|
[Date Prev] [Date Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Index] [Thread Index]
|
Re: [PLUG] Wish list for PLUG talks --> OpenWRT Corrected
|
On Mon, Mar 2, 2009 at 10:23 PM, Brian Vagnoni <bvagnoni@v-system.net> wrote:
> Man I've got to proof read better; sorry.
>
> DD-WRT is free for Broadcom wireless chip sets only. You must pay an
> activation fee to use the firmware permanently on anything else even
> Atheros devices. DD-WRT does ***NOT*** follow typical FOSS ideology.
>
> In one hand you have Broadcom who have proprietary drivers and code
> and the folks at DD-WRT make that firmware available for free. On the
> other hand you have Atheros who is working with the FOSS community
> building their stuff into the kernel and DD-WRT charges for that.
> DD-WRT in the future may include the Realtek wireless chip sets as
> part of the no charge version.
I thought that the only version of DD-WRT that requires a license is
for x86 platforms (where it competes with more firewall-oriented
products such as SonicWall, pfSense, m0n0wall, and Untangle).
So whether your router uses Broadcom, Atheros, Realtek, etc. is
irrelevant, beyond chipset support in software.
> My understanding about the way the folks at DD-WRT see it is that
> Broadcom gear is considered residential and therefore no charge, and
> anything else is considered PRO gear which they charge for. The problem
> is that they aren't charging for support they are charging for
> activation which is where it sticks in the crawl for most
> FOSS folks.
>
> There is quite a lot of bad blood and politics between the DD-WRT,
> Sveasoft, and the true ideological FOSS groups. I personally will use
> whatever works best for customers or myself in a given situation. It's
> like a $25 activation fee if I wanted to use it with say my UBNT
> Router Station.
Ah, yeah, the Ubiquiti products... that does seem to be more like a
special case invoking the "commercial" vs "residential" dichotomy.
Yet, there DD-WRT includes a free (I think) build for MadWifi
(Atheros) for "residential" routers such as the Asus WL-500g Premium
that has a mini-PCI slot and can use Atheros cards (such as the
Ubiquiti SR and XR series).
> I've also heard claims on some blogs of security issues with DD-WRT.
> Though these claims could just be pro-FOSS propaganda. I haven't see
> any papers on it, just talk. The politics are very annoying as it's
> hard to get to the real truth.
>
> As far as Open-WRT not having a web gui that's not correct. There is
> X-WRT and Webif which run on top of Open-WRT.
>
> Honestly and with regard to the incredible skill level using the Linux
> command line I find here on this list I don't see why folks just don't
> use Open-WRT. However, if you just want something to plug and play
> with your Linksys/Broadcom router and don't care about the politics
> DD-WRT is the way to go.
>
> One thing I really like about the 3rd party firmware is being able to
> setup a cron job to reboot the wireless router daily; saves on service
> calls big time. Most customers I deal with are non-IT so they don't
> want to be bothered or billed for any of this stuff. They just want to
> focus on their core non-IT business and have the IT tools work for them.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> Brian Vagnoni
> PGP Digital Fingerprint
> F076 6EEE 06E5 BEEF EBBD BD36 F29E 850D FC32 3955
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> ___________________________________________________________________________
> Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
> Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
> General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
>
___________________________________________________________________________
Philadelphia Linux Users Group -- http://www.phillylinux.org
Announcements - http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug-announce
General Discussion -- http://lists.phillylinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
|
|