I think you just answered this yourself 
Wellā¦ Do the PCIe interfaces work for attaching a WiFi modules? Are the NICs usable? Can I boot OpenWrt?
If yes, then it basically does all what I need it to do. 
yes, yes and yes. but depending on the need, with flaws.
R4Pro base support is applied for next so it lands in next LTS kernel (6.19)
https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/mediatek/linux.git/log/?h=for-next
- SFP need pcs and usxgmii patches
- eth-mux requires phy-port representation series when going mainline
- 10G phy needs mainline driver updated (currently working with christian marangi on it)
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whoās gonna backport to openwrt? 
It is not even completeā¦i guess daniel will work on it if he finished r4lite (not yet asked if he have a board for testing). Openwrt should also support the phy and sfp and mux when backporting.
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Will the board be available on ali-express after the pre-sale?
Or will there be a slight delay until the patches are merged upstream first?
The upstreaming is independ of hardware sale. The base support (bootup,temp,usb,pcie,management-ethernet-port) will reach 6.19 (next LTS) when it is outā¦i guess daniel will backport this too,possibly with additional patches i cannot send upstream because of missing base (usxgmii/pcs, ethmux, downstream phy driver).
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Any rough estimate for when the board will be available on ali?
Iām impressed, For once a board with proper upstream support.
As i said,some parts are still missing (same for R4) which cannot be upstreamed currently as there is discussion on base frameworks (pcs/phy-port). If this is solved i can upstream dts for full sfp support and the ethmux. Maybe we found out why mainline phy driver does not work first.
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Is there any link to discuss how to implement combo port? Do you know if the source code from BPI-SINOVOIP supports it? Thanks!
Yes bpi-code (mtk-sdk) supports it and it was base for my version (upported it and fixed a hang on switching which maybe not occour in 6.12).
I know no thread or similar on mainline code for combo ports. Only got info from @dangowrt that this should be based on phy-port series with additional patches on top. There is no such implementation yet afaik.
@frank-w @dangowrt I am very hopeful for a solution to this issue that can be upstreamed to the Linux kernel or the OpenWrt community, since another router using a Qualcomm solution has a similar problem, as discussed in this thread 1.
You are not aloneā¦ there are lots of router with this gpio dependency switching (ex5601-t0 is the sameā¦ actually only phy port works).
My understanding is however that the phy port representation series from maxime started in 2023 (when I started porting ex5601) is probably (hopefully) landing in mid 2026.
There are other parts that hang in upstreaming like (usxgmii) pcs 
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That is why I was hoping it was doable (or acceptable) on the openwrt pull request to get the mtk sdk code temporarily.