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You haven't really looked, have you? Take your pick. Some commercial routers have 3G modem support built-in.

A VPN? To connect to where, from where? Are you doing this for something to do, or because you want to implement the best solution? Do you just want better router software?

Install Tomato or DD or OpenWRT or any one of their variants on your existing router.

Building your own in the name of security isn't going to work unless you really know what you're doing, which you said you don't in your summary. That sounds like a dick thing to say, but it's not. Security is difficult for people that know what they're doing, when people who don't try to DIY it, it's almost universally bad.

I will add to that and say that the pros that do know what they are doing still use the easiest solution whenever they can, not some convoluted mess. If you're doing it to learn that's one thing, if you're doing this as a noob to protect yourself somehow, stop!

The classic router for this purpose was the Linksys WRT54G, but that is getting very long in the tooth and does not support 802.11n or 802.11ac.

The current reasonably priced (about $100) pick that supports everything and is a *working* 2.4ghz and 5ghz 802.11ac router with OpenWRT or DD-WRT is:

TP-Link Archer C7 V2 AC1750

Manufacturer Info is here -> http://www.tp-link.com/en/prod...

It can be re-flashed with either OpenWRT or DD-WRT to provide firewall and a variety of VPN types. It also has enough flash to add other features and given that it includes 2 USB 2.0 ports can also used as a low power (compared to a full hardware PC) internet server.

The disadvantage on this router is that it only supports 1750AC and not 1900AC and that the USB ports are only 2.0. There are routers that cost a lot more that provide both 1900AC and USB 3.0, but they also do not currently FULLY support OpenWRT and DD-WRT.

My personal experience is that OpenWRT is more module than DD-WRT. This makes is easier to pick and choose "packages" in any configuration you'd like. For instance, I added the stunnel package to protect a IP video camera that did not provide HTTPS for remote home monitoring. Now the router provides necessary HTTPS for that use case.

If you are looking to use either DD-WRT or OpenWRT check their home pages BEFORE purchasing a router so you know that it is fully supported by each.

The router to AVOID at the moment appears to be the Linksys 1900AC which the manufacturer FALSELY claimed in their sales literature at launch supported. It still does not.

You can view info on the OpenWRT project here -> https://openwrt.org/

And the DD-WRT project here -> http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/ind...

A VPN? To connect to where, from where? Are you doing this for something to do, or because you want to implement the best solution? Do you just want better router software?

Install Tomato or DD or OpenWRT or any one of their variants on your existing router.

Building your own in the name of security isn't going to work unless you really know what you're doing, which you said you don't in your summary. That sounds like a dick thing to say, but it's not. Security is difficult for people that know what they're doing, when people who don't try to DIY it, it's almost universally bad.

How timely. I am doing a presentation at the local LUG (KWLUG) on OpenWRT in a couple of days.

There are various options out there that are supported by OpenWRT.

In this day and age, you want the most memory and flash that you can get, gigabit ethernet, Wirless N dual band (2.4GHz and 5GHz), as well as USB.

I use The D-Link DIR-835, which has 128MB RAM, 16MB flash (the most memory and flash that you can get for a reasonable price) and all the above features . It goes for ~ $80 in Canada.

There are other options that support most of the above, but with a bit less RAM or flash sometimes, but perhaps 2 port USB, ...etc.

They are:

TP-Link WDR-4300 ~ $70
TP-Link TL-WDR3600 ~ $55
TP-Link TL-WR1043ND ~ $50

All of the above are supported on OpenWRT development snapshots (soon to be a stable release, Barrier Breaker).

It has to be noted that the firmware provided by TP-Link is terrible (which explains the bad reviews online). With OpenWRT it is a great device, though.

Specs:
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp...

Not only that but OpenWRT does not support it at this time.

Forum discussion where openwrt devs say not to buy this.

Openwrt hardware compatibility page for this model

Not only that but OpenWRT does not support it at this time.

Forum discussion where openwrt devs say not to buy this.

Openwrt hardware compatibility page for this model

I've had a Netgear WNDR3800 running a customized OpenWRT build by arokh https://forum.openwrt.org/view... for past couple of years and I've been very happy with it. My experience with routers is limited, but it's hands down the best router I ever had.

Custom firmwares can be installed from the stock web interface (same as normal firmware update). It has plenty of processing power and RAM and has been very reliable. Between firmware updates it has regularly clocked over a year of uptime without a hiccup.

Been looking for another router for almost a year now, and still haven't been convinced of a better one than my WRT54GL

The WRT54GL is a relic of an ancient time. Most importantly, it's a relic of a time without IPv4 address exhaustion, and without realistic demonstrations of DNS cache poisoning.

