector? Why?
No POE in? Why?
Not possible to use wide range of power adapters like for other devices? Why?

This is not the thing I would like to see to be announced. From technical point of view I consider it to be big step back.

Hope you will sell milions of pieces and get at least 50% of list price as your profit to be able to produce devices that would help us to build networks more effectively.

You still have 951Ui and 951G for more power. It is a home device, not everybody is looking for complex configurations and 50Mbps at home, so I guess there is still market for such low end products.

Wed Feb 18, 2015 8:17 pm

Yes, I agree, there is a market for such devices. Asus, tp-link, d-link and others are selling on this market very well. So why not mikrotik? I have nothing against. But I am looking forward to other devices - able to nat with some firewall rules at gigabit speed and having two radios - one ac and second 2hnd.

I already told it - I wish mikrotik will make a heap of money on it. But to be honest, we all know that even there is quickset, the ros operated devices are not easily adoptable by home users knowing nothing about networking...

And the weak powering is not good even for home users. The tiny connector is easily to be broken and mobile/tablet chargers that will be used as power adapter for it can be burned very easily.

hel · Wed Feb 18, 2015 11:34 pm

Interesting product for its price, want one at home, waiting it to arrive in Russia.
Why all these indicators (power, activity) are on the back side?

alibalalo · Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:24 am

هل يعمل كا اكسس بوينت عادي

deanMKD1 · Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:23 am

Great Product !

For that price, and adventages who offer is much better then Tp-Link, ASUS, etc low end products.. When will be available to buy Normis? Can you post more images from product (back, side, etc..)

Thu Feb 19, 2015 8:33 am

The one thing that we are forgetting is that ~80% of world doesn't have more than few Mbps connection at home. So with this device you can have firewall\queue\VPN setup and still hitting those speeds with no problems (judging from performance table on bottom of routerboard page).

USB power is nice solution, this device is now similar to keyboard,mouse,web camera - you just keep it plugged in USB port of your PC and it will work.

P.S. i love the short marketing name concept - "hAP" is much easier to use in conversation than "951"

Toigoweb · Thu Feb 19, 2015 12:40 pm

Very nice product with a low cost.

When will be available to buy ?

friction · Thu Feb 19, 2015 3:11 pm

Nice product for the price! Now I am curious what is coming next! I like this hAP line already

A gigabit PoE-in version would even be better, as others suggested already.
On to a hAP with .ac

Thu Feb 19, 2015 4:01 pm

Now I am curious what is coming next! I like this hAP line already

A gigabit PoE-in version would even be better, as others suggested already.
On to a hAP with .ac

I'd like to see dual-band cAP some-when in the near future.

bajodel · Fri Feb 20, 2015 1:22 am

I'd like to see dual-band cAP some-when in the near future.

me too!

dragon2611 · Fri Feb 20, 2015 8:58 pm

Now how about a "Pro" with at least 802.11ac 2x2:2 on 5ghz and 2.4ghz 802.11n + gigabit ethernet.

Serious lack of decent 802.11ac ap's out there, it's mostly either consumer crap or expensive enterprise stuff.

InoX · Sat Feb 21, 2015 2:29 am

I don't think that will ever be a dual band or gigabit version of this router because it has an weaker cpu than the RB951. So it will a 951 like or even better, with hardware NAT and faster cpu. It is the normal next step.

acidsas · Sun Feb 22, 2015 8:46 pm

Is it really slower than 951-2n in terms of cpu power (nat & routing)? How much real throughput should be expected with regular soho usage?

InoX · Sun Feb 22, 2015 9:21 pm

Read the pdf. It is not very hard.

acidsas · Sun Feb 22, 2015 9:29 pm

Read the pdf. It is not very hard.

I did. But ros versions are different and my question was about real life results and not the synthetic test results. It's hardly believable that 650mhz is slower than 400mhz. Frequency is more than 50% higher.

honzam · Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:00 pm

It is also cheaper and has faster CPU.

Maybe more Mhz but in performance table is CPU (650Mhz) worse than rb950-2n (400Mhz)

payday · Sun Feb 22, 2015 11:33 pm

@Normis: Why this device is not present in FCC list? Have you changed your grantee code from TV7 to something different?

Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:23 am

@Normis: Why this device is not present in FCC list? Have you changed your grantee code from TV7 to something different?

FCC will be ready this week

Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:24 am

It is also cheaper and has faster CPU.
Maybe more Mhz but in performance table is CPU (650Mhz) worse than rb950-2n (400Mhz)

Is it really slower than 951-2n in terms of cpu power (nat & routing)? How much real throughput should be expected with regular soho usage?

notice that the hAP has 4 ports, but the 951 has 5 ports. this is why the hAP can only achieve 400Mbit.

also there is a mistake in the table, during conversion from packets to bits. we will fix it today

acidsas · Mon Feb 23, 2015 6:10 pm

notice that the hAP has 4 ports, but the 951 has 5 ports. this is why the hAP can only achieve 400Mbit.

also there is a mistake in the table, during conversion from packets to bits. we will fix it today

I was talking about 64byte packet performance. 951-2n got higher rates.

mac112 · Mon Feb 23, 2015 8:02 pm

will be the next version hAP with USB port ?

Noa · Tue Feb 24, 2015 8:37 am

Can i use that dvice for connection to one WiFi and Share it by another one WiFi net?
Or does have miktorik any device with 2 Wireless interfaces?

honzam · Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:04 pm

notice that the hAP has 4 ports, but the 951 has 5 ports. this is why the hAP can only achieve 400Mbit.
also there is a mistake in the table, during conversion from packets to bits. we will fix it today

Is this mistake fixed today? Rb951-2n is still more powerfull in small packet

comparision.png

solaoxo · Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:41 pm

Sadly no 5g WiFi, RAM 32M was a very small, at least 64M.

Tue Feb 24, 2015 4:43 pm

Sadly no 5g WiFi, RAM 32M was a very small, at least 64M.

more advanced units are planned. the hAP lite is "lite" just as the name indicates

solaoxo · Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:07 pm

Consideration can be given a mt7621 scheme, performance is much higher. The cost should not where to go.

noyo · Tue Feb 24, 2015 5:29 pm

One might add photos HAP looks like from the inside? Plate?
sorry for my english

payday · Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:51 pm

@Normis: Can I ask you one (stupid

) question? What was the reason for introducing another architecture (SMIPS)? Is it better or cheaper then MIPSBE? Or maybe more powerful? Better choice of SoCs?

kez · Tue Feb 24, 2015 10:32 pm

One might add photos HAP looks like from the inside? Plate?
sorry for my english

me too. i really would like to see it inside. waiting for pics. let's see how moddable it is

@Normis: Can I ask you one (stupid ) question? What was the reason for introducing another architecture (SMIPS)? Is it better or cheaper then MIPSBE? Or maybe more powerful? Better choice of SoCs?

i'm not normis, but maybe qualcomm has changed the cpu a little bit after buy atheros.

