Tell me, when is it expected to be on sale?
Banana Pi RAM Policy:
I’m pretty sure you should use the 1x4 GB RAM for the R4 Lite!
I know, 2 GB is much more than most routers have and most people need!
But the question is, what is the price difference between 2 GB and 4 GB?
My problem is the following:
I bought the R4. The first R4s were publicly available in December 2023, right? Now BananaPI came to the conclusion that 2 x 4GB is a good idea for the R4 
. Yes, but it was a good idea, but right from the beginning!
Probably, I may never need more than 2 x 2 GB.
My fellings now are not easy to descripe. I lost something which I never had 
.
So this is now a RAM psychology topic 
.
In general, you have developed further in the following areas:
I.)
USB Type-C port for debugging, which also means you have the chips included on the board 
. This IS a game changer in many ways:
→ We did not need to discuss which chip is compatible.
→ It will decrease the amount of frustrated people who realize they will need an additional USB to TTL Serial Adapter.
→ This will make it impossible to damage the serial port by using an adapter that uses a logic voltage of 5V.
→ Fewer frustrated people because they mix up TX and RX and do not get it running!
→ Cleaner desk.
→ The possibility to take an ordinary USB-C cable for debugging increases the usability and provides a quick start even for a layman!
II.)
Direct use of an RTC battery 
→ R3 no battery, R4 possibility R4 lite = direct use without additional effort.
III.)
MikroBUS Header on the Board → Will Banana Pi provide the necessary driver support to ensure seamless integration and functionality of the MikroBUS socket within official OpenWrt?
In this parts I do not see a “Light” board. I see a heavy progress!
I think Eric talked more about these products:
But this does not mean that you are wrong!
Surprisingly, AsiaRF used a mini-PCIe (1 Lane) for the AW7990-NPD.
Because of power consumption, the last one is the only one I will consider using. So, for me, the mini PCIe decision was good in the end!
But for people who want to try the AW7991-AE2… 
We can use m2-to-mPCIe adapter card if we want to use AW7991 card with bpi-r4 or r4-lite.
I checked the pinout. Looks like it has only one lane.
But you can recheck. I’m new to this topic (the chat shows this…)
The AW7991 is a BE5000, and the bandwidth of mPCIe 1 lane is sufficient.
You should also be interested in the possibility of an “open wrt two”:
- MT7988
- 10G SFP
- 5G copper
- 4 port 2.5G copper
- 1-2 port 1G copper
- Tri-band Wi-Fi 7
https://lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2025-February/043722.html
But I think the R4 lite will find his friends.
you can seet BPI-R4 Pro design:
What’s the reasoning behind increasing the NAND size and also adding a NOR flash to the mix?
We have arranged to test 4GB DDR, but not sure if many people need it?
Thanks.
As for this, you may need to add it yourself 
In this way, you can install dual systems on nand without bricking.
Another way to prevent bricking
Nice, this one can be a nice mesh ap cause if i use the normal r4 with a modem i only would need the WIFI7 nic here.
Two things i saw here and would love to see it maybe at bpi r5
- USB C Debugging Port (like someone said before, this is a game changer! but i also have to say, it’s a dev board. So people who do not know about Serial Connecting by PINs (RX/TX) should consider buying another board/router
but it makes the setup “cleaner” and easier to connect/disconnect) - RTC Battery place. This is so much more comfortable, easier and more safe than the RTC port at the normal r4
One thing i am missing at the Lite Version (but for my use case not important)
- No GPIO header cause for example i am watching the RPM from my used fan with this and give an alarm if fan RPM is zero. Not sure how much heat this one will get, but at the normal r4 with be14 nic and queltec rm520n modem it will get very hot without a fan.
Looking forward to this, especially to make a nice WIFI7 mesh network at home 
greetings
I guess the mikrobus can be used for that purpose.
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I have to say I’m intrigued. Seems to offer a lot for a prosumer device.
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So what the speed of USB Type-c Debug console is?
Serial settings are 115200 8n1 flowcontrol off
I tried to build firmware for r4lite with openwrt ‘main’ branch code, firmware built but failed to boot: Failed to boot openwrt on BPI-R4-LITE · Issue #21676 · openwrt/openwrt · GitHub
Anyone knows why?
Bootrom looks like bl2 is missing…can you show hexdump of starting at 0x4400.there should be something like SDMMC_BOOT