teksavvy dsl 2 modem that runs OpenWRT
Hello everyone, I need to get a DSL2 modem, and I like running OpenWRT when it comes to embedded devices -- I'm planning to run OpenVPN, ssh server and a few Python scripts. I'm assuming there could be a router out the with DSL2 modem capability. Could anyone recommend the most linux-friendly model that would have enough resources to run all the things I've mentioned? Thanks, Alex.
On October 31, 2014 3:48:34 PM EDT, Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello everyone,
I need to get a DSL2 modem
Knowing you, you mean a VDSL2 Modem.
, and I like running OpenWRT when it comes to embedded devices -- I'm planning to run OpenVPN, ssh server and a few Python scripts. I'm assuming there could be a router out the with DSL2 modem capability.
When I last looked at it a year ago there were a few being worked on on the openwrt forums. They should be searchable in the Table of Hardware. Unfortunately it very very unlikely that any will support the non-standard VDSL2 implementation that Bell deployed in Ontario. -- Scott Sullivan
Hmmn, perhaps add Tek what they use: it may well be an linux variant --dave On 10/31/2014 08:08 PM, Scott Sullivan wrote:
On October 31, 2014 3:48:34 PM EDT, Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello everyone,
I need to get a DSL2 modem Knowing you, you mean a VDSL2 Modem.
, and I like running OpenWRT when it comes to embedded devices -- I'm planning to run OpenVPN, ssh server and a few Python scripts. I'm assuming there could be a router out the with DSL2 modem capability. When I last looked at it a year ago there were a few being worked on on the openwrt forums. They should be searchable in the Table of Hardware.
Unfortunately it very very unlikely that any will support the non-standard VDSL2 implementation that Bell deployed in Ontario.
-- David Collier-Brown, | Always do right. This will gratify System Programmer and Author | some people and astonish the rest davecb@spamcop.net | -- Mark Twain
Hey Scott, It's actually ADSL2+ The modem is gonna be used for an older 7mbit down/1mbit up line, so I hope my options aren't as limited. On Oct 31, 2014 8:08 PM, "Scott Sullivan" <scott@ss.org> wrote:
On October 31, 2014 3:48:34 PM EDT, Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> wrote:
Hello everyone,
I need to get a DSL2 modem
Knowing you, you mean a VDSL2 Modem.
, and I like running OpenWRT when it comes to embedded devices -- I'm planning to run OpenVPN, ssh server and a few Python scripts. I'm assuming there could be a router out the with DSL2 modem capability.
When I last looked at it a year ago there were a few being worked on on the openwrt forums. They should be searchable in the Table of Hardware.
Unfortunately it very very unlikely that any will support the non-standard VDSL2 implementation that Bell deployed in Ontario.
-- Scott Sullivan
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On November 1, 2014 5:17:56 PM EDT, Scott Allen <mlxxxp@gmail.com> wrote:
On 1 November 2014 16:17, Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> wrote:
It's actually ADSL2+
Then I'd just get an ADSL2+ modem without a built in router and then use your own preferred router running OpenWRT.
+1 New ADSL2+ Modem/Routers can be had for $20 or less. Just drop them in bridge mode if and enjoy. -- Scott Sullivan
On 11/01/2014 05:34 PM, Scott Sullivan wrote:
On November 1, 2014 5:17:56 PM EDT, Scott Allen <mlxxxp@gmail.com> wrote:
On 1 November 2014 16:17, Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> wrote:
It's actually ADSL2+
Then I'd just get an ADSL2+ modem without a built in router and then use your own preferred router running OpenWRT.
+1
New ADSL2+ Modem/Routers can be had for $20 or less. Just drop them in bridge mode if and enjoy.
