u/slowpolygon

I’m somewhat of a beginner to bash scripting. I’m somewhat familiar with common shell command and how to navigate a linux CLI as well as some very basic programming concepts.

However by all means i am looking for a way to learn bash scripting from zero. looking for a good book or web resource to follow along and get a baseline knowledge of scripting in bash.

I’m not a fan of AI and I want to be able to write my own scripts for automating tasks like connecting to my openVPN, setting up crons for daily backups, file organization and management, etc.

So I’m interested in using my Raspberry Pi 4 Model B 4GB RAM as a home router.

My current network config is just my Xfinity gateway (which handles DNS, DHCP, and NAT. From what I understand Xfinity doesn’t allow you to customize these options with their rented gateways.)

I have an 8-port switch that is connected to the gateways LAN port and essentially thats my whole network.

My solution is running the Pi so that I can run things like pi-hole and other custom network settings. I want to run OpenWRT I just have a few reservations.

I don’t want a ton of bottlenecking from my current set and I’m a bit fuzzy on how I am supposed to configure this with my XFinity gateway.

Do I simply connect the pi to the switch and configure with OpenWRT?

Should I run it in bridge mode with the Xfinity Gateway?

How do I tell the gateway im using my own router?

I have a good knowledge of networking (configuring NAT, DHCP, IP subnetting, etc) I’m just trying to figure out the best way to go about to gain some privacy and control without overly sacrificing performance.

I’ve heard I may need a USB to ethenet to create a second port on the pi ? do i need to add any hardware to make wireless perform? or is there a way i can get “the best of both worlds” using the pi in conjunction with the modem?

I am currently running Debian 13 on bth my laptop and PC. I don’t want to comply with the coming OS level age verification. I am thinking of running the ageless script on my existing system or potentially just re-imaging to something like Devaun or Arctix.

To be completely honest I don’t want to sink a ton of time into this as I have many of privacy related projects to tend to. So im essentially looking for the simplest solution that will run smoothly after.