EDIT: normis, is SMIPS = SmartMIPS http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIPS_instr ... #SmartMIPS ???

vortex · Tue Feb 24, 2015 11:13 pm

AFAIK, SMIPS is Simple MIPS from MIT, a subset of MIPS II

This might explain why it is less performing at more MHz

Wed Feb 25, 2015 9:22 am

no, SMIPS is "small mips". there is too little RAM or NAND space to put many packages, so this RouterOS version is optimized for these smaller systems. it allows to upgrade the unit even if there is little storage space, it puts the packages in RAM.

Wed Feb 25, 2015 9:30 am

no, SMIPS is "small mips". there is too little RAM or NAND space to put many packages, so this RouterOS version is optimized for these smaller systems. it allows to upgrade the unit even if there is little storage space, it puts the packages in RAM.

That sounds pretty nifty.

Is this similar to how initrd/initramfs work, with RouterOS loaded in to RAM and run from there ?

Wed Feb 25, 2015 9:35 am

AFAIK, SMIPS is Simple MIPS from MIT, a subset of MIPS II

This might explain why it is less performing at more MHz

it is not performing "less", it is faster.
test contains mistake that will be fixed.
here, look at the values and compare, anything suspicious?

173,6kpps=88,9Mbps RB951-2nD
146kpps=96,2Mbps RB951-2n

vortex · Wed Feb 25, 2015 10:02 am

I think you should use a different name then. SMIPS is already taken for an architecture.

acidsas · Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:12 pm

AFAIK, SMIPS is Simple MIPS from MIT, a subset of MIPS II

This might explain why it is less performing at more MHz
it is not performing "less", it is faster.
test contains mistake that will be fixed.
here, look at the values and compare, anything suspicious?

173,6kpps=88,9Mbps RB951-2nD
146kpps=96,2Mbps RB951-2n

It seems there are mistakes at some product pages. Take a look at rb2011uais and rb850.

mac112 · Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:30 pm

Have anyone pictures of the inside?

jonburrows · Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:41 pm

Consideration can be given a mt7621 scheme, performance is much higher. The cost should not where to go.

I agree.

CyB3RMX · Thu Feb 26, 2015 12:30 am

I found this pretty useful for residential use, seems a very reliable substitute for the WR841ND with OpenWRT i use now on residential clients.
When will be available, i really want a couple to test its performance.

Keep up the good job Mikrotik

littlebill · Thu Feb 26, 2015 1:37 am

i feel this obsoleted the RB750, why would anyone chose that now? or the Map unless you need POE

solaoxo · Thu Feb 26, 2015 5:50 pm

Can buy a hAP lite. at what time China

Valerio5000 · Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:03 pm

a question: why should I focus on this device and not a 951 as well as the business side? What is the difference?

Fri Feb 27, 2015 9:47 pm

Price.
But you get what you pay for.

Fri Feb 27, 2015 10:59 pm

I wish MT would release a 5ghz or dual-band model of integrated product.

I would buy a RB2011UiAS-5HnD-IN today if it were available.

deanMKD1 · Sat Feb 28, 2015 12:42 am

RB2011UiAS-5HnD-IN or dual band is better

vik1988 · Tue Mar 03, 2015 8:00 am

Hi Normis,

is it possible to get access of HAP lite demo unit like demo.mt.lv

honzam · Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:06 pm

When you send rb941 to Distributors? Thanks

Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:11 pm

When you send rb941 to Distributors? Thanks

shipping starts this week

dragon2611 · Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:37 pm

If Mikrotik are planning to offer some more "Home" products how about some nicer looking cases?

Personally I'm more about the feature-set but then again if these are going to end up in home environment where lets face it they're likely to end up standing next to a TV.etc (Yes I know that's probably not a great place from an RF standpoint) it would be nice if they looked the part.

Wed Mar 04, 2015 4:46 pm

If Mikrotik are planning to offer some more "Home" products how about some nicer looking cases?

Personally I'm more about the feature-set but then again if these are going to end up in home environment where lets face it they're likely to end up standing next to a TV.etc (Yes I know that's probably not a great place from an RF standpoint) it would be nice if they looked the part.

We have some great announcements this spring

w0lt · Wed Mar 04, 2015 7:10 pm

If Mikrotik are planning to offer some more "Home" products how about some nicer looking cases?

Personally I'm more about the feature-set but then again if these are going to end up in home environment where lets face it they're likely to end up standing next to a TV.etc (Yes I know that's probably not a great place from an RF standpoint) it would be nice if they looked the part.
We have some great announcements this spring

I'm looking forward to a "Native" OS X version of Winbox.

Will that be announced at the MUM?

Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:01 pm

RB2011UiAS-5HnD-IN or dual band is better

Agreed!

vortex · Wed Mar 04, 2015 11:40 pm

We have some great announcements this spring

23 days to go!

Siona · Thu Mar 05, 2015 7:55 am

I hope one of them will be 850gx2 ah sfp

Thu Mar 05, 2015 9:07 am

We usually make such announcements in the big MUM events. MUM EU, MUM USA etc.

yacsap · Sat Mar 07, 2015 7:01 am

I wish MT would release a 5ghz or dual-band model of integrated product.

I would buy a RB2011UiAS-5HnD-IN today if it were available.

RB2011UiAS-52HnD-IN would be better

Vitokhv · Sun Mar 08, 2015 11:34 pm

5v - 5v

I need 5v - 12v please

Or the PoE port support

Mon Mar 09, 2015 10:11 am

5v - 5v

I need 5v - 12v please
Or the PoE port support

RB951-2n and RB951Ui is for you

honzam · Mon Mar 09, 2015 11:50 am

5v - 5v

I need 5v - 12v please
Or the PoE port support

hAP - is lite version. Very low cost. No POE.

We wait for delivery. How it looks with sending? The first pieces were sent?

Mon Mar 09, 2015 11:59 am

I believe so, yes

honzam · Mon Mar 09, 2015 10:32 pm

Have anyone pictures of the inside?

Inside

mac112 · Tue Mar 10, 2015 12:21 pm

great pictures !
- serial console and JTAG is available but USB connections nothing

deanMKD1 · Thu Mar 12, 2015 2:49 pm

Have some unboxing video, or review??

honzam · Fri Mar 13, 2015 12:53 pm

Normis: Winbox 2.2.18 is not supported for hAP? For me it not work - could not get index: missing file!
with winbox 3.0rc6 it works fine

deanMKD1 · Sat Mar 14, 2015 12:40 am

Some review from RB941 ? @normis ?

honzam · Sat Mar 14, 2015 7:04 pm

Some review from RB941 ? @normis ?

What you need to know? I have hAP on the table and testing ...

deanMKD1 · Sat Mar 14, 2015 11:52 pm

Please make one video review, to see their actial size, possibilities etc..

honzam · Sun Mar 15, 2015 12:28 pm

Please make one video review, to see their actial size, possibilities etc..

I make some photos. Size is the same as rb951-2n.
Possibilities? It run ROS. You can make everything...

honzam · Sun Mar 15, 2015 12:31 pm

I like - no electrolytic capacitors

deanMKD1 · Sun Mar 15, 2015 10:39 pm

Great !! Thanks for images.

Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:07 am

Normis: Winbox 2.2.18 is not supported for hAP? For me it not work - could not get index: missing file!
with winbox 3.0rc6 it works fine

old winbox stored files (dll, plugins) in RouterOS. in SMIPS devices there is no space for that

honzam · Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:40 am

Normis: Winbox 2.2.18 is not supported for hAP? For me it not work - could not get index: missing file!
with winbox 3.0rc6 it works fine
old winbox stored files (dll, plugins) in RouterOS. in SMIPS devices there is no space for that

Ok, thanks. I never read this information. Please add it to manual for hAP

Mon Mar 16, 2015 6:28 pm

Does it really mean that 941 is not compatible with v2 winbox while v3 is not stable? What the hell is that?

antoxa · Mon Mar 16, 2015 7:37 pm

I compared contents of the software and was disappointed.

noyo · Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:12 pm

I compared contents of the software and was disappointed.

++1

Caci99 · Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:16 pm

I compared contents of the software and was disappointed.

What is there to be disappointed. It is a small device with little RAM. Do you miss NTP server on a home router? Than you can always chose RB951Ui-2HnD

Mon Mar 16, 2015 8:19 pm

In fairness, hAP lite is probably not powerful enough to run most of the missing packages. And it doesn't need GPS, UPS or LCD due to it not having such devices built in or (in the case of GPS and UPS) support any way to plug such devices in.

NTP though... That one should definitely be included, and AFAIK, it's not so taxing on the router... Is it?

EDIT:

Do you miss NTP server on a home router?

Kind of... Having one is a way to reduce the load on external NTP servers, or to sync devices even if you temporary don't have internet. Admittedly, both of those are fringe scenarios, but still, if it's not too taxing (ala User Manager), it should be there as an option IMHO.

honzam · Mon Mar 16, 2015 9:11 pm

I compared contents of the software and was disappointed.
What is there to be disappointed. It is a small device with little RAM. Do you miss NTP server on a home router? Than you can always chose RB951Ui-2HnD

+1
As Caci99 say:
It have 32MB RAM and only 16MB NAND. There is no space for LCD, NTP server, Calea, multicast and others...
It is low cost wifi router for home use. Only $21.95 !
If you need - there is RB951Ui or RB951G

Vitokhv · Tue Mar 17, 2015 5:37 am

An antenna connector for all models RB941?

What of them in the image?
2.4/5Ghz Omni antenna, 4dBi gain, u.fl connector
2.4/5Ghz Omni antenna, 4dBi gain, MMCX connector

antoxa · Tue Mar 17, 2015 10:03 am

I compared contents of the software and was disappointed.
What is there to be disappointed. It is a small device with little RAM. Do you miss NTP server on a home router? Than you can always chose RB951Ui-2HnD

Yes, I agree that for 21eur - this is a great device.
I needed a multicast package, which is absent in SMIPS OS

solaoxo · Fri Mar 20, 2015 4:51 pm

In none of Chinese a price, the price as high as $41.9118

Fri Mar 20, 2015 4:53 pm

An antenna connector for all models RB941?

What of them in the image?
2.4/5Ghz Omni antenna, 4dBi gain, u.fl connector
2.4/5Ghz Omni antenna, 4dBi gain, MMCX connector

no, there is no antenna connector on the hAP

garlicbulb · Fri Mar 20, 2015 9:04 pm

How about a 5 Ghz model? I could use them to add a 5Ghz AP doe offices and such

Znuff · Sat Mar 21, 2015 6:52 pm

Would anyone be able to test the maximum amount of WiFi clients that this device can support?

In real-life tests we concluded that 951 can handle at least 50 users connected simultaneously and still deliver ~30Mbps.

I'm interested in this model as a device for hotel-wide WiFi setups, as a replacement for the 951 (I can use a dc/dc step-down converter for PoE).

Mon Mar 23, 2015 11:35 am

Would anyone be able to test the maximum amount of WiFi clients that this device can support?

In real-life tests we concluded that 951 can handle at least 50 users connected simultaneously and still deliver ~30Mbps.

I'm interested in this model as a device for hotel-wide WiFi setups, as a replacement for the 951 (I can use a dc/dc step-down converter for PoE).

same or better. the CPU is better and software is the same.

solaoxo · Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:17 am

If there could be integrated with ADSL, the VDSL version is better

markom · Wed Mar 25, 2015 12:03 pm

MIkrotik would not produce ADSL product but I will realy like to see some.
Hate to have 2 devices ADSL(bridge) + Mikrotik at client place.

DmitryAVET · Thu Mar 26, 2015 12:55 am

Very nice device! Tiny but have good performance. I think, hAP lite is best home router for price up to $40.

In Ukraine for $22 you can buy only TL-WR741ND, Asus RT-N12, TL-WR841ND, Keenetic Start or TL-WR743ND - but they have no chances VS hAP lite.

My first review, test and photos:
http://weblance.com.ua/blog/190-podrobn ... mente.html
Only on russia language, sorry)

Internet connection for test - 80 Mbps.

Mikrotik, thanks for good device! Waiting for new models.
Best regards, Dmitry.

Wiredup · Fri Mar 27, 2015 5:50 am

Any know how to factory reset it... I locked myself out of one and can't reconnect.

darkmanlv · Fri Mar 27, 2015 10:29 am

MUM 2015 announcement, in Q3 there will be:

hAp
hAp ac lite (2.4 ghz 2 chain + 5 ghz 1 chain )
hAp ac (gigabit, 2.4 ghz high power 2 chain + 5 ghz high power 3 chain)

Will wait for it

DmitryAVET · Fri Mar 27, 2015 12:49 pm

MUM 2015 announcement, in Q3 there will be:

hAp
hAp ac lite (2.4 ghz 2 chain + 5 ghz 1 chain )
hAp ac (gigabit, 2.4 ghz high power 2 chain + 5 ghz high power 3 chain)

Will wait for it

http://i.mt.lv/eu15.pdf

dezder · Fri Mar 27, 2015 10:58 pm

Hello. Very nice router for home usage but it makes me sad without IPTV which became very popular nowadays. Is there any chance to have a "multicast" package support for this model in future?

rado3105 · Sat Mar 28, 2015 6:26 pm

What about throughoutput comparison with rb2011 (if used only 100Mbit/s ports)?

mac112 · Mon Mar 30, 2015 10:53 am

Any know how to factory reset it... I locked myself out of one and can't reconnect.

Keep holding the button for 5 more seconds until until LED turns off, then release it to make the
RouterBOARD look for Netinstall servers (total 15 seconds)

amishtik · Mon Mar 30, 2015 4:50 pm

Will this work as a wireless client to an existing wireless network?

I have a need to connect a wired only device to my home network. I tried a "TP-Link WR702N" as wireless client but it doesn't work at all. I'm hoping this will work as a wireless client to a WPA2-PSK home network.

DmitryAVET · Tue Mar 31, 2015 11:01 am

Will this work as a wireless client to an existing wireless network?

I have a need to connect a wired only device to my home network. I tried a "TP-Link WR702N" as wireless client but it doesn't work at all. I'm hoping this will work as a wireless client to a WPA2-PSK home network.

Use CPE-mode in QuickSet.

coolerdgrad · Wed Apr 01, 2015 3:59 am

After the upgrade on version 6.27, does not work capstan client
Put the default firmware

nepal · Wed Apr 01, 2015 9:54 am

Good one for SOHO use. Just wondering limitation of user it can handle. Has anyone got any idea?