DD-WRT has support for 6in4 and 6to4, but not as much support for IPv6 over PPPoE or DHCP-PD or Sixxs.net AYIYA. I prefer OpenWRT, but I also prefer plain-text configuration via the command line, so I'm weird. OpenWRT officially dropped support for the WRT54GL in the last stable release, 12.09 from April 2013, and it didn't really work right in 10.03, either.

I've been generally pleased with routers based on the Atheros AR7161, but those are obsolete (only N300 and N600), and not that easy to find. Probably the most famous from that line is the Netgear WNDR3800, the target model for CeroWRT and the EFF Open Wireless Router. 680MHz MIPS24K, 16MB of flash, and 128MB of RAM are so luxurious after the 200MHz BMIPS3300, 16MB RAM, 4MB flash of the WRT54GL.

You should care more about the firmware and driver source availability than about the manufacturer. It's because, no matter how strong and how fast your router is today, tomorrow your router is slow and obsolete. When (not if) problems are discovered with your device, the availability of updates depends on the ability to recompile the firmware.

I like my Buffalo WZR-600DHP. It came with DD-WRT, but more importantly, it was built on the Atheros AR7161, like the Netgear WNDR3800, Ubiquiti RouterStation, Mikrotik RB-450G, and several others, so I prefer to put OpenWRT on it. Sadly, this chip is several years old now, and doesn't support 802.11ac, and Broadcom offers cheaper N600-N750 chipsets, so there aren't a lot of AR7161 routers. Also, some of the early AR7161 routers are a little flaky, like the Netgear WNDR3700v1. My uncle had one where the 2.4GHz radio died.

Usually, I'm opposed to Cavium, Broadcom, and Marvell, and suspicious until proven otherwise of Qualcomm Atheros, MediaTek, and Realtek. Sadly, that means I can't recommend any 802.11ac routers. The most likely to work might be the ones with the Qualcomm Atheros QCA9558 and QCA9880-BR4A combination, like the Engenius ESR1750 and the TP-Link Archer C7 v2 (not v1). Since I don't have personal experience, and the documentation is so sparse, I can't recommend those without reservation. If I had to buy an 802.11ac router right now, I would buy one of those.

You should care more about the firmware and driver source availability than about the manufacturer. It's because, no matter how strong and how fast your router is today, tomorrow your router is slow and obsolete. When (not if) problems are discovered with your device, the availability of updates depends on the ability to recompile the firmware.

I like my Buffalo WZR-600DHP. It came with DD-WRT, but more importantly, it was built on the Atheros AR7161, like the Netgear WNDR3800, Ubiquiti RouterStation, Mikrotik RB-450G, and several others, so I prefer to put OpenWRT on it. Sadly, this chip is several years old now, and doesn't support 802.11ac, and Broadcom offers cheaper N600-N750 chipsets, so there aren't a lot of AR7161 routers. Also, some of the early AR7161 routers are a little flaky, like the Netgear WNDR3700v1. My uncle had one where the 2.4GHz radio died.

Usually, I'm opposed to Cavium, Broadcom, and Marvell, and suspicious until proven otherwise of Qualcomm Atheros, MediaTek, and Realtek. Sadly, that means I can't recommend any 802.11ac routers. The most likely to work might be the ones with the Qualcomm Atheros QCA9558 and QCA9880-BR4A combination, like the Engenius ESR1750 and the TP-Link Archer C7 v2 (not v1). Since I don't have personal experience, and the documentation is so sparse, I can't recommend those without reservation. If I had to buy an 802.11ac router right now, I would buy one of those.

USB and 128 MByte RAM make many interesting things possible.

With OpenWrt there currently is an annoying problem with VLAN tagging, but there is a patch: https://dev.openwrt.org/ticket... making its way into trunk.

Want a narrow list of choices? DD-WRT Firmware FAQ: Which router should I buy?
Want a lot of details? OpenWRT: Table of Hardware, or DD-WRT Wiki: Supported Devices

I pushed my router to dd-wrt a while ago. At the time, I liked the UI on dd-wrt better than openWRT. I also noticed some issues on my specific hardware for OpenWRT. How do they stack up?

They're very different beasts.

DD-WRT is a single, monolithic image, similar to a vendor firmware but with more features. What is available tends to be well integrated into the GUI, but if a feature is not available, you're pretty much out of luck (unless you're willing to install software by hand).

OpenWRT, on the other hand, is a package based system: there's a base system and an extensive set of optional packages that you may install. It used to be the case that the OpenWRT GUI was not very good, but it has improved a lot in recent years, and I now find it fairly usable. Of course, not all packages are well integrated with the GUI.

