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Ask Slashdot: Best Open Source Project For a Router/Wi-Fi Access Point?

Posted by timothy on from the what's-the-nsa's-least-favorite dept.

An anonymous reader writes "My wireless router just died. I have an old netbook lying around that has a wired network interface and a wireless one. The wireless card is supported in master mode by Linux, FreeBSD, and OpenBSD. What does Slashdot recommend I use to turn it into a router/wireless access point? DD-WRT? pfSense? Smoothwall? Fedora/Ubuntu/OpenBSD with a manual configuration? I'm not afraid of getting my hands dirty and I know what I'm doing, but I want as close to zero maintenance as possible."

10 of 193 comments (clear)

  1. DD-WRT on Buffalo hardware by AmiMoJo · · Score: 5, Informative

    If you want something powerful but maintenance free then DD-WRT on dedicated router hardware is the way to go. Running an ARM system-on-chip without active cooling and everything on flash memory is going to be far more reliable than any kind of PC set up. DD-WRT does pretty much anything you want and you can get a root shell if you want.

    For what it's worth I prefer Buffalo hardware. It's robust and performs well.

    --
    const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
    SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    1. Re:DD-WRT on Buffalo hardware by agoodm · · Score: 5, Informative

      A properly configured and set up PC based router with appropriate active or passive cooling will be more reliable than ARM SoC based solutions due to the additional speed providing additional routing capacity. Most SoC solutions ive seen have insufficient power for reliable operation under anything more than a moderate load. Source: I manufacture and install PC based routers in places where ordinary routers are becoming unstable

    2. Re:DD-WRT on Buffalo hardware by mellon · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I'm a little bit surprised to see DD-WRT getting such prominent billing. I've been using OpenWRT very happily for a long time, and had trouble getting DD-WRT to do what I want. It's possible that things have changed since I last investigated, of course.

      I'm a bit biased in that I wanted something hackable; I've been able to make packages for OpenWRT and have them work with very little effort, and even been able to debug stuff under gdb on the router. This is probably also possible with DD-WRT, but when I investigated, OpenWRT seemed clearly easier to develop on. Building the router image from source was dead easy; customizing it was easy with "make menuconfig" and building packages within the build tree (with support for the packages in "make menuconfig") was easily done as well.

      My point here isn't to say "don't use DD-WRT," because I have nothing bad to say about it; rather it is that it's worth considering OpenWRT as well. Personally I've had a lot of success with it, and recommend it highly as a development router OS.

  2. pfSense by kroby · · Score: 5, Informative

    pfSense is a great open source router distro and should have no problem running on your net book. However, Sophos UTM/Astaro Security Gateway is a commercial product that is free for personal use. I recommend it if you need any UTM features such as gateway AV, IPS/IDS, Spam Filtering, and centrally managed AV.

  3. OpenWRT by Knuckx · · Score: 5, Insightful

    OpenWRT Attitude Adjustment 12.04; loads of packages available from official repositories, nice webinterface, and no commercial side selling product activation keys for certain features (like DD-WRT).

  4. Consider a Microtik Router? by mysqlbytes · · Score: 5, Informative

    I recently got a Microtik router running RouterOS, and I have to say I love it functionality at it's price point. Even supports BGP if you are that way inclined. My DSL was annoying me, so I turned it to bridged mode, and now the new router does everything else. NAT seems faster, with pings being 3ms quicker which I was astonished at. My other idea was an old desktop running linux, but I worked out the pricing for hardware vs electricity. And within a year (in Ireland) I am going to save money with the Microtik router. The router uses about 7W fully loaded, whereas my desktop would be churning 250 watts fully loaded... This is my one: http://routerboard.com/RB2011UAS-2HnD-IN

  5. Fix possible? by jones_supa · · Score: 5, Insightful

    My wireless router just died.

    Well, can it be fixed? Maybe it's just a dead AC/DC transformer or blown cap.

  6. Just get a router by SQLGuru · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Using an old laptop as a router isn't the most efficient use of your resources (time, money, energy, etc.). Sure, it can be done......but a router can be had for around $20 that is probably as good or better (I'm assuming your old laptop is at least 5 years old and probably G at best). Spending more would get you a better router (and if you shop around, even open-source compatible), but if the goal is to go on the cheap (assumed because you want to reuse a laptop), I'd still get a stand-alone router.

    But if you insist on going that route, go with Linux and manual configuration. Then you can use the laptop for other things as well. Print server, web server, etc.

    But in the end, giving the laptop to a group such as this: http://www.interconnection.org/ is better use of the technology.

  7. Re:zero maintenance by dugancent · · Score: 5, Informative

    TomatoUSB is another option. I prefer it over DD-WRT personally, but they are both good options.

    --
    SJWs are the new boogeyman. -Me
  8. Re:zero maintenance by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Agreed. I use the Shibby branch on my ASUS RT-N16. Been running strong about 2 years with no problems.

    http://tomato.groov.pl/