openwrt: what routers just plain ***work***?

[Jamon Camisso]

On 5/14/09 11:53 AM, Giles Orr wrote:
> 2009/5/14 Robert P. J. Day<rpjday-L09J2beyid0N/H6P543EQg at public.gmane.org>:
>>   i'm currently waxing philosophical on the openwrt users mailing
>> list, bitching about the fact that there's no simple list of
>> commercially available routers that just plain *work* with a 2.6-based
>> build of openwrt.  and by "work," i mean out of the box, install
>> openwrt and wireless magically comes up and works properly and you're
>> off to the races.
>>
>>   there always appear to be some caveats:
>>
>>   * a linksys wrt54gl is great, as long as you run a 2.4 kernel to
>>     get wireless
>>
>>   * another router might have working wireless but it's not stable,
>>     which i interpret as "not working".
>>
>>   * another router will work fine as long as you replace the broadcom
>>     wireless card with an atheros
>>
>>   * the router comes with USB ports, but USB support isn't quite there
>>
>> and so on, and so on.  which inspires a simple question -- can anyone
>> here point to an off-the-shelf router on which you can install openwrt
>> that just ***works***?  ideally, i'd like:
>>
>>   * a router that takes the latest 2.6 version of openwrt -- i have no
>>     interest in regressing to 2.4 to get working wireless, as you need
>>     to do on the wrt54gl
>>
>>   * has at least one USB 2.0 port that works
>>
>> there's supposed to be a new release -- 8.09.1 -- out tomorrow and
>> that might solve a bunch of issues but has anyone on this list found a
>> router that works?  thanks.
>
> What I've read suggests that making the list you want is extremely
> difficult because manufacturers quietly and sometimes frequently
> change the chips in their routers - often without bothering to change
> the router name or even part or version number.  Thus we have lists
> that say things like "Bonehead wireless router X5 (with red
> faceplate)" because the faceplate is actually the easiest way to
> distinguish the chipset!
>
> Yes, it's a pain in the ass to navigate the lists.  Remember that
> you're intentionally bypassing the manufacturer's intentions, and
> usually voiding the warranty.  Let me re-state: they don't want you to
> do this, and do not feel compelled to make it easy.
>
> All that said, I'm with you: I wish that list existed.  :-)
>

Why does it have to be OpenWRT? DD-WRT have a great list of compatible 
hardware: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices The 
ASUS WL500x routers with USB are supposed to be quite good.

I use fixmlppp on my wrt54gl, it is based on Tomato, which is itself 
another good firmware.

Jamon
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