Are open source wireless router firmwares dead?
4 November 2011 - 10:42pm — Dave Reid
I have been a big fan of the Tomato open source firmware for my Linksys WRT54GL wireless router (why still just 802.11g? I don't need higher wireless speeds since most of my work happens connected via 100 Mbit/s ethernet). When I updated to Ubuntu 10.10 on my desktop, which has IPv6 enabled by default (and will not connect to any network connection without IPv6 - going IPv4 only has been its own separate challenge), I went to go check if there was an updated version of Tomato. Unfortunately not. There as not been a new release of Tomato since June 28, 2010 (HOLY CRAP 15 months seems forever). The project is essentially dead. Alternative firmwares like DD-WRT was last released even further back in July of 2009. I've looked at forks of Tomato but they're not as well packaged or presented so I get way more nervous trying them. Every fork I've seriously considered has at some point just stopped development.
There are still lots of people still using open hardware like the WRT54GL but the firmwares to go along with it seem to be completely dead. Am I completely missing something cool out there (without having to build my own firmware from source) or are open source router firmwares completely dead? I don't want to go back to using stock Linksys firmware as it doesn't provide the power options and reports that I need and enjoy as a power user.
New "Open Source" routers by Linksys (like the Cisco-Linksys E2100L) don't seem to have any 3rd party software support behind them and also have really crappy reviews. Are there any more good hack-able routers out there anymore?
I usually start my router shopping by popping open the DD-WRT Wiki up and making sure that I'm picking up a model that they have recent support for. I've had decent luck picking up routers that aren't explicitly branded as "OPEN SOURCE!" but have decent RAM and good buzz on the DD-WRT boards.
We still have 3 (2 in use) WRT54g Linksys routers running DD-WRT. one as primary and one set as a repeater at the back of the house...
DD-WRT is amazing, and it is sad that these open source firmwares seem to be dying... I'm due for a hardware upgrade, and it might just have to be to one of the sexy Apple routers...
I think you have to consider the official Tomato distribution from Jonathan Zarate as the kernel. There are other "branch" distros of Tomato which have evolved far past what the kernel version is. When I researched them, they're not forks, they're really just branches from the original master copy literally out of the same repo. Tomato USB is kind of the lead for the new development efforts and upgrades, but Victek RAF and Toastman share code with each other to customize to their own preferences. They're based on Tomato USB, which is based on Tomato. I run Victek on a WRT54GL and Toastman on an Asus RT-N16. They're both as rock solid as the kernel, core version. Other versions are outlined on the wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato_%28firmware%29
The latest release of TomatoUSB still doesn't ship with IPv6 enabled even though it's "supported." I think that's actually the version I'm using right now. It hasn't been any better. http://www.4shared.com/dir/v1BuINP3/Toastman_Builds.html gives no useful information what so ever, and the Victek mods also mention nothing about IPv6.
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