If you search the Table of Hardware, there are plenty of device that list ADSL2+ hardware, but spot checks showed hit or miss for Working or Not Working. wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start I really would recommend to just pursue a good OpenWRT router and then hang a DSL modem off the WAN port. Examples of Inexpensive single Ethernet DSL modem/routers. TP-link TD-8616 http://www.tplink.ca/en/products/details/?model=TD-8616 http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_1059_1060&item_id=4887159 I've used a few of these, the tend to do alright. I've had some intermittent issues with these on know to be dodgy phone lines, that a more expensive modem wouldn't run into. D-Link DL-520B http://ca.dlink.com/products/connect/adsl2-ethernet-modem-2/ http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_1059_1060&item_id=036727 No personal experience with these, but know a handful of folks that find them to work well enough. -- Scott Sullivan
On 1 November 2014 17:34, Scott Sullivan <scott@ss.org> wrote:
New ADSL2+ Modem/Routers can be had for $20 or less. Just drop them in bridge mode if and enjoy.
Or, like I said, keep it simple and use just an ADSL2+ modem without a built in router so you don't have to fiddle with setting bridge mode. I've found TP-Link products to be inexpensive and reliable, such as: <http://www.tplink.ca/en/products/details/?categoryid=221&model=TD-8616> <http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_1059_358&item_id=024298> -- Scott A.
| From: Scott Allen <mlxxxp@gmail.com> | I've found TP-Link products to be inexpensive and reliable, such as: | <http://www.tplink.ca/en/products/details/?categoryid=221&model=TD-8616> If that is just a modem, as it claims, why does it list this feature: Built-in firewall protects against Internet attacks Does it do slightly-deep packet inspection, peering inside the PPPoE packets? There is a local web server to manage the thing. Perhaps that's why it has a firewall.
On 1 November 2014 20:45, D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh@mimosa.com> wrote:
| From: Scott Allen <mlxxxp@gmail.com>
| I've found TP-Link products to be inexpensive and reliable, such as: | <http://www.tplink.ca/en/products/details/?categoryid=221&model=TD-8616>
If that is just a modem, as it claims, why does it list this feature: Built-in firewall protects against Internet attacks
I was puzzled by that as well. (I don't own this device.) Could be it was incorrectly copied from the spec's for a combination modem/router. There's no mention of a firewall feature in the user guide, so it's either incorrect or something that's not user configurable. Protection from buffer overflow/DOS attacks perhaps? -- Scott A.
On 11/02/2014 07:28 AM, Scott Allen wrote:
On 1 November 2014 20:45, D. Hugh Redelmeier <hugh@mimosa.com> wrote:
| From: Scott Allen <mlxxxp@gmail.com>
| I've found TP-Link products to be inexpensive and reliable, such as: | <http://www.tplink.ca/en/products/details/?categoryid=221&model=TD-8616>
If that is just a modem, as it claims, why does it list this feature: Built-in firewall protects against Internet attacks
I was puzzled by that as well. (I don't own this device.) Could be it was incorrectly copied from the spec's for a combination modem/router. There's no mention of a firewall feature in the user guide, so it's either incorrect or something that's not user configurable. Protection from buffer overflow/DOS attacks perhaps?
As I mentioned in another post, I've worked with these. The are a full router. You never find 'modem only' devices any more. The functionality for a router is so damn cheap. But they are also so cheap that you can wilfully waste that router functionality. From a design perspective you grab System on a Chip, many which come with two or more Ethernet devices built in, connect one of them to the ADSL chip-set, the other to an external jack and slap it on a board with some LEDs. A little software and your done. -- Scott Sullivan
On 2 November 2014 22:29, Scott Sullivan <scott@ss.org> wrote:
As I mentioned in another post, I've worked with these. The are a full router. You never find 'modem only' devices any more.
From the user guide, there doesn't appear to be any router functionality. No IP addresses (other than for the internal web based configuration utility). No DCHP, NAT, QOS, port forwarding settings, etc.
<http://www.tplink.ca/resources/document/TD-8616_V8_User_Guide_1910010865.pdf> -- Scott
I considered one of these recently. It really has no router. That said, for about $1 more, you can get the 8617 which looks identical, but has a router :-) I cant recall which I bought. Works fine so far. Mike
On Nov 3, 2014, at 6:47 AM, Scott Allen <mlxxxp@gmail.com> wrote:
On 2 November 2014 22:29, Scott Sullivan <scott@ss.org> wrote: As I mentioned in another post, I've worked with these. The are a full router. You never find 'modem only' devices any more.
