Introduction

Welcome to the getting started guide for Rugged SOM + SwitchBlox Rugged. We put together this guide because we realised that using SwitchBlox Rugged and Rugged SOM for the first time can be a little tricky, and a lot of our previous documentation was fragmented. We hope this guide helps make the process easier.

A few things to know

SwitchBlox Rugged and Rugged SOM

Current Version: openwrt-24.10

Download OpenWRT release files:

https://github.com/botblox/openwrt/releases

Overview

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OpenWRT running on Rugged SOM + SwitchBlox Rugged work as a fully managed layer 3 router. The CLI console is available through UART or RS485. You can also open a web interface called LuCI for router configuration.

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Hardware

Base SOM Board

Board name Board SKU Revision
Rugged SOM BB-SOM-A-1 A

Stackable Boards

Board name Board SKU Revision
SwitchBlox Rugged BB-SWR-F-1 F
SwitchBlox Rugged BB-SWR-G-1 G

Hardware Requirements

Power

Powering Rugged SOM

Unprogrammed / Unflashed Rugged SOMs

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As of January 2026, all Rugged SOMs shipped are pre-flashed. It is HIGHLY unlikely you will need to flash Rugged SOM yourself.

This is for customers who purchased an unflashed Rugged SOM from before January 2026 or one previously flashed with BloxOs. If you wish to flash OpenWRT firmware, please follow this guide.

If you think you are one of these customers, email us for instructions at [email protected]

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