--- title: Anything Can Be A Router, If You Try Hard Enough | daily.dev description: With US government mandates potentially causing consumer router shortages due to lack of domestic manufacturing, a guide shows how almost any old PC can be... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/anything-can-be-a-router-if-you-try-hard-enough-3lozyrq7r twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Anything Can Be A Router, If You Try Hard Enough | daily.dev og:description: With US government mandates potentially causing consumer router shortages due to lack of domestic manufacturing, a guide shows how almost any old PC can be... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/anything-can-be-a-router-if-you-try-hard-enough-3lozyrq7r og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/3LozYrq7r.png og:image:alt: Anything Can Be A Router, If You Try Hard Enough og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Anything Can Be A Router, If You Try Hard Enough **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 1 min read · 1 upvotes · 1 comments ## Summary With US government mandates potentially causing consumer router shortages due to lack of domestic manufacturing, a guide shows how almost any old PC can be repurposed as a Linux-based home router. Using small form factor PCs or salvaged laptop hardware with PCIe network cards, the setup requires no cutting-edge hardware — potentially two decades of old machines could serve the purpose. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@goodwine** · 1 upvotes > In the United States, there are no manufacturers of home routers… Are we talking about Ubiquiti or Starlink?! > > Good thing I live in Europe 🤣 ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [How to turn anything into a router](https://daily.dev/posts/how-to-turn-anything-into-a-router-n8fniwjoc) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Building your own router is easier than you think, and the US just made it necessary](https://daily.dev/posts/building-your-own-router-is-easier-than-you-think-and-the-us-just-made-it-necessary-v0s3zkrzy) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [DIY Router On X86 E-Waste: OpenWrt And OPNsense](https://daily.dev/posts/diy-router-on-x86-e-waste-openwrt-and-opnsense-18vpjkkyt) · Hackaday · 4 upvotes · 1 comments - [US bans any new consumer-grade routers not made in America](https://daily.dev/posts/us-bans-any-new-consumer-grade-routers-not-made-in-america-ll2nldarm) · The Register · 1 upvotes · 2 comments --- Tags: [#linux](https://daily.dev/tags/linux), [#networking](https://daily.dev/tags/networking) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/anything-can-be-a-router-if-you-try-hard-enough-3lozyrq7r) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Anything Can Be A Router, If You Try Hard Enough","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/anything-can-be-a-router-if-you-try-hard-enough-3lozyrq7r","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/anything-can-be-a-router-if-you-try-hard-enough-3lozyrq7r"},"datePublished":"2026-04-02T15:45:10.438Z","dateModified":"2026-04-02T15:45:43.083Z","description":"With US government mandates potentially causing consumer router shortages due to lack of domestic manufacturing, a guide shows how almost any old PC can be...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/fdec2bc158f35646ba635051204b41e6?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/fdec2bc158f35646ba635051204b41e6?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hackaday","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hackaday","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JhDfhy70--/f_auto,q_auto/v1767541814/logos/hackaday","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},"commentCount":1,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/anything-can-be-a-router-if-you-try-hard-enough-3lozyrq7r","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}],"keywords":"linux,networking","timeRequired":"PT1M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hackaday","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Anything Can Be A Router, If You Try Hard Enough"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/anything-can-be-a-router-if-you-try-hard-enough-3lozyrq7r","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"In the United States, there are no manufacturers of home routers… Are we talking about Ubiquiti or Starlink?!\nGood thing I live in Europe 🤣","datePublished":"2026-04-02T23:38:28.775Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/3LozYrq7r#c-xssCo9LPn","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Giuliano","url":"https://daily.dev/goodwine","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--a4_3G2w8--/f_auto/v1768794714/avatars/avatar_1zdQSUWX1pJufCW5uT6Uh?_a=BAMAMiiu0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":1}}]} ```