From the user guide, there doesn't appear to be any router functionality. No IP addresses (other than for the internal web based configuration utility). No DCHP, NAT, QOS, port forwarding settings, etc.
<http://www.tplink.ca/resources/document/TD-8616_V8_User_Guide_1910010865.pdf>
-- Scott
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On November 3, 2014 6:47:30 AM EST, Scott Allen <mlxxxp@gmail.com> wrote:
On 2 November 2014 22:29, Scott Sullivan <scott@ss.org> wrote:
As I mentioned in another post, I've worked with these. The are a full router. You never find 'modem only' devices any more.
From the user guide, there doesn't appear to be any router functionality. No IP addresses (other than for the internal web based configuration utility). No DCHP, NAT, QOS, port forwarding settings, etc.
<http://www.tplink.ca/resources/document/TD-8616_V8_User_Guide_1910010865.pdf>
-- Scott
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Ah sorry. I confused the TD-8816 with the TD-8616 you linked. I've not seen the 8616 in stores. I would bet a nice dinner that the only significant difference is software. -- Scott Sullivan
On 3 November 2014 18:40, Scott Sullivan <scott@ss.org> wrote:
I've not seen the 8616 in stores.
I posted a link earlier. Canada Computers indicates that they have some in stock in almost every one of their locations: <http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_1059_358&item_id=024298> -- Scott
The closest thing to what I was looking for is TD-W8961ND, but it specs aren't so great, (only 4MB of flash) and when I initially read installation instructions for OpenWRT, they seemed somewhat dodgy -- http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr841nd I ended up buying TD-8616 ADSL2+ standalone modem, it's $23.99 plus tax. It is possible to install OpenWRT on Raspberry Pi there's pretty good support of RPI -- http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/raspberry_pi I know it's a massive overkill, but in this case I don't really need network ports, I already own several linux-friendly USB wireless cards that can be run in Host AP mod, and of course I wanna see if it's gonna work. I just need dig up a ethernet crossover cable, which I prematurely relegated to be a thing of the past. Alex. On Tue, Nov 4, 2014 at 6:17 AM, Scott Allen <mlxxxp@gmail.com> wrote:
On 3 November 2014 18:40, Scott Sullivan <scott@ss.org> wrote:
I've not seen the 8616 in stores.
I posted a link earlier. Canada Computers indicates that they have some in stock in almost every one of their locations: < http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_1059_358&item_id=024298
-- Scott
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On 4 November 2014 23:15, Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> wrote:
I just need dig up a ethernet crossover cable, which I prematurely relegated to be a thing of the past.
Are you sure you need a crossover? Almost all ethernet ports are auto-sensing these days. The TD-8616's and the Raspberry Pi's both are. -- Scott
I thought I'd add a follow up to my to how I ended up to the whole story. (I'll try not to rant) In short, Raspberry Pi works as a router (hardware-wise is a massive overkill) but not worth setting up as a residential access point, because of the following issues that cropped up: 0 Raspberry Pi Ethernet port is auto-sensing, no need for crossover cables. That bit helped me to retain my sanity. 1. Raspberry Pi doesn't come with built-in wireless card, so there are no wireless drivers shipped with OS image (which is only 76MB in size) -- http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/raspberry_pi . You will have to figure out yourself where to find drivers and then manually resolve dependencies. opkg (OpenWrt package manager) helps, but there's still a lot of work that has to be done manually. 2. Serial port works, in the usual raspberry pi configuration -- http://www.adafruit.com/product/954, however login console is not configured, so all yo can see there are the boot messages. You can't access the Internet using ethernet as WAN interface and configure everything through serial console. 