I'd recommend going with OpenWRT. The base system should be reasonably easy to understand, and you'll be able to easily install extra software when you find that you have unusual needs.

I've been eying this myself, since I would like to upgrade my card to 802.11ac at some point as well. There are two pieces to the puzzle, user space support, and kernel driver support. AFAIK, both are supported but you need fairly new software. The ath10k driver supposedly supports 802.11ac and was included in linux 3.11. I believe newer versions of hostapd support 802.11ac but can't find any specifics about what version it was included in, but the newer the version, the better (so, preferably 2.2). And of course you will need to find a wireless card that uses the ath10k driver. I run my router off a normal PC and have a distro with recent software so this is easy to do, but I have no idea what versions OpenWRT supports.

According to this everything should work: http://wireless.kernel.org/en/...
But according to this there are mixed results: https://forum.openwrt.org/view...

I don't recommend the WRT54G(L) for OpenWRT hacking -- it's a little short on RAM and seriously short on flash. There's a lot of much nicer routers available, with more RAM, more flash, 802.11n and gigabit Ethernet. Somebody else in this thread mentioned the WNDR3700v2, which I'm very happy with (but check the board revision -- the v1 doesn't work well). The successor is the WNDR3800, which is the same board with more RAM.

I don't recommend the WRT54G(L) for OpenWRT hacking -- it's a little short on RAM and seriously short on flash. There's a lot of much nicer routers available, with more RAM, more flash, 802.11n and gigabit Ethernet. Somebody else in this thread mentioned the WNDR3700v2, which I'm very happy with (but check the board revision -- the v1 doesn't work well). The successor is the WNDR3800, which is the same board with more RAM.

It's the whole thing (RT5350 SoC (OpenWRT device tree file), 32MB of RAM and 8 of Flash, along with the antenna and assorted support passives).

The board that provides wired ethernet and USB in their usual connectors(and presumably with the magnetics for ethernet) and a micro-USB +5v input is additional.

So you can get fully up and running for $20 (and a +5v source to apply to the correct contact), presumably good for adding a wifi connection and a moderately capable command-and-control module to something that can hang from the GPIO or USB data lines.

If you want the wired interfaces, and a little case, and need a PSU, because this isn't being integrated into something, it'll cost more.

Is there any reason I should keep the router's preinstalled firmware and not flash openwrt as fast as I can?

Installing OpenWRT is scary and confusing. Its not bad after you've done it a few times, but it's not at all obvious where to start.

The documentation and website isn't structured or layered to support end users. Its by openwrt developers for openwrt developers with end user stuff mixed in willy-nilly.

It starts out barely accessible to the average user and then rapidly veers off into territory beyond even the average computer nerd.

http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/ho...

When people say a router is bricked, this very generally means, that it does not function properly any longer and the reasons can be various. First of all, you should calm down, relax and read flash layout, file systems in OpenWrt and bootloader CLI. Now depending on what exactly is broken, you have several possibilities...

Yes, calm down, relax, and learn about the differences between NAND and NOR flash, relatively obscure filesystems, master and partition boot records... no problem right? You do have JTAG cables right? And an Arduino board you can use to upload a sketch that will send the debrick commands via serial? How are your soldering skills because you might need them! Here's the serial pinouts for a DIR-835... your router might be different!

And I say this as someone who is using OpenWRT

OpenWRT is so fucking easy to install and configure (easier than some consumer out-of-the-box experiences, even) that there really is no excuse if you expect a secure local network ... there is no actual technical knowledge required, just basic keyboard/mouse skills, and reading comprehension.

I think you're *wildly* overestimating the skill and confidence of the average home network user and the quality of open source project web sites. Let me walk you through the hidden minefield in your instructions. I'll use a Linksys WRT150N for reference.

The real Step 1 is "realize that I'm supposed to install OpenWrt, and understand what that means". Most users have little to no idea of how the router actually works, so the idea of upgrading the firmware is not an obvious one.

But let's say someone tells them to do it. They go to the OpenWrt web site. The second sentence under "What is OpenWrt?" is "Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management.". Many users will be too terrified to proceed beyond this point. But let's say they make it to the Table of Hardware, and skip past the text about developer snapshots and hardware VLANs and the note from 2009 saying that the page might not be up to date. (That's not realistic -- many users expect to read sequentially.) Instead of a column that says "yes, this router is supported", there's a column named "Status" that gives the first OpenWrt version that supports the router. Next to that there's a column named "Version" that is undefined. I'm assuming it's the router version, but many users could get confused. But the important column is the "Target" column, which lists the specific OpenWrt platform that users should (but probably won't) remember for later. There are two targets for the WRT150N and no indication of which to choose. One of them no longer exists in the current version.

