Need A Router? Go Open Source

If you are in the market for router, consider going open source. In case you are wondering how a hardware device can be open source, it is actually quite simple. While the physical device may not be modified (easily at least), the firmware can be which allows for open source developers to essentially control how the device works.

Netgear has recently released an open source router which follows suit to what Linksys did some time ago and spawned quite a bit of projects. The important thing to keep in mind here is while custom software can be written to work on the routers, they are still consumer grade hardware devices. So don’t get the idea you can buy a cheap router and through the magic of open source project, update the device’s capabilities to that of enterprise level hardware.

Regardless, I think it is a great idea to support devices which allow consumers to do anything they want with them. After all, you paid for it, so why should the manufacturer really care?

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Jester
The best open source router is the Linksys WRT54GL with DD-wrt v24. You are basically upgrading a 50 dollar router into a $600. DD WRT offers bandwidth control device monitoring ect. Check it out. http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv3/index.php
http://www.hackersnightmare.com Bill Hely
I agree with Jester 100% — the WRT54GL flashed with a DD-WRT firmware upgrade is a great combination that I have been recommending to my customers and subscribers for some time.
Flashing a router can be a daunting process to the non-expert, not so much because it’s a complex procedure (it’s not), but because it’s difficult to find plain language, step-by-step instructions.
For that reason I wrote an illustrated tutorial on flashing the WRT54GL with “DD-WRT Version 23 SP2 generic”. However I believe the same procedure should work fine for flashing any DD-WRT version closely related to v23 SP2 generic, such as the v24 that Jester mentioned.
I haven’t made the tutorial generally available before this, but the PCMech guys do such a good job of sharing information and “spreading the word” that I’ll reciprocate by releasing it here for the first time.
http://www.HackersNightmare.com/THN_downloads/Linksys_WRT-54GL_Firmware_Upgrade_Tutorial.pdf
Please feel free to share it, and post back here if you find it useful or even if you have problems with the instructions — I can always make corrections or improve anything that’s not clear.
Best regards,
– Bill Hely
– Author: “The Hacker’s Nightmare”
– http://HackersNightmare.com
– “How to keep hackers, worms & other germs out of your PC”