2. Having only one ethernet port means that you can't connect to the Internet through Raspberry Pi in order to configure wireless; you have to configure wireless before you can use the only ethernet port as a WAN interface. I found this protocol helps having internet connection through host wireless interface and ssh access to a raspberry pi through ethernet: * Connect to wireless * /sbin/route -a | grep default (write down IP address from the second column -- Gateway) * Connect to Raspberry Pi ethernet port * /sbin/route del default gw * /sbin/route add default gw <value from step 2> At this point you should be able to access the Internet and Raspberry Pi at the same time. 4. Once you get wireless working now you can assign WAN to ethernet interface, you have to be careful, if something goes wrong at that stage, there's no undoing it, and you have to start from the beginning. At this point command 'dd if=/dev/mmcblk0 of=owrt_bak.img bs=1M count=80' becomes really useful. Also if you need to customize your subnet address do it before configuring wireless. 5. There's no assignment of network devices for wireless cards in Barrier Breaker, so most of the knowledge you have from configuring low-level wireless on Linux is no longer applicable to OpenWRT, however dmesg and iw are still around. OpenWrt uses radio0...radionN wlan.config settings, that could later be assigned a particular interface if needed; however the card I was using(tl-wn722n) had 3 radioN interfaces, of which only one (radio2) was actual hardware that was doing something, which could be very confusing. 6. Host AP/Encryption packaging has become a mess, there are three alternative systems (hostapd, wpa_supplicant and wpad). I ended up using wpad, however package hostapd-common was still required. As I mentioned I used TL-WN722N(ath9k_htc), usb dongle. It's not fast or compact, but is very linux-friendly. Works flawlessly in AP mode. Here are the packages required to get the wireless and this card going. hostapd-common iw kmod-ath kmod-ath9k-common kmod-ath9k-htc kmod-cfg80211 kmod-crypto-aes kmod-crypto-arc4 kmod-crypto-core kmod-mac80211 kmod-mac80211-hwsim wpad This is the package directory for Barrier Breaker / BRCM 2708 -- http://downloads.openwrt.org/barrier_breaker/14.07/brcm2708/generic/packages... 7. You end up with a rat nest of wires: 2x Power(rpi & dsl modem), 1x Network (dsl modem to rpi), 1x Wireless extension cable(optional), and no straightforward way of diagnosing/rebooting the system for non-technical people. All in all, it wasn't worth it to use Raspberry Pi for this project, I should have gotten TD-W8961ND and saved myself a whole lot of time, however the combination of Raspberry PI + OpenWRT offers a lot of potential: * Once everything was running further setup was a breeze, the same hardware can be used for NAS, although SAMBA and NTFS have severe limitation on Raspberry PI * For VPN, SSH, CUPS and other tasks that require more CPU/Memory/Storage than consumer router can offer (free memory or cpu never went below 94% as I was testing out the set up), I was using 48MB out of 3.6GB of storage on main partition. (on a $5 SD card) * The combination Network port/USB/WIFI is a relatively inexpensive way to either put hardware that only supported Ethernet on wireless network, or to add network capabilities to older plotters/scanners/printers. So if any of these sounds good, the steps to put a Raspberry Pi-powered OpenWrt are the following: 1. Install SD image on SD Card 2. Connect to ethernet port and set up subnet 3. Configure wireless, while using your laptop's wifi/eth1 connection to get all the drivers/troubleshoot wireless hardware 4. Unplug ethernet and connect to RPI box through wifi, make sure that both web interface and SSH is accessible 5 Backup. 6. Move eth0 interface from Lan to Wan group. 6. Configure Wan Interface 7. (Optional), Unplug Raspberry Pi, resize root partition on SD card from the host machine using (fdisk/resize2fs) or Parted 8. Backup 9. Done Alex. On Wed, Nov 5, 2014 at 6:47 AM, Scott Allen <mlxxxp@gmail.com> wrote:
On 4 November 2014 23:15, Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> wrote:
I just need dig up a ethernet crossover cable, which I prematurely relegated to be a thing of the past.
Are you sure you need a crossover? Almost all ethernet ports are auto-sensing these days. The TD-8616's and the Raspberry Pi's both are.
