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I think most people are capable. It’s whether it’s worth it. I loved learning more about Linux and networking with it, and loved having automatic cell failover,

I think most people are capable. It’s whether it’s worth it. I loved learning more about Linux and networking with it, and loved having automatic cell failover, but at the end of the day, it was too unreliable. So, forgive me for how this sounds, but the general HN user probably needs a reliable as possible internet link.

fartcannon 5y ago
Again, it's a download and a 'flash' in a GUI. Probably couldn't be simpler. As for reliability, my house has two of the same routers - one runs openwrt, the other runs the factory default (unfortunately it's not mine, so I can't just change it at will). Can you guess which is unreliable? It's the factory default. This is not to mention the security implications of having a non-open source router. Never trust a third party like that. Some even try to get you to use an app.
- garbagecoder 5y ago
  “Works on my machine” isn’t a very constructive response. You have a lot more work than that to do if you don’t get the right hardware. It’s decent if you don’t change the defaults, I guess but then what’s the point?! Try installing almost any package and sometimes it will just lock up. An actual misconfigured/buggy router is a bigger security concern for me than a potential back door. Also, what makes you think open source software matters if the hardware is closed? Do you have a pine router or something?
  - fartcannon 5y ago
    I wish! That'd be rad. There was an article just the other day about how google is sunsetting a mesh router they built. That's what you get if you don't take the frankly small amount of time to wrench control of your hardware from its parent companies. You're worried about security? Bad news, if you're not doing your own updates, your security can and will be sunset. But I get it, you don't wanna. Not much more to be said than that I suppose. ... Does pine make a router?
- numpad0 5y ago
  Say you pick up an average HNer and if they couldn’t pick up a Pi make it do a barrel roll in couple days, you might be disappointed. But if you could give them an Amazon URL and he could set up a Wi-Fi infra with >95% SLA in 5 minutes, there can literally be cost difference measured at $10k range, for a minor detriment of having an annoying router in the household. There are the other kind of HNer who are that pillar in xkcd Dependency comic, but for the former kind, OpenWRT as it is right now is just waste of their time.
  - fartcannon 5y ago
    I just don't believe this is true.
JeremyNT 5y ago
This is very different from my experiences. You need to spend a little time setting up any router, and the only meaningful added step for a basic working configuration when compared to stock is the flashing process. Once you have it working, in my experience, it's incredibly reliable. Whatever issues you had are not the common path IMO. I've run openwrt essentially for as long as it's been a thing and the only instability I ever had was due to my ISP. I'm sure if you end up with some esoteric, poorly supported, or flaky hardware things can be different, but this is far from universal!

fartcannon 5y ago

Again, it's a download and a 'flash' in a GUI. Probably couldn't be simpler. As for reliability, my house has two of the same routers - one runs openwrt, the other runs the factory default (unfortunately it's not mine, so I can't just change it at will). Can you guess which is unreliable? It's the factory default. This is not to mention the security implications of having a non-open source router. Never trust a third party like that. Some even try to get you to use an app.

garbagecoder 5y ago
“Works on my machine” isn’t a very constructive response. You have a lot more work than that to do if you don’t get the right hardware. It’s decent if you don’t change the defaults, I guess but then what’s the point?! Try installing almost any package and sometimes it will just lock up. An actual misconfigured/buggy router is a bigger security concern for me than a potential back door. Also, what makes you think open source software matters if the hardware is closed? Do you have a pine router or something?
- fartcannon 5y ago
  I wish! That'd be rad. There was an article just the other day about how google is sunsetting a mesh router they built. That's what you get if you don't take the frankly small amount of time to wrench control of your hardware from its parent companies. You're worried about security? Bad news, if you're not doing your own updates, your security can and will be sunset. But I get it, you don't wanna. Not much more to be said than that I suppose. ... Does pine make a router?
numpad0 5y ago
Say you pick up an average HNer and if they couldn’t pick up a Pi make it do a barrel roll in couple days, you might be disappointed. But if you could give them an Amazon URL and he could set up a Wi-Fi infra with >95% SLA in 5 minutes, there can literally be cost difference measured at $10k range, for a minor detriment of having an annoying router in the household. There are the other kind of HNer who are that pillar in xkcd Dependency comic, but for the former kind, OpenWRT as it is right now is just waste of their time.
- fartcannon 5y ago
  I just don't believe this is true.

JeremyNT 5y ago

This is very different from my experiences. You need to spend a little time setting up any router, and the only meaningful added step for a basic working configuration when compared to stock is the flashing process. Once you have it working, in my experience, it's incredibly reliable. Whatever issues you had are not the common path IMO. I've run openwrt essentially for as long as it's been a thing and the only instability I ever had was due to my ISP. I'm sure if you end up with some esoteric, poorly supported, or flaky hardware things can be different, but this is far from universal!