I’m having a hard time seeing how you’re excited about using DD-WRT.
A brief tour of the Wiki shows the typical Linux UI: “Here’s the nice web form you fill out, um, except for the options we’re too lazy to provide UI for. So use this cryptic half documented command line. For details, go read the source code…”
I’ll take my dusty three your old router instead, thanks.
@John - You’re really missing out, a “brief tour” is never a good way to go about using/dismissing something. There are a few advanced features where you need to know command lines, but almost everything is covered by the UI (and that’s a very long list).
I personally found DD-WRT years ago and have used it on every router since…stock firmware is severely lacking in comparison on anything I’ve bought. I really recommend you give it another try…if you’re at all unhappy with your stock firmware that is.
My favorite thing about DD-WRT is being able to use it as a ssh tunnel back to the states. When I am deployed to Iraq/Afghanistan I get a bit paranoid about my browsing habits as anyone can see my info with the right tools.
This message was sent from Afghanistan through the US!
Does the Buffalo Nfiniti Wireless-N High Power Router support wireless devices that aren’t N?
I’ve just started looking for a new router and people keep suggesting an Apple Airport because of its separate N/B G/A networks.
I have the buffalo with dd-wrt mega flashed on it. It hosts my home voip and vpn. It’s great! My cat did knock it down and the antennae ripped off, but I soldered them back on. Just be warned they are a little flimsy and difficult to repair. It is otherwise a fantastic router. You get so much bang for your buck.
Yeah, I used DD-WRT two or three years ago on an old Linksys, but I haven’t needed it since. Routers are powerful enough that I don’t need the better firmware.
On another note: “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” is a horrible saying. A saying of slackers, bums and lazy shits.
If it ain’t broke you better be working on fucking improving it.
I have been using dd-wrt for last 3 years on my Linksys and honestly I can’t live without it anymore. I don’t think there is a router with stock firmware able to run OpenVPN server, WOL service, QoS tweaking and a limitless possibilities with the hackable Linux on tap. The v24 even supports virtual Wireless Interfaces.
I realized the potential of dd-wrt when I was able to recover my old router with a damaged WAN port due to lightening. In a matter of minutes, with dd-wrt, I was able to make PPPoE dial through one of the LAN ports instead of the usual Internet (WAN) port. The same recovered router has now been serving my dad’s laptop for a while.
@Matt:
Thank you, this patch sounds very interesting and may do the trick. Will try it out.
@Churnd:
I messed around with voip, vpn and standard images but they all performed similarly. I really think now that it has sth to do with the atm layer because the difference between the 9107 and all other firmwares/routers was just too big. When I was testing ddwrt I had to stop uTorrent or other downloads whenever i needed “fast” internet and restart them afterwards (which I often forgot). With the old router I just let it run 24/7/365 and dont have to think about it.
I’m surprised to hear how widely people recommend the dd-wrt software, because my experience with it has been so awful. Based on the glowing recommendations and constant goading of my friends, I tried flashing my Linksys with it three years ago.
The first thing that annoyed me was what @John mentions: the rudimentary UI for the install process quickly fell down, requiring me to telnet into the router and run cryptic commandlines that I had to scour from forums. Some steps required me to retype all of my network information into the router UI, because it got totally reset after each change (“that’s the FUN of open source software!” a forum post chipperly declared).
After that, I noticed that it was causing strange problems with some of the devices on my network: my TiVo suddenly couldn’t talk to anything else, and my XBox had insanely slow download times from Live. So once again I had to go onto forums searching to see if anyone else had this issue. It turned out that this was biting a number of users, but because none of the authors had noticed it on their own equipment, the advice given began with, “first build a JTAG cable and crack open the case on your WRT so you can solder it to the motherboard. Then, download the source code from…” And that’s when I installed Tomato instead.