-- Scott
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On 14-11-21 01:09 PM, Alex Volkov wrote:
In short, Raspberry Pi works as a router (hardware-wise is a massive overkill)
Weren't you hampered by the incredibly slow USB ports on the Raspberry Pi? I do agree that (amongst many other things) Raspberry Pis make great wireless print servers. I now have a networked Epson LQ dot-matrix printer, and a networked Roland DXY pen plotter. And consequently, a bloody noisy basement … Stewart
I didn't run any tests but the Internet connection but the performance of Raspberry Pi didn't seem to be any different than of any other router. The USB controller is slow compared to modern x86 hardware, but as far as embedded devices go, it's pretty fast. I think the general slowness of RPI comes from SD card controller, which is limited to Class 4, i.e. 4MB/sec, and can it get a lot slower on sparse writes, that combined with a single CPU that gets blocked on IO wait makes everything feel pretty sluggish (remember how fast Pentium II systems were?), but as long as local storage doesn't get touched -- USB controller is more than adequate. On Sat, Nov 22, 2014 at 10:55 AM, Stewart C. Russell <scruss@gmail.com> wrote:
On 14-11-21 01:09 PM, Alex Volkov wrote:
In short, Raspberry Pi works as a router (hardware-wise is a massive overkill)
Weren't you hampered by the incredibly slow USB ports on the Raspberry Pi?
I do agree that (amongst many other things) Raspberry Pis make great wireless print servers. I now have a networked Epson LQ dot-matrix printer, and a networked Roland DXY pen plotter. And consequently, a bloody noisy basement …
Stewart
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| From: Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> | I didn't run any tests but the Internet connection but the performance of | Raspberry Pi didn't seem to be any different than of any other router. The | USB controller is slow compared to modern x86 hardware, but as far as | embedded devices go, it's pretty fast. In theory, one reason that the RP is slow because so much goes through a single USB interface: all networking as well as all USB. | that combined with a single CPU that gets blocked on IO wait Generally under Linux a CPU does not get blocked due to I/O waiting. All processes might get blocked due to I/O waits, at which point the CPU cannot make progress because there is no work to do. But that's a slow I/O problem, not a slow processor problem. The RP does have a slow processor. I would guess that it would be somewhere in the middle of the pack compared with wireless routers' processors. But they have specialized hardware for networking (like a pair of ethernet ports and an ethernet switch). As always, performance guesses are unreliable (even mine!). Measurement is called for if it matters. --- GTALUG Talk Mailing List - talk@gtalug.org http://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
On Sat, Nov 22, 2014 at 08:54:23PM -0500, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
In theory, one reason that the RP is slow because so much goes through a single USB interface: all networking as well as all USB.
Generally under Linux a CPU does not get blocked due to I/O waiting. All processes might get blocked due to I/O waits, at which point the CPU cannot make progress because there is no work to do. But that's a slow I/O problem, not a slow processor problem.
The RP does have a slow processor. I would guess that it would be somewhere in the middle of the pack compared with wireless routers' processors. But they have specialized hardware for networking (like a pair of ethernet ports and an ethernet switch).
Actually surprisingly many have only one port and use vlans on the switch to create the WAN versus LAN ports. Some even attach the wifi to the switch.
As always, performance guesses are unreliable (even mine!). Measurement is called for if it matters.
-- Len Sorensen
I've found TP-Link products to be inexpensive and reliable I'd /generally/ agree, but like all consumer networking manufacturing,
On 14-11-01 07:12 PM, Scott Allen wrote: they'll change the hardware inside to suit their costs and not necessarily update the name or model number. If you're running ARM or a non-Intel Linux, that change in chipset — no matter how small (oh hai Realtek) — means the difference between a working network adaptor or a USB-attached ambient air-warmer. So saying, I had a computer that worked solidly for many years using the cheapest TP-Link network card and (ack bleaah) NDISwrapper. cheers, Stewart
On Fri, Oct 31, 2014 at 03:48:34PM -0400, Alex Volkov wrote
Hello everyone,
I need to get a DSL2 modem, and I like running OpenWRT when it comes to embedded devices -- I'm planning to run OpenVPN, ssh server and a few Python scripts.
I'm assuming there could be a router out the with DSL2 modem capability. Could anyone recommend the most linux-friendly model that would have enough resources to run all the things I've mentioned?
