3 ms·

I think those that want to run an open source software stack, but not assemble the hardware themselves, are served pretty well by going to the OpenWrt website (

by jabl 6y ago

I think those that want to run an open source software stack, but not assemble the hardware themselves, are served pretty well by going to the OpenWrt website (the successor project around the original wrt54g open source release), and choosing a suitable router from the table of hardware they maintain, and then just install openwrt on top of the stock firmware. That's what I've been doing ever since I jumped ship from ye olde WRT54G (currently I have a Zyxel Armor Z2, and I'm happy with it).

Maxburn 6y ago
I never dove into the WRT devices myself but it definitely has a niche.
0x0000000 6y ago
FWIW, "assemble the hardware themselves" means buy a > 5 year old desktop computer and add a multi-port PCI-express NIC. Or even a USB3 -> Ethernet adapter. Moving to pfSense was the best decision I made for my home network.
- icelancer 6y ago
  You can even buy one of these ready-made boxes and slap on pfsense. https://smile.amazon.com/Firewall-Appliance-Gigabit-Celeron-Barebone/dp/B0741F634J/ https://smile.amazon.com/Firewall-Appliance-Gigabit-Celeron-... I use this exact model + RAM + mSATA drive and its more than powerful enough to sit in front of my SMB gigabit fiber connection while running DPI/OpenVPN/zabbix/etc. pfsense is awesome and the learning curve is pretty reasonable if you understand basic network theory. I love it.
- fl0wenol 6y ago
  I mean, the issue is some people don't want to run a whole desktop or laptop with a 20+ watt power supply to provide the occasional wifi to a phone/tablet. Unless you're running a media server plus other services (or you have a lot of end users on a fast connection) I feel like a pfSense setup is a bit overkill, and this is where OpenWRT on your ARM+Switching SoC-of-the-week excels.
  - mikepurvis 6y ago
    I run OpenWRT on my Archer C7 and I'm very happy with it, though I actually don't even use it for wifi— it's a wired router only, with Unifi APs in the high traffic areas.

by jabl 6y ago

Maxburn 6y ago

I never dove into the WRT devices myself but it definitely has a niche.

0x0000000 6y ago

FWIW, "assemble the hardware themselves" means buy a > 5 year old desktop computer and add a multi-port PCI-express NIC. Or even a USB3 -> Ethernet adapter. Moving to pfSense was the best decision I made for my home network.

icelancer 6y ago
You can even buy one of these ready-made boxes and slap on pfsense. https://smile.amazon.com/Firewall-Appliance-Gigabit-Celeron-Barebone/dp/B0741F634J/ https://smile.amazon.com/Firewall-Appliance-Gigabit-Celeron-... I use this exact model + RAM + mSATA drive and its more than powerful enough to sit in front of my SMB gigabit fiber connection while running DPI/OpenVPN/zabbix/etc. pfsense is awesome and the learning curve is pretty reasonable if you understand basic network theory. I love it.
fl0wenol 6y ago
I mean, the issue is some people don't want to run a whole desktop or laptop with a 20+ watt power supply to provide the occasional wifi to a phone/tablet. Unless you're running a media server plus other services (or you have a lot of end users on a fast connection) I feel like a pfSense setup is a bit overkill, and this is where OpenWRT on your ARM+Switching SoC-of-the-week excels.
- mikepurvis 6y ago
  I run OpenWRT on my Archer C7 and I'm very happy with it, though I actually don't even use it for wifi— it's a wired router only, with Unifi APs in the high traffic areas.