3 ms·

A lot of companies were built on this.

by esseph 1y ago

nine_k 1y ago
It's fun to see that "Amazon choice" portable routers are based on OpenWRT, and run OpenVPN and Wireguard out of the box.
aftbit 1y ago
The first DJI drones (original Phantom at least) used OpenWRT on their "Range Extender" boxes.
shadowgovt 1y ago
And all it took was forcing one company to divulge its proprietary closed-source codebase because they screwed up and incorporated copyleft code deep into their core. Imagine how much progress could be made if a few other companies were forced to crack open their proprietary closed-source codebases...
- bobmcnamara 1y ago
  I think many companies saw that and poopood GPL firmware.
  - shadowgovt 1y ago
    They were poopooing that before the OpenWRT case. I don't think there's evidence to suggest that the OpenWRT case made them less willing to use GPL (especially since use of GPL would always have implied they should open-source the firmware derived from it).
    - bobmcnamara 1y ago
      Until then, some companies didn't seem to take it too seriously.
CursedSilicon 1y ago
Ubiquiti uses a fork of OpenWRT. Starlink's routers run it as well. I'm sure a ton of other vendors are using it
- wtallis 1y ago
  The WiFi silicon vendors seem to base their SDK/reference software on OpenWRT (albeit often badly-outdated versions), so almost everyone selling a WiFi box ends up using some variant or fork of OpenWRT. It's been a long time since the days of Linksys trying to cut DRAM costs by using something other than Linux. There are still exceptions like MikroTik where the OS and configuration tools are a main selling point (still Linux-based, but not OpenWRT).
- gh02t 1y ago
  Where does Ubiquiti use OpenWRT? I saw that claim elsewhere in this thread but I'm pretty sure their original devices were based on Vyatta, and their newer stuff is a custom Linux OS of their own that is loosely Debian-flavored. Poking around in the terminal all the Ubiquiti devices I have used are very clearly unrelated to OpenWRT.
  - esseph 1y ago
    Ubiquiti started in outdoor wireless, point to point and point to multipoint. All their outdoor radios, cameras, and unifi APs are all running a version of openwrt. EdgeRouters started on vayatta and then that went away (AT&T acquired Vayatta) and then that forked into VyOS. Some of the Ubiquiti EdgeSwitches are running some other OS, but I can't remember what it was. Source - Spent 14 years helping alpha / beta test, debug code and wireless problems, etc.
haukem 1y ago
I assume that about 20% to 50% of the home routers, Access points and Wifi mesh devices sold world wide are based on OpenWrt. Often some old versions of OpenWrt with many vendor modifications, the UI is always custom. I know that the main vendor SDKs from Qualcomm, Mediatek, and Maxlinear are based on OpenWrt. I think only Broadcom uses an own Linux distribution which is not based on OpenWrt in their main SDK. Linux has a market share of about 99% in this market, I haven't seen VxWorks in any recent home router or access point.

A lot of companies were built on this.

by esseph 1y ago

A lot of companies were built on this.

It's fun to see that "Amazon choice" portable routers are based on OpenWRT, and run OpenVPN and Wireguard out of the box.

aftbit 1y ago

The first DJI drones (original Phantom at least) used OpenWRT on their "Range Extender" boxes.

shadowgovt 1y ago

And all it took was forcing one company to divulge its proprietary closed-source codebase because they screwed up and incorporated copyleft code deep into their core. Imagine how much progress could be made if a few other companies were forced to crack open their proprietary closed-source codebases...

bobmcnamara 1y ago
I think many companies saw that and poopood GPL firmware.
- shadowgovt 1y ago
  They were poopooing that before the OpenWRT case. I don't think there's evidence to suggest that the OpenWRT case made them less willing to use GPL (especially since use of GPL would always have implied they should open-source the firmware derived from it).
  - bobmcnamara 1y ago
    Until then, some companies didn't seem to take it too seriously.

CursedSilicon 1y ago

Ubiquiti uses a fork of OpenWRT. Starlink's routers run it as well. I'm sure a ton of other vendors are using it

wtallis 1y ago
The WiFi silicon vendors seem to base their SDK/reference software on OpenWRT (albeit often badly-outdated versions), so almost everyone selling a WiFi box ends up using some variant or fork of OpenWRT. It's been a long time since the days of Linksys trying to cut DRAM costs by using something other than Linux. There are still exceptions like MikroTik where the OS and configuration tools are a main selling point (still Linux-based, but not OpenWRT).
gh02t 1y ago
Where does Ubiquiti use OpenWRT? I saw that claim elsewhere in this thread but I'm pretty sure their original devices were based on Vyatta, and their newer stuff is a custom Linux OS of their own that is loosely Debian-flavored. Poking around in the terminal all the Ubiquiti devices I have used are very clearly unrelated to OpenWRT.
- esseph 1y ago
  Ubiquiti started in outdoor wireless, point to point and point to multipoint. All their outdoor radios, cameras, and unifi APs are all running a version of openwrt. EdgeRouters started on vayatta and then that went away (AT&T acquired Vayatta) and then that forked into VyOS. Some of the Ubiquiti EdgeSwitches are running some other OS, but I can't remember what it was. Source - Spent 14 years helping alpha / beta test, debug code and wireless problems, etc.

haukem 1y ago

I assume that about 20% to 50% of the home routers, Access points and Wifi mesh devices sold world wide are based on OpenWrt. Often some old versions of OpenWrt with many vendor modifications, the UI is always custom. I know that the main vendor SDKs from Qualcomm, Mediatek, and Maxlinear are based on OpenWrt. I think only Broadcom uses an own Linux distribution which is not based on OpenWrt in their main SDK. Linux has a market share of about 99% in this market, I haven't seen VxWorks in any recent home router or access point.