Clicking on the model number in the table gives me an unorganized series of notes from various users. One of them, "An account of flashing OpenWrt to a WRT150N", sounds sort of like installation instructions, but is too brief and technical to be of any use. It does have a working download link, but it's to a version that's five years old. The one after that suggests that one target option (the nonexistent one) is better than the other. None of this is in clear newbie-friendly language and it's all after pages of Linux log dumps. If they land on this page, most users will probably click the back button as fast as they can.

Alternately, we could do it your way:

Step 1, find out what runs on your router (at wikidevi or similar)

That's somewhat better, but they still have to read through a dense, abbreviation-heavy table of technical specs. (That's after they figure out they need to search for their router's model number and not "Linksys".) At least there's a simple indication that OpenWrt supports the router. But how would they know to go to WikiDevi? I hadn't even heard of it before today. And most importantly, how would they figure out which target to use, or even that targets exist?

step 2, download the firmware image

Now we're in for some fun! There's a download link at the top of the OpenWrt site. Clicking on it gives me a directory listing. None of the directory names look like they contain software to download, even to me. On the right side of the OpenWrt main page there's another download link for the latest release. This gives another directory listing. (Apparently the correct directory is /attitude_adjustment/12.09.) Now there's a list of subdirectories that look (to me) like p

OpenWRT is so fucking easy to install and configure (easier than some consumer out-of-the-box experiences, even) that there really is no excuse if you expect a secure local network ... there is no actual technical knowledge required, just basic keyboard/mouse skills, and reading comprehension.

I think you're *wildly* overestimating the skill and confidence of the average home network user and the quality of open source project web sites. Let me walk you through the hidden minefield in your instructions. I'll use a Linksys WRT150N for reference.

The real Step 1 is "realize that I'm supposed to install OpenWrt, and understand what that means". Most users have little to no idea of how the router actually works, so the idea of upgrading the firmware is not an obvious one.

But let's say someone tells them to do it. They go to the OpenWrt web site. The second sentence under "What is OpenWrt?" is "Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management.". Many users will be too terrified to proceed beyond this point. But let's say they make it to the Table of Hardware, and skip past the text about developer snapshots and hardware VLANs and the note from 2009 saying that the page might not be up to date. (That's not realistic -- many users expect to read sequentially.) Instead of a column that says "yes, this router is supported", there's a column named "Status" that gives the first OpenWrt version that supports the router. Next to that there's a column named "Version" that is undefined. I'm assuming it's the router version, but many users could get confused. But the important column is the "Target" column, which lists the specific OpenWrt platform that users should (but probably won't) remember for later. There are two targets for the WRT150N and no indication of which to choose. One of them no longer exists in the current version.

Clicking on the model number in the table gives me an unorganized series of notes from various users. One of them, "An account of flashing OpenWrt to a WRT150N", sounds sort of like installation instructions, but is too brief and technical to be of any use. It does have a working download link, but it's to a version that's five years old. The one after that suggests that one target option (the nonexistent one) is better than the other. None of this is in clear newbie-friendly language and it's all after pages of Linux log dumps. If they land on this page, most users will probably click the back button as fast as they can.

Alternately, we could do it your way:

Step 1, find out what runs on your router (at wikidevi or similar)

That's somewhat better, but they still have to read through a dense, abbreviation-heavy table of technical specs. (That's after they figure out they need to search for their router's model number and not "Linksys".) At least there's a simple indication that OpenWrt supports the router. But how would they know to go to WikiDevi? I hadn't even heard of it before today. And most importantly, how would they figure out which target to use, or even that targets exist?

step 2, download the firmware image

Now we're in for some fun! There's a download link at the top of the OpenWrt site. Clicking on it gives me a directory listing. None of the directory names look like they contain software to download, even to me. On the right side of the OpenWrt main page there's another download link for the latest release. This gives another directory listing. (Apparently the correct directory is /attitude_adjustment/12.09.) Now there's a list of subdirectories that look (to me) like p

OpenWRT is so fucking easy to install and configure (easier than some consumer out-of-the-box experiences, even) that there really is no excuse if you expect a secure local network ... there is no actual technical knowledge required, just basic keyboard/mouse skills, and reading comprehension.

I think you're *wildly* overestimating the skill and confidence of the average home network user and the quality of open source project web sites. Let me walk you through the hidden minefield in your instructions. I'll use a Linksys WRT150N for reference.

The real Step 1 is "realize that I'm supposed to install OpenWrt, and understand what that means". Most users have little to no idea of how the router actually works, so the idea of upgrading the firmware is not an obvious one.