MrKaplan · Wed Apr 01, 2015 11:35 am

What about metarouter on this board?

As I see there http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Metarouter

Currently MetaRouter can be used on
RB400, RB700 series, RB900 series, RB2011 boards

and Hap lite runs on RB941-2nD

But there is no option in for metarouter in winbox/web

Wed Apr 01, 2015 12:20 pm

What about metarouter on this board?

Are you joking? This board hardly has enough memory for the main OS. Mikrotik even prepared a special build of RouterOS (with limited functionality) for hAP lite, to fit the available resources. This board is definitely short of resources for the metarouter to work there.

rado3105 · Fri Apr 03, 2015 7:11 pm

What is maximum voltage, that can be put in hAP?

Fri Apr 03, 2015 9:39 pm

5v only.

DmitryAVET · Sun Apr 05, 2015 1:22 am

What is maximum voltage, that can be put in hAP?

Supported input voltage: 5 V

read as "5V only"

udayapur · Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:05 am

When we are getting usermanager on SMIPS platform....

Sun Apr 05, 2015 5:00 am

When we are getting usermanager on SMIPS platform....

That's taxing on the router... and SMIPS is about "lite" hardware.

So... Never?

kgninfos · Sun Apr 05, 2015 7:37 pm

mikrotik please introduce some sxt like product with smips 5ghz and dual chain
limit features just to basic cpe

at approx $35 price that will make life of wisp easier
thanks

rado3105 · Mon Apr 06, 2015 1:03 am

mikrotik please introduce some sxt like product with smips 5ghz and dual chain
limit features just to basic cpe

at approx $35 price that will make life of wisp easier
thanks

Yes this would be ubnt killer. And now 941 is mainly tplink killer!!!

Kola · Mon Apr 06, 2015 2:27 pm

It's little strange but there's no settings for master-port as well as switch section in WinBox. While this normally can be change with CLI and it's used in default configuration, and I doubt this is such a memory limited feature. Is this marketing or just undone? UPD: Probably the last one cause all these are in the web interface.

shavvox · Thu Apr 09, 2015 12:08 am

Bought one and did a test run for apartment installations. By our standards these tested perfect for our requirements. We just bought 44 more to install at apartments. Very happy with hap lite.
Thanks and Great job MikroTik!

Fri Apr 10, 2015 10:47 am

It's little strange but there's no settings for master-port as well as switch section in WinBox. While this normally can be change with CLI and it's used in default configuration, and I doubt this is such a memory limited feature. Is this marketing or just undone? UPD: Probably the last one cause all these are in the web interface.

Make sure you have upgraded your hAP and are looking in the correct menu:

[admin@hAP-lite] /interface ethernet> set 3 master-port=ether2-master-local

Screenshot 2015-04-10 10.49.13.png

ittcoin · Mon Apr 13, 2015 10:57 am

Hi everybody, I've probelms with hap access by winbox v.2.2.18, typical "could not get index: missing file!". I've read that is problem with this version. I've the last, rc6, and works, is it true or may be a problem with the hap lite firm? I've tryied to make netinstall and hap lite and map2n is very difficult to make netinstall, many seconds press..............., boring. Thanks and kind regards from Spain.

Mon Apr 13, 2015 10:59 am

Winbox 3 should be used with hAP lite

MstreaM · Tue Apr 14, 2015 11:43 am

it's good for hap products

jacobarlington · Fri Apr 17, 2015 7:48 pm

Main problem is reset button not work at all modem not responding and redirect to hotspot

novotnyp4 · Sat Apr 18, 2015 5:26 pm

I have nothing against hAP lite RB 941, but why is not possible to buy RB951-2n. Yes it is more expensive. But RB941 is very low end. There is not full compensation for missing RB951. No other router has consumption up 3w. Only RB941 but this is slower, has very very small space 16MB, (after one week I have only 47% free space - 8,5MB and actalization file has 7MB

) and so on.

Will be any RB with the same parameters as RB951-2n?

honzam · Sat Apr 18, 2015 6:37 pm

I have nothing against hAP lite RB 941, but why is not possible to buy RB951-2n. Yes it is more expensive. But RB941 is very low end. There is not full compensation for missing RB951. No other router has consumption up 3w. Only RB941 but this is slower, has very very small space 16MB, (after one week I have only 47% free space - 8,5MB and actalization file has 7MB ) and so on.

Will be any RB with the same parameters as RB951-2n?

Yes, see PDF: http://i.mt.lv/eu15.pdf

Sat Apr 18, 2015 6:46 pm

Only RB941 but this is slower

It is, actually, faster. CPU 650MHz (hAP lite) vs 400MHz (RB951-2n) and dual-chain radio (hAP lite) vs single-chain radio (RB951-2n).

Check it yourself: hAP lite, RB951-2n

novotnyp4 · Sun Apr 19, 2015 1:10 am

Only RB941 but this is slower
It is, actually, faster. CPU 650MHz (hAP lite) vs 400MHz (RB951-2n)

More Mhz is not more powerfull. See the Honzam's comparation.

jacobarlington · Sun Apr 19, 2015 11:49 am

Anybody can help me i tried many time to reset i hold button for 15 second and even more but still my router redirect to hotspot even to access main ip 192.168.88.1 and also i cant ping 192.168.88.1 at all. please help me any way i can reset hap lite directly on board if reset button not work like my situation !!

Mon Apr 20, 2015 6:16 am

Anybody can help me i tried many time to reset i hold button for 15 second and even more but still my router redirect to hotspot even to access main ip 192.168.88.1 and also i cant ping 192.168.88.1 at all. please help me any way i can reset hap lite directly on board if reset button not work like my situation !!

to reset, do it like this:

- turn off hAP (unplug)
- push reset button and hold it
- plug power (turn on hAP)
- keep holding button until you see one of the LEDs flashing
- release button

you can also try to start holding the button right AFTER plugging power.

jacobarlington · Mon Apr 20, 2015 4:14 pm

I have checked with two method first plug power and then reset and press reset and plug power and wait until led flashing and release same issue

after router boot up 192.168.88.1 redirect to this page

goo.gl/YNvcFg

and...

jacobarlington · Mon Apr 20, 2015 4:49 pm

I think there is must be some specific port to always go to admin panel regardless of any setting an changes.

kristaps · Mon Apr 20, 2015 5:23 pm

try to netinstall your router using smips package http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Netinstall

ittcoin · Tue Apr 21, 2015 3:33 pm

Hi everybody, I'm trying to configure CAPsMAN with two hAP lite as APs and it's impossible. I've a RB2011 as CAPsMAN controller, a mAP as first AP, no problem, other RB951 as second AP, no problem, but the two hAP lite, with the same configuration not run. I've installed the last version, 6.28 and firmware updated, but not running. Appears the message that CAPs is activated but not run and not see anything in RB2011. Any idea? Thanks a lot.

skvedo · Wed Apr 22, 2015 10:08 am

Will this work as a wireless client to an existing wireless network?

I have a need to connect a wired only device to my home network. I tried a "TP-Link WR702N" as wireless client but it doesn't work at all. I'm hoping this will work as a wireless client to a WPA2-PSK home network.

