You can also use a BananaPi BPI-R3 for reprogramming. And you can “upgrade“ 10 Gbit/s DACs to 25 Gb/s. Details here https://kohlschuetter.github.io/blog/posts/2026/03/22/unlock...

I tend to use fs.com optics, but I’ve heard in high rates (100g plus) that flex optic tend to be more reliable

FS has a reprogrammer, called the FS Box. Works well.

fiberstore has them as well, plus you can buy modules, DACS and everything programmed to the vendor of choice, including different vendors on each end

Especially handy for specific Intel NICs where they refuse to link up if the module isn't in the driver-allowed list and those modules are hard to come by