A possible compromise... ask if they have any router/modems that allow you to access a CLI. Once you have that level of access, you can probably tweak firewall rules, etc, at will. -- Walter Dnes <waltdnes@waltdnes.org>
| From: Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> | I need to get a DSL2 modem, and I like running OpenWRT when it comes to | embedded devices -- I'm planning to run OpenVPN, ssh server and a few | Python scripts. [Scott suggests you mean VDSL2.] I have a VDSL2 modem of a brand and firmware mandated by Bell. Even though they are not my ISP. The mandate is brutal: neither end of the wire actually conforms to the VDSL2 standard, as far as I know. I don't want to use their router or wireless for a whole host of reasons. So I don't. I use the thing only as a modem and have my own router (and separate wireless access point). My router is actually a discarded notebook running CentOS 6. I've heard a rumour that the Modem/Router/Access-point box makes traffic slower if it is only used as a modem. I've not investigated because there's nothing I'm willing do do about it. And another thing. I bought a wireless router that apparently runs a manufacturer's hacked version of OpenWRT. But stock OpenWRT won't run because there are no open source drivers for the broadcom wireless part. How annoying / frustrating / disgusting.
And another thing. I bought a wireless router that apparently runs a manufacturer's hacked version of OpenWRT. But stock OpenWRT won't run because there are no open source drivers for the broadcom wireless part. How annoying / frustrating / disgusting. Hmm, That's a bit annoying, especially as you would feel you supported a bunch of scams. What brand is it so that the rest of the group can avoid the mistake? William --- GTALUG Talk Mailing List - talk@gtalug.org http://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
| From: William Muriithi <william.muriithi@gmail.com> Quoting me (not too clear from the text): | I bought a wireless router that apparently runs a | manufacturer's hacked version of OpenWRT. But stock OpenWRT won't run | because there are no open source drivers for the broadcom wireless part. | How annoying / frustrating / disgusting. William wrote: | That's a bit annoying, especially as you would feel you supported a bunch of scams. In spite of the GPL, it must be legal. Just not what we'd want. | What brand is it so that the rest of the group can avoid the mistake? I bought this: A Netgear AC1450 (refurb). <http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122615&cm_re=ac1450-_-33-122-615-_-Product&AID=10657534&PID=749547&SID=rfdcb-d725&nm_mc=AFC-C8JunctionCA&cm_mmc=AFC-C8JunctionCA-_-na-_-na-_-na> Quite inexpensive for the resources. It was even cheaper a couple of days ago: an astonishing $59.99 (but I had already made the purchase). Resources: GigaHz LAN and WAN, dual-core ARM SOC; 256M RAM, 128M NAND Flash, one USB3 and one USB2 port, wifi: an+ac, 3x3:3. <https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_R6300_v2> The firmware can be flashed to become another model, the R6300v2: <http://advancedhomeserver.com/upgrade-a-netgear-ac1450-router-to-ac1750-r6300v2/> I've done that. Here's the OpenWRT forum thread on this device <https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=46758> Message 24 is where I heard that the stock firmware is a version of OpenWRT. 25 explains why that isn't good enough. Currently it is partially supported by OpenWRT. I'm using it as an access point. It is not one of my my internet gateways.
On 31 October 2014 15:48, Alex Volkov <avolkov@gmail.com> wrote:
I need to get a DSL2 modem, and I like running OpenWRT when it comes to
embedded devices -- I'm planning to run OpenVPN, ssh server and a few Python scripts. More of a meta comment... I daresay I haven't had much luck finding devices that run OpenWRT well. I have run through the hardware support list in parallel with reading stock lists at local computer shops, and found, erm, "inadequate overlap." The last time I bought a router, it looked like it *might* support OpenWRT, however that has remained nascent, so I'm still running DD-WRT. I'm a bit suspicious that OpenWRT isn't sufficiently supported by "staffing" (of whatever sort) to keep up with the normal flow of new router hardware (there's naturally going to be new stuff, as all the vendors need to sell something new next year).