Dot sure how TP-Link support bridging as wireless client. Check this article http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Wi ... tion_Modes you need to understand what is the issue to configure you device properly.

DmitryAVET · Fri Apr 24, 2015 8:34 pm

With ROS 6.28 was released RouterBOOT 3.23.

On hAP lite i see RouterBOOT 3.23, on RB951Ui-2HnD i see 3.22.
Here http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/RouterBOOT_changelog no information about version 3.23.

Any comments?

1.png

StubArea51 · Sat Apr 25, 2015 5:34 pm

Just got my hAP lite at the USA MUM this week and can't wait to try it out.

What are you guys seeing for throughout performance on it?

Sat Apr 25, 2015 7:06 pm

Throughput generally depends on configuration. So it can be somewhere between zero and 100Mbits per port. I saw it...

rado3105 · Sun Apr 26, 2015 11:55 pm

One rb941 do pppoe, routing, 4 queue tree rules, 3 nat rules and 20mbit/s traffic and cpu runs max. at 10%.

Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:11 am

Why beeper occupies IRQ (and has usage count) if the beeper is not installed?

honzam · Thu Apr 30, 2015 2:17 pm

Why beeper occupies IRQ (and has usage count) if the beeper is not installed?

It is good question

euphoria360 · Sat May 02, 2015 1:25 pm

It seems like a nice Router. Having RouterOS with such a low price is tempting which leads me to buy this very soon.
But before buying it, I wanted to ask few questions from those who have it already:

1. My main purpose for buying it is using "hot spot" functionality. I saw npk packages available for this new architecture and hotspot was included. but how is the performance? Good enough for max 10 users with limited speed and total bandwidth?

2. since enabling hotspot creates some files on Router's limited storage (html files, etc), am i gonna have problems on storage capacity?

3. Is it possible to use/create some lightly modified hotspot pages? i need to make one in my language and little more info on the page.

4. Am I gonna have storage issues after few months (growing size of default enabled logs, if any?)?

5. Looking at Product's page, I see wifi tx is 20dbm for 6mbps (21.5 considering antenna). this is impressive when compared to RB951-2n and mAP-2n which are weaker and have twice the price. Is it as impressive as it seems? no typo on product page?

Sorry for asking lots of questions. Thanks in advance for anyone who read this far

faisali · Mon May 04, 2015 2:32 am

هل يعمل كا اكسس بوينت عادي

Yes it does work as an 'normal' wifi access point .. indoor use.

Kola · Tue May 05, 2015 1:50 pm

Make sure you have upgraded your hAP and are looking in the correct menu

Yep, firmware wasn't the last one. Thanks!

upower3 · Thu May 07, 2015 3:32 pm

What I was surprised is free RAM amount right after I started the hAP. Look at it, it has only 7.7 Mb free out of 32, so I really doubt any services like VPNs, QoS and shaping, and even CAPsMAN support will work good and flawless on such a RAM-less device. But as a device for home use it is kind of good one.

I'd prefer to have two USB ports (and one of it should be full sized), so we can power the device and connect 4G modem at the same time.

Thu May 07, 2015 9:59 pm

I have nothing against hAP lite RB 941, but why is not possible to buy RB951-2n. Yes it is more expensive. But RB941 is very low end. There is not full compensation for missing RB951. No other router has consumption up 3w. Only RB941 but this is slower, has very very small space 16MB, (after one week I have only 47% free space - 8,5MB and actalization file has 7MB ) and so on.

Will be any RB with the same parameters as RB951-2n?

the only advantage of 951-2n over 941 is poe input, in the wifi specs hap lite its better

hap lite
2.4 GHz
TX RX
1MBit/s 22 -96
11MBit/s 22 -89
6MBit/s 20 -93
54MBit/s 18 -74
MCS0 20 -93
MCS7 16 -71

951 2n

2.4 GHz
TX RX
1MBit/s 17 -96
11MBit/s 17 -88
6MBit/s 15 -92
54MBit/s 11 -73
MCS0 15 -92
MCS7 10 -70

wifi on 951 2n (same as cap 2n and map 2n) its very anemic, in both tx power an rx sensitivity

until hap (No lite) its with us if you need powerfull wifi go with 951 Ui o 951g if you need gigabit switch.

in the future hap AC lite will be anemic as the 951 2n but in 5ghz band in 2.4ghz expected to be ok

hap AC will be the star we many are waiting for, the only questions are: price, poe specs, switch functionalities, and power consumption.

Thu May 07, 2015 10:00 pm

What I was surprised is free RAM amount right after I started the hAP. Look at it, it has only 7.7 Mb free out of 32, so I really doubt any services like VPNs, QoS and shaping, and even CAPsMAN support will work good and flawless on such a RAM-less device. But as a device for home use it is kind of good one.

I'd prefer to have two USB ports (and one of it should be full sized), so we can power the device and connect 4G modem at the same time.

its 23 us only bro

upower3 · Thu May 07, 2015 11:59 pm

its 23 us only bro

Yes, and it is already too good for the price. Very suspicious, isn't it? I'm still waiting for some really bad thing to be discovered in such a nice toy as hAP lite

I haven't tested it under huge load (say under general home NAT load), so I don't know for sure if the RAM is ok for home usage, but... anyway, let's hope!

kozmonov · Mon May 11, 2015 5:30 am

Only RB941 but this is slower
It is, actually, faster. CPU 650MHz (hAP lite) vs 400MHz (RB951-2n)
More Mhz is not more powerfull. See the Honzam's comparation.

The hAP lite is much faster than the 951-2n in my experience. Mikrotik tests the throughput on these machines is by utilizing all ports of the device. The 951-2n's maximum throughput 485.8 OR 97.16mbps per port. The hAP lite maximum throughput is 394.8 OR 98.7mbps per port.

This is more evident in 64 byte performance column...

HAP LITE wins with 88.9mbps vs. 75.1mbps

Mon May 11, 2015 7:52 am

The hAP lite is much faster than the 951-2n in my experience.

i hope that

because viewing the performance charts looks worrying that 941 at 650 mhz will be slower than 9512n at 400mhz, looks like smips architecture has lower ipc than mipsbe

Vitokhv · Sun May 17, 2015 2:19 am

Oh my God!

hAP = 2.4 ГГц, MIMO 2x2, 802.11n (b/g/n) + 650 MHz + 100Mbit + PoE (in/out) + USB
hAP ac lite = 2.4 ГГц, MIMO 2x2, 802.11n (b/g/n) + 5 ГГц, 1 канал, 802.11ac + 650 MHz + 100Mbit + PoE (in/out) + USB
hAP ac = 2.4 ГГц, MIMO 2x2, 802.11n (b/g/n) + 5 ГГц, 3 канала, 802.11ac + 720 MHz + 1000Mbit + PoE (in/out) + USB + SFP

lalang2 · Sun May 17, 2015 5:10 am

Oh my God!

hAP = 2.4 ГГц, MIMO 2x2, 802.11n (b/g/n) + 650 MHz + 100Mbit + PoE (in/out) + USB
hAP ac lite = 2.4 ГГц, MIMO 2x2, 802.11n (b/g/n) + 5 ГГц, 1 канал, 802.11ac + 650 MHz + 100Mbit + PoE (in/out) + USB
hAP ac = 2.4 ГГц, MIMO 2x2, 802.11n (b/g/n) + 5 ГГц, 3 канала, 802.11ac + 720 MHz + 1000Mbit + PoE (in/out) + USB + SFP

any model with at least 64mb ram?

