[GTALUG] teksavvy dsl 2 modem that runs OpenWRT

[D. Hugh Redelmeier]

| From: Christopher Browne <cbbrowne at gmail.com>

| I'm a bit suspicious that OpenWRT isn't sufficiently supported by "staffing"
| (of whatever sort) to keep up with the normal flow of new router hardware
| (there's naturally going to be new stuff, as all the vendors need to sell
| something new next year).

My impression is that:

- reverse engineering is slower than new gadgets get adopted.
  Broadcom is very bad for open source.  Atheros has been much better
  (at least until it was bought by Qualcomm).

- it appears that support for NAND flash is not mainstreamed in OpenWRT.  
  Yet that seems to be the future direction of hardware.

  (technical sketch: ordinary old flash can be written a word at a
  time, kind of like RAM (but more slowly).  NAND can only be zeroed a
  large block at a time.  And NAND flash is much shorter-lived.  (But
  it is cheaper and more dense.) So you need layer of software to do
  wear-leveling and to create an abstraction that kind of looks like a
  disk.  There are several competing systems to do that.  UBI is one
  that is being adopted for some OpenWRT projects.)

- lots of OpenWRT work is itch-scratching.  It often involves git
  commits but not wiki updates.  So if you care about a device, google
  for it + openwrt.  There are often postings about work in progress,
  sometimes even completed.

- turn it around: buy hardware that is known to be good for OpenWRT.
  Unfortunately, buying stuff that does not support the latest
  standards is a bit discouraging.  The CeroWRT folks (downstream from
  OpenWRT, and very interesting) only support the NetGear WNDR3700v2
  and equivallent -- no support for 802.11ac.

  The TP-Link Archer C7 v2 looks good, cheap, and might be supported.
  Beware: the v1's wireless will never be supported; the C8 is not as
  good, more expensive, and isn't supported (it has the same Broadcom
  chip as is in my Netgear R6300v2).

	<http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr7500>
	<http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/32498-tp-link-archer-c7-v2-reviewed>

So why did I buy the Broadcom-based Netgear R6300v2?

I was bargain hunting and in a hurry.  I read the OpenWRT thread on
the Netgear R6300v2 and didn't read to the end; it looked as if
support had just appeared.  And the raw hardware of the Netgear looked
much better than the TP-Link: 8 times as much flash, lots more ram,
much faster processor, USB3.  I failed to notice that the actual
wireless performance wasn't quite as good.

The final hook was that I was buying a somewhat cheaper model than an
R6300v2 and upgrading it by flashing.  I thought I was getting away
with something.

I had actually started with a Future Shop / Best Buy bargain on the
TP-Link C7 (for a v2, but that wasn't in the specs.) but they ran out
of stock.

The FS/BB blow-out might be a sign that the c7 is being replaced by
the inferior c8.  Get'em while you can.