| From: Christopher Browne <cbbrowne@gmail.com> | I'm a bit suspicious that OpenWRT isn't sufficiently supported by "staffing" | (of whatever sort) to keep up with the normal flow of new router hardware | (there's naturally going to be new stuff, as all the vendors need to sell | something new next year). My impression is that: - reverse engineering is slower than new gadgets get adopted. Broadcom is very bad for open source. Atheros has been much better (at least until it was bought by Qualcomm). - it appears that support for NAND flash is not mainstreamed in OpenWRT. Yet that seems to be the future direction of hardware. (technical sketch: ordinary old flash can be written a word at a time, kind of like RAM (but more slowly). NAND can only be zeroed a large block at a time. And NAND flash is much shorter-lived. (But it is cheaper and more dense.) So you need layer of software to do wear-leveling and to create an abstraction that kind of looks like a disk. There are several competing systems to do that. UBI is one that is being adopted for some OpenWRT projects.) - lots of OpenWRT work is itch-scratching. It often involves git commits but not wiki updates. So if you care about a device, google for it + openwrt. There are often postings about work in progress, sometimes even completed. - turn it around: buy hardware that is known to be good for OpenWRT. Unfortunately, buying stuff that does not support the latest standards is a bit discouraging. The CeroWRT folks (downstream from OpenWRT, and very interesting) only support the NetGear WNDR3700v2 and equivallent -- no support for 802.11ac. The TP-Link Archer C7 v2 looks good, cheap, and might be supported. Beware: the v1's wireless will never be supported; the C8 is not as good, more expensive, and isn't supported (it has the same Broadcom chip as is in my Netgear R6300v2). <http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr7500> <http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32498-tp-link-archer-c7-v2-reviewed> So why did I buy the Broadcom-based Netgear R6300v2? I was bargain hunting and in a hurry. I read the OpenWRT thread on the Netgear R6300v2 and didn't read to the end; it looked as if support had just appeared. And the raw hardware of the Netgear looked much better than the TP-Link: 8 times as much flash, lots more ram, much faster processor, USB3. I failed to notice that the actual wireless performance wasn't quite as good. The final hook was that I was buying a somewhat cheaper model than an R6300v2 and upgrading it by flashing. I thought I was getting away with something. I had actually started with a Future Shop / Best Buy bargain on the TP-Link C7 (for a v2, but that wasn't in the specs.) but they ran out of stock. The FS/BB blow-out might be a sign that the c7 is being replaced by the inferior c8. Get'em while you can.
On 11/02/2014 12:55 AM, D. Hugh Redelmeier wrote:
The TP-Link Archer C7 v2 looks good, cheap, and might be supported. <http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr7500>
I bought one of these this past week. I'd been periodically checking the stock at Canada Computers and they finally had a v2 in stock. I gave it a once over with the stock fireware just to make sure the hardware wasn't DOA and then installed OpenWRT. Here are some of my very first impressions. I only just started configuring it. I have only gotten this far. 1) Does it turn on, and flash easily? 2) Can I use the web UI? 3) Do my devices see the wifi and connect? The answer to all of the above is yes. OpenWrt Barrier Breaker 14.07 / LuCI Trunk (0.12+svn-r10530) Notes: The web ui is a startling jump from Attitude Adjustment 12.09. The older UI had this sort of 'tab-like' layout. Where now the tabs are menus from a single top bar, everything piece of functionality under the same headings though. It feels like it's more friendly towards mobile devices, and also is shinier. The front Wireless LEDs do not light up. OpenWrt Chaos Calmer (Trunk/Dev) Notes: The nightly firmware image is minimal! The web UI (luci) is not included, use only if you ready telnet/ssh in and use opkg to install what you need. Reverted back to Barrier Breaker for the time being. I'll have more to say on it after I switch to using this as my primary wifi solution.
participants (11)
-
Alex Volkov -
Christopher Browne -
D. Hugh Redelmeier -
David Collier-Brown -
Lennart Sorensen -
Mike -
Scott Allen -
Scott Sullivan -
Stewart C. Russell -
Walter Dnes -
William Muriithi