I did file a bug report (with a wireshark trace) on the Live issue before deleting dd-wrt. I never got a resolution, but the unqiue email address I used to register on the dd-wrt forum apparently got sold to pharmo and phishing spammers, so at least I hear from them.
Building a x86 router is not so much about memory or CPU power than increased functionality. DD-WRT is excellent but it’s still not on par with pfSense (v2.0-BETA4).
The impact on your power bill for an Atom system should be quite insignificant, although the initial cost is no doubt much higher than that for even your top-end consumer routers.
Look at the good side though: Routers that are eventually replaced will end up in the trashcan. Power efficient x86 machines can always be reused as mail/web servers!
You could always build your own router out of old PC parts and an ADSL modem.
Then you can run any software you like!
I’m sorry, did you say your XBox 360 is outside?? You have to share what’s going on there… sounds too cool to not want to hear more!
I did a review of the three main open firmware options (DD-WRT, OpenWRT and Tomato) for wireless routers, fortunately Linux Magazine is smart and posts the full PDF’s online for free:
I would consider carefully before publicizing device MAC addresses. Even though they are typically private within your LAN, they can be compromised via geolocation services and then publicly tied to your (possibly very specific) location.
I have a Linksys-by-Cisco WRT320N (about $80 it seems), and it does fine. It’s supremely fast and stable even with 300+ connections, although to be fair I only tested it up to 22 Mbit/s, because that’s the limit of my connection.
I’m using the default firmware, which is good enough for my purposes. It does have weird issues with uPnP though, randomly dropping your speed to a pathetic 500 kB/s until you reboot it. Disabling UPnP works like a charm though, and it’s a pointless feature anyway.
So yeah, maybe not worth recommending over that Buffalo, but it seems like a nice alternative for a similar price.
Regarding your “wireless range problems”, you should consider adding reflectors to your antennas before jacking up your power transmission levels.
A nice corner reflector like this one ==> ( http://freeantennas.com/projects/Ez-10/ ) will increase your antenna’s output by 10dBi in one direction. It will also increase the receiving ability by blocking out errant signals coming in from the sides. I’ve found it easy to build and superb at improving the wireless performance of my router.
Increasing power levels on your router only solves 1/2 the problem. Your remote stations can “hear” the router better, but the router cannot hear the remote stations any better because they aren’t transmitting any “louder” than they were before.
Using a reflector on your router’s antennas fixes both problems because now you’re focusing your power in only the directions that you need and the reflector improves the router’s ability to “hear” in that direction as well.
I just want to throw out there that I’ve had nothing but problems with my NETGEAR WNDR3700.
Inability to connect. Dropped connections requiring frequent power cycles. Poor throughput. Ultra flaky 5GHz. USB fails more often than it works, not to mention slow as a floppy disk, and it doesn’t support printers.
I am seriously disappointed with my WNDR3700 and wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
So commodity routers are much like commodity PC’s. If you throw away all of that junk software they come with and just install the free open source stuff, they really get faster and more useful.
Er, you do realize that DD-WRT hasn’t released updated firmware in a year as well?
Also, and much more importantly, DD-WRT’s QoS simply doesn’t work, and never has.
I’ve never used Tomato (my router doesn’t support it), but I’ve heard of lots of people switching to it despite its smaller feature-set simply for its working QoS.
Been running DD-WRT on a WRT-54GL since at least 2007 and love it. A few times I’ve upgraded and one of my previously used features quit working. But I’ve always just downgraded and waited for the bug to be quashed.
I’ve been running SP2 for a while now on 4 routers, and they have been quite solid, no maintenance needed. DD-WRT offers many more features than the stock Linksys firmware. I’d have tried Tomato, but it doesn’t support virtual WLANS.
This post spurred me to upgrading hardware. I’ve looked before, but DD-WRT at that time had more problems on hardware that supported gigabit and N. I was leaning towards Buffalo. But after reviewing the DD-WRT forums, I think I’m going with the Asus RT-N16 also.