4 ms·

OpenWRT preferably. DD-WRT is junk. Brainslayer is so obsessively paranoid about the idea someone might "steal" and "sell" DD-WRT devices that he obfuscates bu

OpenWRT preferably. DD-WRT is junk. Brainslayer is so obsessively paranoid about the idea someone might "steal" and "sell" DD-WRT devices that he obfuscates building the firmware as much as possible. The devices also are just the stock garbage vendor GPL tarball with DD-WRT's UI on top. So you'll still be stuck with stuff like an ancient kernel full of bugs

M95D 3y ago
Most of the time it's because of the drivers: not open source, not compatible with newer kernel, and not updated by the manufacturer.
- IntelMiner 3y ago
  OpenWRT solves this by refusing to incorporate devices that require binary blobs (read: Broadcom) This significantly shrinks the number of devices they support, but the devices that are supported have their lifespans increased significantly
  - e3bc54b2 3y ago
    Thanks, I wondered why my router kernel went from 4.xx to 6.1 after flashing OpenWRT, especially when MediaTek is notorious for poor kernel support. This actually makes me respect OpenWRT even more.
    - glowingly 3y ago
      MediaTek is pretty decent in terms of open source support for their WiFi chips and SoCs, to the point of continuously supporting a long time OpenWRT developer (Felix Fietkau) to work on their OpenWRT device drivers. This is an effort that is independent of their closed source drivers for the same devices. Doesn't mean everything MTK does shines under the sun, but in Linux WiFi, they are probably the most open and well supported in the modern age.
    - alibert 3y ago
      Are you sure you are using an official OpenWrt image? Stable is still 5.10 and Snapshot (master branch) is 5.15. 6.x kernel is not expected to land anytime soon (late this year or early next year maybe?) If you have a 6.x kernel, this is probably a fork of OpenWrt.
NGRhodes 3y ago
Brainslayer builds kernels for DD-WRT broadcom devices (I don't know about other SoC manufacturers). My AC68U running DD-WRT is using the 4.4 kernel. Stock firmware is using 2.6 kernel. The current big issue with DD-WRT broadcom devices is that Brainslayer has not got access to build Kernels for the newer SDKs that support AX routers. A quick glance suggests AX support is lacking on other SoC manufacturers that DD-WRT support. I plan on moving to OpenWRT compatible hardware for my next device.

M95D 3y ago

Most of the time it's because of the drivers: not open source, not compatible with newer kernel, and not updated by the manufacturer.

IntelMiner 3y ago
OpenWRT solves this by refusing to incorporate devices that require binary blobs (read: Broadcom) This significantly shrinks the number of devices they support, but the devices that are supported have their lifespans increased significantly
- e3bc54b2 3y ago
  Thanks, I wondered why my router kernel went from 4.xx to 6.1 after flashing OpenWRT, especially when MediaTek is notorious for poor kernel support. This actually makes me respect OpenWRT even more.
  - glowingly 3y ago
    MediaTek is pretty decent in terms of open source support for their WiFi chips and SoCs, to the point of continuously supporting a long time OpenWRT developer (Felix Fietkau) to work on their OpenWRT device drivers. This is an effort that is independent of their closed source drivers for the same devices. Doesn't mean everything MTK does shines under the sun, but in Linux WiFi, they are probably the most open and well supported in the modern age.
  - alibert 3y ago
    Are you sure you are using an official OpenWrt image? Stable is still 5.10 and Snapshot (master branch) is 5.15. 6.x kernel is not expected to land anytime soon (late this year or early next year maybe?) If you have a 6.x kernel, this is probably a fork of OpenWrt.

NGRhodes 3y ago

Brainslayer builds kernels for DD-WRT broadcom devices (I don't know about other SoC manufacturers). My AC68U running DD-WRT is using the 4.4 kernel. Stock firmware is using 2.6 kernel. The current big issue with DD-WRT broadcom devices is that Brainslayer has not got access to build Kernels for the newer SDKs that support AX routers. A quick glance suggests AX support is lacking on other SoC manufacturers that DD-WRT support. I plan on moving to OpenWRT compatible hardware for my next device.