But let's say someone tells them to do it. They go to the OpenWrt web site. The second sentence under "What is OpenWrt?" is "Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management.". Many users will be too terrified to proceed beyond this point. But let's say they make it to the Table of Hardware, and skip past the text about developer snapshots and hardware VLANs and the note from 2009 saying that the page might not be up to date. (That's not realistic -- many users expect to read sequentially.) Instead of a column that says "yes, this router is supported", there's a column named "Status" that gives the first OpenWrt version that supports the router. Next to that there's a column named "Version" that is undefined. I'm assuming it's the router version, but many users could get confused. But the important column is the "Target" column, which lists the specific OpenWrt platform that users should (but probably won't) remember for later. There are two targets for the WRT150N and no indication of which to choose. One of them no longer exists in the current version.

Clicking on the model number in the table gives me an unorganized series of notes from various users. One of them, "An account of flashing OpenWrt to a WRT150N", sounds sort of like installation instructions, but is too brief and technical to be of any use. It does have a working download link, but it's to a version that's five years old. The one after that suggests that one target option (the nonexistent one) is better than the other. None of this is in clear newbie-friendly language and it's all after pages of Linux log dumps. If they land on this page, most users will probably click the back button as fast as they can.

Alternately, we could do it your way:

Step 1, find out what runs on your router (at wikidevi or similar)

That's somewhat better, but they still have to read through a dense, abbreviation-heavy table of technical specs. (That's after they figure out they need to search for their router's model number and not "Linksys".) At least there's a simple indication that OpenWrt supports the router. But how would they know to go to WikiDevi? I hadn't even heard of it before today. And most importantly, how would they figure out which target to use, or even that targets exist?

step 2, download the firmware image

Now we're in for some fun! There's a download link at the top of the OpenWrt site. Clicking on it gives me a directory listing. None of the directory names look like they contain software to download, even to me. On the right side of the OpenWrt main page there's another download link for the latest release. This gives another directory listing. (Apparently the correct directory is /attitude_adjustment/12.09.) Now there's a list of subdirectories that look (to me) like p

OpenWRT is so fucking easy to install and configure (easier than some consumer out-of-the-box experiences, even) that there really is no excuse if you expect a secure local network ... there is no actual technical knowledge required, just basic keyboard/mouse skills, and reading comprehension.

I think you're *wildly* overestimating the skill and confidence of the average home network user and the quality of open source project web sites. Let me walk you through the hidden minefield in your instructions. I'll use a Linksys WRT150N for reference.

The real Step 1 is "realize that I'm supposed to install OpenWrt, and understand what that means". Most users have little to no idea of how the router actually works, so the idea of upgrading the firmware is not an obvious one.

But let's say someone tells them to do it. They go to the OpenWrt web site. The second sentence under "What is OpenWrt?" is "Instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, OpenWrt provides a fully writable filesystem with package management.". Many users will be too terrified to proceed beyond this point. But let's say they make it to the Table of Hardware, and skip past the text about developer snapshots and hardware VLANs and the note from 2009 saying that the page might not be up to date. (That's not realistic -- many users expect to read sequentially.) Instead of a column that says "yes, this router is supported", there's a column named "Status" that gives the first OpenWrt version that supports the router. Next to that there's a column named "Version" that is undefined. I'm assuming it's the router version, but many users could get confused. But the important column is the "Target" column, which lists the specific OpenWrt platform that users should (but probably won't) remember for later. There are two targets for the WRT150N and no indication of which to choose. One of them no longer exists in the current version.

Clicking on the model number in the table gives me an unorganized series of notes from various users. One of them, "An account of flashing OpenWrt to a WRT150N", sounds sort of like installation instructions, but is too brief and technical to be of any use. It does have a working download link, but it's to a version that's five years old. The one after that suggests that one target option (the nonexistent one) is better than the other. None of this is in clear newbie-friendly language and it's all after pages of Linux log dumps. If they land on this page, most users will probably click the back button as fast as they can.

Alternately, we could do it your way:

Step 1, find out what runs on your router (at wikidevi or similar)

That's somewhat better, but they still have to read through a dense, abbreviation-heavy table of technical specs. (That's after they figure out they need to search for their router's model number and not "Linksys".) At least there's a simple indication that OpenWrt supports the router. But how would they know to go to WikiDevi? I hadn't even heard of it before today. And most importantly, how would they figure out which target to use, or even that targets exist?

step 2, download the firmware image

Now we're in for some fun! There's a download link at the top of the OpenWrt site. Clicking on it gives me a directory listing. None of the directory names look like they contain software to download, even to me. On the right side of the OpenWrt main page there's another download link for the latest release. This gives another directory listing. (Apparently the correct directory is /attitude_adjustment/12.09.) Now there's a list of subdirectories that look (to me) like p

OpenWRT developer Felix Fietkau has something different to say:

"Quick update on this subject: Linksys has now posted a GPL source for the WRT1900AC, and it contains the wifi driver sources. It appears to me, that this driver was properly licensed under GPL, with proper license headers in all source files."