Sun May 17, 2015 1:32 pm

Lalang2...why are you citing previous mail with this big picture ? Don't you think that your question could be enough ? I think that we all remeber what we have seen 2 inches above.

Sun May 17, 2015 7:24 pm

Oh my God!

hAP = 2.4 ГГц, MIMO 2x2, 802.11n (b/g/n) + 650 MHz + 100Mbit + PoE (in/out) + USB
hAP ac lite = 2.4 ГГц, MIMO 2x2, 802.11n (b/g/n) + 5 ГГц, 1 канал, 802.11ac + 650 MHz + 100Mbit + PoE (in/out) + USB
hAP ac = 2.4 ГГц, MIMO 2x2, 802.11n (b/g/n) + 5 ГГц, 3 канала, 802.11ac + 720 MHz + 1000Mbit + PoE (in/out) + USB + SFP

any model with at least 64mb ram?

rb951-2n last shipments had 64mb of ram

I think hAP will be 64mb of ram nice replacement of 951-2n plus poe output, usb and dual chain to solve anemic wifi problem of 951-2n

I think hAP ac lite will be a tremendous disappointment because its single chain radio on 5ghz.

Finally hAP AC will be a disrupting AP on the market (if the price its rigth), its like the 951g plus poe output, 5ghz 3 chain radio and sfp port, a total swiss knife machine.

The problem its the date, 3q of 2015 hmm comming late to the party

dlink377 · Tue May 19, 2015 10:38 pm

Just bought hAP lite because it is like a magnet when I purchasing a RB2011 to replace RB951G because upgrading internet to fiber. For around $20 i can't pass the deal. Anyway, it is a great device for the price, although many feature is still missing. The only problem is Wireless Performance, only covering like one room at best and relatively poor wireless performance.

I can't wait to replace all my RB951G and a RB2011 with hAP AC just because of the AC radio. Any idea what is the price range? I hoping it is same with RB951G (which i think is quite expensive for Non AC router). Mikrotik sure is very late to enter home AC market.

My suggestion is upgrade a port on hAP AC lite to gigabit, so it can be used as AP while still maintaining maximum AC transfer speed. I bought many XiaoMi Mini Router with Wireless AC (which i believe is Mediatek chips) and performs maxed at 100Mbps. Surprisingly for price of $30 it can cover great amount of area and stable AC performance.

And I think for a Home router, hAP AC don't need to include costly SFP cage and PoE out. I think better go with USB 3 ports and support for USB forwarding/Printer Host/Storage Sharing. Unless the SFP cage could be used to bypass the home gateway provided by the ISP (direct Fiber to hAP AC), I don't see the point.

MadEngineer · Wed May 20, 2015 10:10 am

It seems like a nice Router. Having RouterOS with such a low price is tempting which leads me to buy this very soon.
But before buying it, I wanted to ask few questions from those who have it already:

1. My main purpose for buying it is using "hot spot" functionality. I saw npk packages available for this new architecture and hotspot was included. but how is the performance? Good enough for max 10 users with limited speed and total bandwidth?

2. since enabling hotspot creates some files on Router's limited storage (html files, etc), am i gonna have problems on storage capacity?

3. Is it possible to use/create some lightly modified hotspot pages? i need to make one in my language and little more info on the page.

4. Am I gonna have storage issues after few months (growing size of default enabled logs, if any?)?

5. Looking at Product's page, I see wifi tx is 20dbm for 6mbps (21.5 considering antenna). this is impressive when compared to RB951-2n and mAP-2n which are weaker and have twice the price. Is it as impressive as it seems? no typo on product page?

Sorry for asking lots of questions. Thanks in advance for anyone who read this far

Your best bet would be to run the hotspot captive portal on another device, then bridge the wireless of the hAP to the interface of the device running the hotspot

I also got mine from a recent MUM. Quite useful as a tool you can keep in your laptop bag and power it off one of those battery packs for charging cell phones.

hgonzale · Fri May 22, 2015 9:35 pm

Hello, I received today my first 2 Lite Router, for deploying in a home/house.
for me is a good router, but you need to think... is the cheapest mikrotik router and you can´t compare to another, and yes, it´s running RouterOS but a small version, you can do traffic shapping, but if you are asking about more functions, buy the 75x/95x....

Thank you for creating this routers, now is easiest to administrate big networks with many routers, or Metro LAN across Winbox

LatinSuD · Thu May 28, 2015 5:21 pm

Will it do VPN and custom firewall (filter, nat)?

We need a cheap router for casual remote support.

hgonzale · Thu May 28, 2015 8:10 pm

It is working perfectly with this

You can do traffic shapping, priorities, L7, VPN (I am using one for IPSEC/L2TP client),

upower3 · Fri May 29, 2015 11:38 am

It is working perfectly with this

You can do traffic shapping, priorities, L7, VPN (I am using one for IPSEC/L2TP client),

The only thing I see there is lack of RAM and storage. I'm not sure how powerfull CPU is there in sense of VPN encrypting, or L7 detection, but L7 and shaping should like RAM, am I wrong? Not huge RAM, right, but I see some like 1-2 Mb free...

Anyway, if is it so good then Mikrotik would shoot himself in the foot by creating very cheap alternative that's not necessary bad for huge percent of users. I'm still waiting for ac-wifi full (not lite) version which will be the only of MT device capable of ac, of spf, of nice performance, of PoE and that should be pretty reasonable for the price.

If you ask me, I'd create wifi network with such full ac devices, just by setting up controller on something more powerfull like 2011 or 1009. If the wifi be stable it'll be killer scheme, for the price and value.

P.S. And I realy want to see some passive-PoE switches to power such a wifi network. it is kind a shame to have power-injectors only and no switches! CRS with passive PoE on all ports would be much appreciates!

upower3 · Fri May 29, 2015 5:46 pm

Got strange expression for this small device: it have no flash to downgrade ROS version!

Its flash storage is of 16 Mb in size, and right after start it says that only 7.5 Mb is free. So I can upload 6.28 firmware if I don't want to, say, use 6.29 (the firmware is 11,8MB in size). "Nice" feature, indeed. By the way I was able to install 6.29 by use "upgrade" feature of the device so I don't know how it used the flash for that.

I'd prefer to have some way to downgrade or upgrade firmwares.

P.S. Maybe it is somehow possible to clear flash before uploading files to it?

G2Dolphin · Sat May 30, 2015 11:00 am

I'd prefer to have some way to downgrade or upgrade firmwares.

NetInstall, I think... but this isn't a good way, yes.

LatinSuD · Sun May 31, 2015 10:52 pm

Got strange expression for this small device: it have no flash to downgrade ROS version!

I think upgrades (and maybe downgrades too) are made from ram.
Just put the NPK into the main folder (instead of /flash) and there you go.

upower3 · Mon Jun 01, 2015 10:54 am

Got strange expression for this small device: it have no flash to downgrade ROS version!
I think upgrades (and maybe downgrades too) are made from ram.
Just put the NPK into the main folder (instead of /flash) and there you go.

