Include LoRa mesh, it is cheap not terribly fast but gives your whole neighborhood and beyond at least a low speed backup data and messaging mode assuming the next generation handset, tablet, computer hardware plans to include the LoRa mesh too. Look at how the Hong Kong and now Iranians are cutoff lets treat ourselves to infrastructure we own beyond what our DSL, Fiber, Cable, and Wireless providers allow at the pleasure of the state.
but to avoid the regulation issue sell the router in a ready to accept firmware mode and then advertise upload firmware mode as well as ability to switch to client mode and connect to a firmware server at puri.sm or maybe a bit of camouflage on who is running that firmware selections server.
having LoRa be a fourth quiet switch would mean the librem-X can be radio silent EXCEPT on LoRa bands listening for important messages; maybe from the router/base station and also receive landline calls with caller ID message to the Librem-X and allow the Librem-X user to choose to power-up the modem and call back in near real time.
This was my idea(using POCSAG paging circuitry) when we were working on speccing out the Neo900 when the whole privacy switches idea was born back around 2014-15. A mobile phone that could provide near realtime telephony while being radio silent and un-trackable via cell towers like a submarine. Privacy hardware power-kill switches are only half of the equation.
(edit) Just reviewing the Neo900 announce thread, fun to see Dos(Dos1 on TMO) all over the place then too, anyone Know how JoergRW is?
Crypto cards were sliced in half on use. So they could only be used once. The slicer was built in when you closed the lid. See pics of a KG-13 or a KWR-37 via a search with the big horizontal handle. The slicer was sharp, like any paper cutter, you could bleed if you ran your thumb across it. Note the keyhole, so once you locked the handle in place you also locked it in before the device could work.
The funny part is usually the new guy could go through 3 to 6 cards his first time changing them. Which meant the other person at the far end of the world had to do the exact same thing. If the new guy used up more than half a dozen cards at once, the supervisor would take over. Remote sites had a limited stash. If they got low before their monthly allotment it meant getting new ones via courier off schedule, and the usual administrative queries of “Why?”
And yes, crypto cards were the same size as an IBM punched card, the same kind with “hanging chad” in the Y2K election. There must be a history about that.
Oh… those are OLD. They look like they are from the early 50’s, like the first RADAR set I used working for the Navy. Based on your description, keying a military encryptor has gotten much better in all those years. My experience has been mostly with various TACLANE KG-175 series.
Those weren’t exact the ones I worked on, they’re just off the internet. The key card enclosure was a common feature across several models. My last use was in 1979.