Of course, this is Linksys code so...

As I anticipated, the code quality of the driver source code is abysmal. This looks like rewrite (not cleanup) material, ugly enough to cause eye cancer or frighten small children ;)

The issue here isn't that there is no wireless support, just that it's of codethulhu quality.

From a few posts along in the thread https://lists.openwrt.org/pipe...:

Quick update on this subject: Linksys has now posted a GPL source for
the WRT1900AC, and it contains the wifi driver sources.
It appears to me, that this driver was properly licensed under GPL, with
proper license headers in all source files.

This means that work on supporting this device can theoretically
continue, although I expect it to take quite a bit of time. As I
anticipated, the code quality of the driver source code is abysmal.
This looks like rewrite (not cleanup) material, ugly enough to cause eye
cancer or frighten small children ;)

There are also still some pieces missing: Since this driver does not use
standard Linux Wireless APIs, it can only properly function with custom
hostapd/wpa_supplicant hacks. I don't see those in the release.

- Felix

Update 2: Those can be found in the OpenWrt SDK for this device on
GitHub. Same comments regarding code quality apply here.

- Felix

The link to the firmware appears to be here http://support.linksys.com/en-..., it's one of those annoying javascript-non-hyperlinks.

Can anyone more au fait with OpenWRT verify that this is correct?

See https://lists.openwrt.org/pipe...

What you need to do is to look at the available routers, and find which ones have supported chipsets and adequate flash storage and stuff.

In the 802.11n dual-band generation, the best seemed to be the Atheros AR7161 routers, such as the Netgear WNDR3800. I bought that specifically because it has robust open-source drivers for both radios, so it works smoothly with OpenWRT. It's not the fanciest, but I used 802.11g for years without problem, so it can't be that bad.

For the 802.11ac generation, I'd guess that devices with version 2 of the Qualcomm Atheros QCA-9880 might work best, such as version 2.0 of the TP-Link Archer C7, but I haven't been following it since I don't need an upgrade, yet.

Here's a link to the full patch at the mailing list who want to take a look at the code.

I agree with Andrew Johnson. Almost everyone will want a wireless router. A Linux, open-source, router was the segment that the WRT54GL filled.

It's a bit of a shame. I need a bunch of new routers with wireless support and ideally cellular support too.

It's very simple; Before you buy something you check the list of supported hardware.

• For a computer you check Ubuntu's certified hardware list
• For a phone you check Cyanogenmod's list of hardware
• For a router you check OpenWRT's list of hardware

If you buy things that aren't officially supported for any reason other than because you want to develop for or test the hardware then basically you end up wasting your time and the time of volunteers on support forums needlessly. If you decide something like "it would be fun to have unsupported hardware to play with" then you should be willing to put in lots and lots more time for experimenting and trying to fix things yourself.

According to the article, he was told it was a voluntary interrogation. At that point, he should have just taken down the names of all the officers and movie theater staff and left.

I agree with you, jot down the names and say, "No Thank You".

Or perhaps he coud have countered, tell you what I will let you look at my data, assuming you understand it belongs to me and delete it after you look at if (if downloaded) AND if you give me 3 sets of 2 free tickets to the movies of my choice in over the next year when I prove my innocence to your insane insulting claims.

Tell them to put their money where their mouth is!

The article update states that "MPAA task force" happened to be there and was the true catalyst for this illegal search (if he had not agreed to it) and seizure.

I probably would have asked them if they had a warrant, and knowing that they did not, simply said well excuse you than. I probably would never have went back to that theatre again.

I don't blame any customer for not wanting to leave their computer, laptop, tablet, handheld or google glasses in their car where they could be stolen. Even better if you can get a google glass with a prescription and he needed the glasses to see the screen!

Don't they, MPAA, know that any 'recording' of a film looks like crap when you replay it. This is true for any recording of a movie in a theatre. You can tell as someone will walk in front of you as the movie is starting or someone will be coughing or talking with no one on the screen. If I were going to use my computer's hard disk like a VCR, watch and than erase content, I would not waste my time downloading a copy that was made from any handheld device in a theatre anyway. It would be crap and I simply would not bother watching it. Instead I would find a better source.

No one is going to make a DVD copy of a movie at the theatre, while watching a movie.

Makes the MPAA task force look even stupider than their mandate identifies them to be.

Besides, it has long been proven that allowing people to view and download content (esp music and movies), only increases sales. That is old news. Of course they would imply otherwise.