May I please ask for which way can I do that? I used to use drag&drop files into Winbox window, and I suspect it goes directly into /flash.

gizmoss · Mon Jun 01, 2015 4:41 pm

After a web update rb 941-2nd with ver. 6:28 to 6:29 router no longer works. When the starting lights on the ice ether 2 and does not reset and can not even try netinstal. Is this router can be accessed using the serial port that exists on the board and how, and what else to try?

lkebic · Wed Jun 03, 2015 9:12 am

I compared contents of the software and was disappointed.
What is there to be disappointed. It is a small device with little RAM. Do you miss NTP server on a home router? Than you can always chose RB951Ui-2HnD
+1
As Caci99 say:
It have 32MB RAM and only 16MB NAND. There is no space for LCD, NTP server, Calea, multicast and others...
It is low cost wifi router for home use. Only $21.95 !
If you need - there is RB951Ui or RB951G

if you need NTP
you can always use SNTP client ( system/SNTPclient)
There you can specify which ntp sever you need.
Hope this helps..

upower3 · Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:25 am

So, more flash and RAM would be great help for everyone, including home users who won't care for any technical details. Just in case next upgrade will be too big to fix into free flash space.

By the way, why I see 77 MiB free out of 16 Mib with no files on flash at all? I suspect that I see only directory that is devoted to user uploaded files (and the remaining space is used to store ROS somewhere outside of this "user upload" area.) but this way it is really hard to predict how much free space be there after the next ROS upgrade.

P.S. If it is possible to connect external USB flash as storage? Is it possible then to use it to store Upgrade ROS image?

Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:32 am

I am saying for years that 32MB is not enough for 6.x. But mikrotik still produces new and new devices with 32MB ram. They rather make new architecture ROS fork and create a special new winbox in order to make it working without flash - for hAP - than use at least 64MB RAM and avoid many pain that users have to sustain.

ROS does not allow to use external drive as installation source. It even do not allow to put a metarouter image on it, if I remember well...

Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:38 am

One of he most common mistakes of a beginner RouterOS user, is to install all the packages. You don't need even half of them.
You don't even need the routing package, it is only for OSPF/BGP, and home user doesn't need it on the hAP.

- LCD package is not needed for ANY RouterBOARD because they don't support the parallel port LCD modules that the package is made for.
- NTP package is needed only to run the server.
- you can't use CALEA on the hAP because it doesn't support external drives

upower3 · Wed Jun 03, 2015 10:59 am

One of he most common mistakes of a beginner RouterOS user, is to install all the packages. You don't need even half of them.
You don't even need the routing package, it is only for OSPF/BGP, and home user doesn't need it on the hAP.

- LCD package is not needed for ANY RouterBOARD because they don't support the parallel port LCD modules that the package is made for.
- NTP package is needed only to run the server.
- you can't use CALEA on the hAP because it doesn't support external drives

Something that needed to be written in bold font on Download page, isn't it?

Is is also may be wise to rename extra packages like LCD or NTP to some prefixed name (like "extra-NTP") so it may be easy differentiate them from built-in ones.

I know a guy who used to install "extra" packages over every new device it handle for his believe that external modules are "better written" and thus better at work that "internal". Silly, but he just love to install everything he can and after that to disable half of them.

I write this so maybe you do consider to explain these thins on your site and not just in a single thread on forum? For me as a customer it is a tricky to find out what are these extra packages and if I should care to download them, really.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:02 am

what is 'default' and what is 'extra' depends on the device. RB750 may not need Wireless, but others do need it.
for standard operation of a router without wireless - only the system package is needed.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:11 am

One of he most common mistakes of a beginner RouterOS user, is to install all the packages. You don't need even half of them.
You don't even need the routing package, it is only for OSPF/BGP, and home user doesn't need it on the hAP.

- LCD package is not needed for ANY RouterBOARD because they don't support the parallel port LCD modules that the package is made for.
- NTP package is needed only to run the server.
- you can't use CALEA on the hAP because it doesn't support external drives

This is not my case. I install always only the packages I need. I also do not understand why mikrotik preinstalls the not necessary packages during the manufacturing process and just disables them. There should be only packages advanced tools, dhcp, security, system and wireless-fp (if applicable) installed on the newly distributed devices and let the users to install additional packages if they need. But it is not so normally.

Above that I need only PPP mostly. And with this package combination the 32MB of ram is just not enough manytimes.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:12 am

what is 'default' and what is 'extra' depends on the device. RB750 may not need Wireless, but others do need it.
for standard operation of a router without wireless - only the system package is needed.

So why are you not selling the devices like that?

Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:13 am

One of he most common mistakes of a beginner RouterOS user, is to install all the packages. You don't need even half of them.
You don't even need the routing package, it is only for OSPF/BGP, and home user doesn't need it on the hAP.

- LCD package is not needed for ANY RouterBOARD because they don't support the parallel port LCD modules that the package is made for.
- NTP package is needed only to run the server.
- you can't use CALEA on the hAP because it doesn't support external drives
This is not my case. I install always only the packages I need. I also do not understand why mikrotik preinstalls the not necessary packages during the manufacturing process and just disables them. There should be only packages advanced tools, dhcp, security, system and wireless-fp (if applicable) installed on the newly distributed devices and let the users to install additional packages if they need. But it is not so normally.

Above that I need only PPP mostly. And with this package combination the 32MB of ram is just not enough manytimes.

Maybe the router is simply not fit for your purpose? If 32MB of RAM is not enough, you simply need a stronger device. hAP works fine for a home or small office environment, it doesn't need more than this amount of RAM.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:13 am

Here is some more info about the package functions:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Sy ... S_packages

upower3 · Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:22 am

Here is some more info about the package functions:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Sy ... S_packages

I'd really say it is tricky for newcomers to "feel" the way Mikrotik community member should live.

If home devices are for no-brainer setup and easy maintain afterward why not to renew site (at least for 'home' devices) so people won't need to read whole wiki (including outdated posts) to catch the idea behind ROS approach.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:33 am

Here is some more info about the package functions:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:Sy ... S_packages
I'd really say it is tricky for newcomers to "feel" the way Mikrotik community member should live.

If home devices are for no-brainer setup and easy maintain afterward why not to renew site (at least for 'home' devices) so people won't need to read whole wiki (including outdated posts) to catch the idea behind ROS approach.

download package has been slightly updated to improve usability.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:39 am

I have some rb941s, they work so far good, even I am not excited by them, but for the price... This discussion about the preinstalled combined packages is quite other topic. Maybe you should reduce the content of combined packages, or stop using them at all and install only few individual packages as I suggested above.

The other thing, that for "normal home users the 32mb is enough" is partially true. But these users do not distinguish between mikrotik and tplink or asus or other "home" routers. They do not need to have mikrotik device as they do not need its versatility and feature richness. Of course, they cannot even manage it. We, who discuss here are quite different "users", dont you think?

I have read your opinions that home user do not need queues and many other things. So why such user should even buy mikrotik router if he can buy some tp-link even much cheaper than rb941?

Performance of 941 with firewall using fasttrack is really awesome, but these "home" users have to pay even for experienced installation and management of such device, so their final price for obtaining a home router is finally much higher.

