I just replaced one Linux-powered router (a Belkin F5D-8231 v4) with a D-
Link DIR-825 (both come with a stock firmware image that’s Linux-based);
replaced the D-Link firmware with openwrt.
I have to say I really like the setup - I had wanted a router with QoS
capabilities (the stock D-Link firmware has some functionality there,
actually, but I don’t know how good it is), that could handle a USB
printer (thus replacing an old PC serving as a print server), had
Wireless-A/B/G/N capabilities, could track live and historical bandwidth
utilization, and was easy to unbrick since I like playing with
experimental software <g>).
Funny thing is, that in all routers I’ve had, I’ve managed to find out that it was a small linux machine. An old sweex even gave me ssh access after opening remote management, at the port configured for remote management. A friend (windu still) implemented openwrt on some routers at his work, he’s very enthusiastic about it, asked me if running linux was as easy as managing openwrt. I replied “yes”.
Thanks for sharing, Jim.
On Sat, 05 Jun 2010 10:56:01 +0000, Knurpht wrote:
> Funny thing is, that in all routers I’ve had, I’ve managed to find out
> that it was a small linux machine. An old sweex even gave me ssh access
> after opening remote management, at the port configured for remote
> management. A friend (windu still) implemented openwrt on some routers
> at his work, he’s very enthusiastic about it, asked me if running linux
> was as easy as managing openwrt. I replied “yes”. Thanks for sharing,
> Jim.
I’ve been quite amazed myself - when I started looking at my Belkin as a
possible target (and now that it’s on standby, I might contribute to the
project with a little testing on that platform), I was a little surprised
(but not much) to learn that it runs Linux. I started poking at its
firmware’s build system a little bit, because there were a few minor
things that bugged me - like not being able to update multiple dyndns.com
hosts (easily worked around, I found out) or reserving IP addresses for
specific MAC addresses between reboots.
I’ve got an old Speedstream router that I’m pretty sure runs some form of
Linux as well, but the company is defunct now and I haven’t been able to
find a backdoor into it (other than the one for cloning a MAC address,
the one feature I needed about 3 years ago that I couldn’t find because
it’s a ‘hidden’ option).
It’s amazing how many embedded uses Linux has found - a great testament
to the cross-platform nature of the kernel and toolchain.
Before I reflashed my router to use DD-WRT, changing any simple setting required a 40 second wait to reboot, now it doesn’t. The funny thing is that the old mfr supplied firmware was also Linux based. It’s kind of sad when hobbyists can make things work better than programmers working for corporations. Or maybe not. >:)
On Sat, 05 Jun 2010 12:26:01 +0000, ken yap wrote:
> Before I reflashed my router to use DD-WRT, changing any simple setting
> required a 40 second wait to reboot, now it doesn’t. The funny thing is
> that the old mfr supplied firmware was also Linux based. It’s kind of
> sad when hobbyists can make things work better than programmers working
> for corporations. Or maybe not. >:)
That’s something I had noticed as well.
The QoS stuff in openwrt seems to really work well. When I first
started playing with it yesterday, it seemed to have some trouble, but
now that it’s configured and I’ve had some experience in getting it
there, it works pretty slick. I can seed the openSUSE DVD torrent at
full speed and not affect my VPN phone for work, nor affect my wife’s
access to the stuff she does on the web.
And the bandwidth charting from vnstat and bandwidthd are quite nice, as
is the ability to run tcpdump on the router. I’m really digging this.
Next up is to put QoS rules in place for the PS3 so my wife can use
Netflix streaming without worrying about knocking me off a conference
call.
funny how things go…i was out of town a couple of days, and for the
first time in months powered down both the router and xDLS modem along
with the computer and a wireless FON thingy…
when i reapplied power the router stayed dark! thinking “SHUCKS, i
can’t even order one for next day deliver via the net…i have to
drive to town…” THEN i thought, "and HECK, next router buy i really
wanted to get one running Linux i could access/hack–and NOOOooooo, i
can’t even learn which ones are hackable without connecting to the net!
[multi-meter proved it was just the cheap wall wart was dead, found a
suitable spare and fired up] read your post and wrote “D-Link DIR-825”
on a piece of paper and put it in my wallet…
On Sun, 06 Jun 2010 11:58:06 +0000, DenverD wrote:
> funny how things go…i was out of town a couple of days, and for the
> first time in months powered down both the router and xDLS modem along
> with the computer and a wireless FON thingy…
>
> when i reapplied power the router stayed dark! thinking “SHUCKS, i can’t
> even order one for next day deliver via the net…i have to drive to
> town…” THEN i thought, "and HECK, next router buy i really wanted to
> get one running Linux i could access/hack–and NOOOooooo, i can’t even
> learn which ones are hackable without connecting to the net!
>
> [multi-meter proved it was just the cheap wall wart was dead, found a
> suitable spare and fired up] read your post and wrote “D-Link DIR-825”
> on a piece of paper and put it in my wallet…
>
> THANKS!
Glad to help out; the only problem I’m having at the moment is problems
with streaming video to our PS3; but since I can run tcpdump on the
router and save the output to a flash drive, I’ll probably spend some
time next weekend looking at packet traces to figure out why.
I recently purchased a Netgear WNR-3500L router and flashed a DD-WRT build that has samba3 support. The router has a usb port on it. It now provides network storage capabilities with almost no additional power consumption. Loving it!