They also try to make you think there are thieving bittorrent crackers living on every street, in every neighborhood, in every city, in every county, in every state and that is why the streaming content stutters and broadband bandwdith is so pathetic. When the real reason is because either the cable internet service is oversubscribed and broadband bandwidth throttled to insanely low levels.

That excuse is laughable when you think about it! There probably is not more than two/three people living in my neighborhood who know how to set up a bittorrent and use it and there are more than a dozen streets in this neighborhood. Who does the Cable company, MPAA failed policing think they are kidding? Even a technophobe when asked with that argument, sees the stupidity of it.

Get yourself a DD-WRT enabled device (firewall/router) and see your bandwidth in real time if you do not believe me. Its obvious, watch what happens when the fake speed test ends. Watch that promised 20Mb/4Mb get throttled to 100Kb/30Kb the millisecond the fake speed test finishes. This fact is why any DSL broadband is better than Cable internet, as 100% of Cable Internet providers throttle/restrict their customers bandwidth to create the scarcity myth, their pricing so desperately depends on. The dishonesty is when you pay more, they continue the throttling and resricting which should be against the law. You (customer) can only see it with an opensource, DD-WRT, tomato or OpenWRT enabled device.

As with music, we only purchase

Real Geeks are buying Ubiquiti equipment. Very reasonably priced, easy to hack the firmware, and the radios are "Amateur Friendly", meaning you can operate the radio in the Ham bands and limit the channel usage or bandwidth to stay in the ham band.

Would be nice if Ubiquitit would give back a little more.. Especially consdiering their AirOS is an OpenWRT fork ( with extras ) and their EdgeMax routers are baed on a vYatta fork ( with extras GUI added back in etc )

I was upgraded to TP-Link WR1043ND because I needed a wireless router that supports Gigabit Ethernet and has a USB port. The USB port lets me to extend the available storage space allowing the router to serves as a simple web server as well as a NAS.

Real Geeks are buying Ubiquiti equipment. Very reasonably priced, easy to hack the firmware, and the radios are "Amateur Friendly", meaning you can operate the radio in the Ham bands and limit the channel usage or bandwidth to stay in the ham band.

There's currently quite a bit of fun hackery going on with TPlink WR703n routers. See these: OpenWRT, LibraryBox, expansion hub, 3D printable case, external antenna md (PDF) or pre-modded for extra ram+flash. I'm currently trying to get HSMM-MESH going on one.

Depending on your level of trust/paranoia, you should consider the security boundary to be your app and the libraries statically linked into it. By the time it gets anywhere close to the NIC, it is out of your control.

Not necessarily. If you can't trust your computer, then as soon as you touch it, your information is out of your control.

Your home intranet isn't likely to contain much (if any) data that isn't going to the public Internet, and assuming your switches are working properly, it should not be possible for your router to see non-broadcast traffic directed towards a different device anyway. Obviously, that reasoning fails if your switch is a managed device that can be potentially reprogrammed to change the switching behavior, but that's atypical for home networks, which I thought was the main point of discussion in this thread.

Well, my home intranet has plenty of data that aren't going on the Internet.

But back to the original problem. My $50 home router does indeed have a built-in managed switch, and can be reprogramming to do port mirroring. My home router can be reprogrammed to do a lot. But that doesn't even matter. You can tell a lot from a network by using broadcast packets, such as Microsoft NetBIOS and Apple Bonjour.

The point is that a router is not just a hardware device. They're general-purpose computers. I'm in control of my router, like I'm in control of my computer. Most people aren't. The OP asked, Can Commercial Hardware Routers Be Trusted? The answer is No, and it was naive to assume otherwise.

There was enough interest to write a wiki about it (button press event). And Linux is Linux. A TFTP daemon should be trivial to setup. Beyond trivial. "Just use the DNSMasq TFTP deamon" would have been much snarkier/more accurate reply. And what? Linux seeing a mounted USB storage device is beyond the scope of...linux? Really? None of what I described are in any way "fringe" and all those things individually are covered in wiki, albeit inaccurate/incomplete.

And if it's useful to anybody the router is an Asus RT-N16. Several years old, says "works with DD-WRT" ont he actual box but still only supported in the daily builds with limited documention in this main forum thread.

I looked at OpenWRT but it doesn't support many 802.11ac routers, including my preferred one which is the Buffalo WZR-D1800H-EU. DD-WRT does fully support it though, and in fact Buffalo offers official support for many models. I didn't even know there was a subscription but the firmware I'm using was released last month.