Even sometimes I have other opinion to the things mikrotik does and how they are done, I am still big enthusiast and supporter of mikrotik way of life.

upower3 · Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:51 am

I have some rb941s, they work so far good, even I am not excited by them, but for the price... This discussion about the preinstalled combined packages is quite other topic. Maybe you should reduce the content of combined packages, or stop using them at all and install only few individual packages as I suggested above.

I've just login to some 941 device I have setup for a friend of mine. I see the following packages enabled:

Advance Tools
DHCP
PPP
Security
System
Wireless-CM2

When I did such a setup on 951, I don't care if I should disable Advance Tools or Security since this is something I might find useful in a case of debug in a future.

But ok, the device says it has free RAM 9.1 MiB out of 32.0 MiB. I do disable Advance Tools, and the RAM now (after the reboot) free at 9.0 MiB out of 32 - no save at all.

What should I do more? I need PPP due to user connects via PPPoE, I also need Wireless since this is the only mean a person uses to connect.

What will I loose if I manage to disable Security and System? I have no idea, really.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 11:53 am

9MB is completely OK for the normal operation of the hAP lite.

upower3 · Wed Jun 03, 2015 12:00 pm

9MB is completely OK for the normal operation of the hAP lite.

Yes is it, and mostly this is so. But as someone mentioned before if we need to work with huge sized certificates we may need more RAM. But ok, this is not the Mikrotik fault

But what can one disable and which functions will be disabled with it - this is the question. Security and System are good example. Please, may I ask you for an advice what happens if I disable System and what will happers if I disable Securty modules?

Wed Jun 03, 2015 12:10 pm

You cannot disable system. Security only affects SSH and secure Winbox. See manual: http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:System/Packages
Actually uninstall could be better than just disable. Will also free some space.

upower3 · Wed Jun 03, 2015 12:15 pm

You cannot disable system. Security only affects SSH and secure Winbox. See manual: http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Manual:System/Packages
Actually uninstall could be better than just disable. Will also free some space.

Just tried, but it says I can not uninstall bundled package (which is reasonable). I'd love to so save some flash, but...

Ok, I've just disabled Security as well, and now see 9.4 MiB free )

Wed Jun 03, 2015 1:58 pm

Exactly. Combined package is a great fault. You need to update or downgrade by separate packages to get rid of combined package.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 2:17 pm

Yes, to get rid of the bundle, next time you upgrade to a new version, do it by hand, using only the "extra packages" zip file, and upload only "system" + what you need

upower3 · Wed Jun 03, 2015 2:32 pm

Yes, to get rid of the bundle, next time you upgrade to a new version, do it by hand, using only the "extra packages" zip file, and upload only "system" + what you need

1) Just to check my mind: if I get "extra" zip, upload only "system", and reboot the device, the flash will be free from "main" solid image completely?

2) And if I add System, PPP, Wireless - I suppose to have much more flash free that I have now with solid standart image?

3) But the to do the upgrade I'll nedd todo that by hands every time, right? The update system won't download the same packages as already installed one by one?

4) Is there any way I can combine needed packages from "extra" to have one solid custom image? I need that to upgrade several APs at once.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 2:41 pm

1. yes
2. yes
3. no, once you do this once by hand, next time auto upgrade will update only packages you have
4. no

upower3 · Wed Jun 03, 2015 2:43 pm

1. yes

Just tried. No good at all, the device image stay intact. Any trick that I forgot?

Wed Jun 03, 2015 2:58 pm

you need a newer version. uploading current version will give result "already installed"

upower3 · Wed Jun 03, 2015 3:46 pm

you need a newer version. uploading current version will give result "already installed"

Do you have version archive so I can get older version for my device, downgrade it, the upload "system" from newer (current) version so I reach the same result without waiting for the next version

I ask about this also since it is quite uncomfortably to keep old ROS versions locally just "in case" if new one won't be good as intended.

Wed Jun 03, 2015 3:47 pm

Easier just to upgrade to the RC: http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/ ... .30rc7.zip

upower3 · Thu Jun 04, 2015 11:21 am

Easier just to upgrade to the RC: http://www.mikrotik.com/download/share/ ... .30rc7.zip

Can confirm this works. I've downgraded my router to 6.28 (which I found in the recent downloads on PC), then uploaded 6.29.1 system module only and after the reboot I got nicely stripped version of firmware. Thanks!

P.S.This should be a help for many users )

upower3 · Thu Jun 04, 2015 1:05 pm

Just in case: I see no separate package for CAPsMAN 2 for 941/hLite device. Is there any way to connect them to CAPsMAN 2 controller?

I wasn't planned that but as I have CAPsMAN 2 scheme in my lab and now got brand new 941 in hands I decided to compare how it doing in controlled network - and no luck here due to absence of the package itself. My it be available one day for smips architecture?

Thu Jun 04, 2015 1:34 pm

wireless-cm2 package is in the hAP lite by default
it is also inside the all-packages.zip file (or "extra packages" on our download page)

upower3 · Thu Jun 04, 2015 1:52 pm

wireless-cm2 package is in the hAP lite by default
it is also inside the all-packages.zip file (or "extra packages" on our download page)

Yes, it is so, but I see no "CAP" button in CAPsMAN window when wireless-cm2 is installed. Without wireless-cm2 there is no CAPsMAN link in menu at all. At the same time I see "Manager" button in that window, so it looks like this device can only be controller, which is silly idea to believe ).

By the way, is there any way to check if it is CAPsMAN v2 or v1 package on any given device. In 941 I can see "2" in the package name but if I login to the RB device and see CAPsMAN in menu, how can I tell if it v2 or v1 enabled router?

Thu Jun 04, 2015 2:05 pm

do you use Webfig, Winbox or console? make sure you don't have multiple wireless packages installed at once

upower3 · Thu Jun 04, 2015 2:10 pm

do you use Webfig, Winbox or console? make sure you don't have multiple wireless packages installed at once

Winbox only, and I have only system, ppp, dhcp and winreless modules enabled. There is no second wireless module of any kind. Should I supply screenshots? I've just disconnected the router but I'll start it again if any.

Thu Jun 04, 2015 2:18 pm

wireless is the wrong package, you need wireless-cm2. Yes, please post a screenshot

MTeeker · Fri Jun 05, 2015 1:37 pm

I was given this unit at MUM Australia last month. Janis told me it costs $22. Cheap was the first word that came to my mind.

I had to temporarily put it on my home network while my RB493G was out of action due to a bad power supply. I was really surprised to see it handles my home traffic fine. Even at only 5 volts.

I think it is a perfect tool in my travel bag...

upower3 · Wed Jun 10, 2015 10:56 am

wireless is the wrong package, you need wireless-cm2. Yes, please post a screenshot

Sorry, I was wrong. I was seeking 'CAP' button in CAPsMAN window while it was in Wireless (of course!).

As to me, CAPsMAN item used to mess my mind as I see both CAPsMAN and Wireless near each other ) I used to treat CAPsMAN as another "operation mode" for wireless (which is semi-right), so I tends to think that "connect CAP to CAPsMAN should be located under CAPsMAN".

Thanks, works great!