I would buy a router, for instance TP-Link TL-WR1043ND, and install openwrt on it. Why this combo?? Because the router is well supported by openwrt, not expensive and for little power consumption you get a wide-range of possibilities. You can do lots of stuff with it if you connect a usb http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/extroot, for instance: create a rsyncd server and connect to it through ssh (replacement for dropbox and the like), create a voip server, printer server, webserver, torrent downloader(rtorrent and rutorrent), rss reader (ttrss), distributed social networking, etc. I am only running an rsyncd server, rtorrent and a webserver and it is running ok. For simple things a pc server is overkill and expensive to run. http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start .

I would buy a router, for instance TP-Link TL-WR1043ND, and install openwrt on it. Why this combo?? Because the router is well supported by openwrt, not expensive and for little power consumption you get a wide-range of possibilities. You can do lots of stuff with it if you connect a usb http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/extroot, for instance: create a rsyncd server and connect to it through ssh (replacement for dropbox and the like), create a voip server, printer server, webserver, torrent downloader(rtorrent and rutorrent), rss reader (ttrss), distributed social networking, etc. I am only running an rsyncd server, rtorrent and a webserver and it is running ok. For simple things a pc server is overkill and expensive to run. http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start .

It's a bad idea to use a netbook from the perspective of power consumption. Compared to a dedicated system (often ARM or MIPS), a netbook's going to suck up a lot of power that could be better put to other uses. I'd personally suggest getting a commercially-available router that's well-supported by OpenWRT, such as a Netgear WNDR3800.

If you must use this netbook, then your best options are probably OpenBSD or Debian (stable), depending on hardware support and what you're comfortable with.

Such as the ones used in the wifi SDCards by Transcend and PQI SD cards.

Imagine a bunch of tiny cheap linux boxes to act as meshes, dead drops, micro servers, etc...and imagine how long they'd run on a battery, or even a battery with solar!

https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=45820
http://www.keyasic.com/keyasic_sub.php?type=information&inid=24
http://hackaday.com/2013/09/19/advanced-transcend-wifi-sd-hacking-custom-kernels-x-and-firefox/

Why RPi? Do you really need that HDMI out?
You can get Ralink 350MHz MIPS modules running OpenWRT for $16 INCLUDING SHIPPING
$20 if you want fancy plastic enclusoure (HAME MPR-A1 )

http://dx.com/p/hi-link-hlk-rm04-serial-port-ethernet-wi-fi-adapter-module-blue-black-214540
http://www.hlktech.net/product_detail.php?ProId=39

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/hilink/hlk-rm04
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/hame/mpr-a1

or just get $20 TP-Link 703N like everyone else.
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr703n

Why RPi? Do you really need that HDMI out?
You can get Ralink 350MHz MIPS modules running OpenWRT for $16 INCLUDING SHIPPING
$20 if you want fancy plastic enclusoure (HAME MPR-A1 )

http://dx.com/p/hi-link-hlk-rm04-serial-port-ethernet-wi-fi-adapter-module-blue-black-214540
http://www.hlktech.net/product_detail.php?ProId=39

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/hilink/hlk-rm04
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/hame/mpr-a1

or just get $20 TP-Link 703N like everyone else.
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr703n

Why RPi? Do you really need that HDMI out?
You can get Ralink 350MHz MIPS modules running OpenWRT for $16 INCLUDING SHIPPING
$20 if you want fancy plastic enclusoure (HAME MPR-A1 )

http://dx.com/p/hi-link-hlk-rm04-serial-port-ethernet-wi-fi-adapter-module-blue-black-214540
http://www.hlktech.net/product_detail.php?ProId=39

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/hilink/hlk-rm04
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/hame/mpr-a1

or just get $20 TP-Link 703N like everyone else.
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr703n

And a lot of other brands... if those are the routers where you can replace the original firmware with a more free, openly auditable alternatives like DD-WRT, Tomato, OpenWRT or others. Or even put Cummulus in supported models. Or if you go to a more generic pc like alternative, directly putting linux or some BSD flavors.

...any idea if it'll support IPV6?

definitely not out of the box. TP-link site has a page where ipv6-ready routers are specificed, and this model isn't there.

there is a custom openWRT image for the 1043 with ipv6 support, but only with a lot of caveats by the looks.

A capable and cost-effective replacement for your aging A/B/G router.

Disclaimer: I own one. It works.

And now for some karma whoring^W^W^Wthe actual details:

You left out the most important part:

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT (12.09, r36088)
    * 1/4 oz Vodka
    * 1/4 oz Gin
    * 1/4 oz Amaretto
    * 1/4 oz Triple sec
    * 1/4 oz Peach schnapps
    * 1/4 oz Sour mix
    * 1 splash Cranberry juice
Pour all ingredients into mixing
tin with ice, strain into glass.

(Reformatted to please Slashdot's filters.)