Does anyone use DD-WRT

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I was just curious about this. I saw this after looking up information about using a router to connect to another router like a link/relay. A tutorial mentioned WDS and if your router doesn't have such a feature, it's possible to install custom firmware on it. It mentioned DD-WRT and then I wondered if it was a good idea to use it.

Honestly I don't know much about it after visiting the website. Basically it's open source linux based and supposed to have features accessible that would be locked by the hardware/software maker. (obviously like any custom firmware for game consoles.) I looked and it shows that the router I currently own is compatible for the firmware but still wonder if anyone would know from personal experience what it could be used for that common ones wouldn't already do.

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[Originality]

It’s more for power users that want to fine tune and tweak the functions of their router, as opposed to average consumers who want to plug it in and forget about it.

Whilst I haven’t used DD-WRT myself, I have used customised firmware (Merlin) on my home router and it has allowed me to enable a few new security features for my home network, as well as fine tune the antenna strength to suit my home (I use two APs, so by reducing the strength it reduces cross-talk and actually makes it easier to keep a signal in the house). The reverse would also be possible - pumping more power into the antenna to boost your signal strength.

It’s best to read up on the features offered for your particular router and look up reviews for people’s experiences.

 

[JustCause]

What kind of Router do you have? If you have an ASUS router I would suggest checking out Asuswrt-Merlin instead.

 

[notimp]

I buy every router, dependent on if its tomato or DD-WRT compatible. So yes. Highly recommended.

DD-WRT might be a bit much to get into from the start, you'll be looking up almost every single option to begin with, but with some reading its entirely doable.

tomato was far easier to get into - but sadly shibby has stopped doing builds (good resource in the past ( http://tomato.groov.pl ), and I'm currently unsure of who picked up the baton, and carries it forward, you'd have to do some googling.

The "hard" part (after you've learned the basics) is always, to find instructions/tutorials and the firmware images for your specific router. Ons some its easy, on some its harder. Also - on some routers you might loose transfer speed (at least in the past, as some instruction sets might be proprietary, and as chipsets changed to arm based solutions, the open source community took a wile to catch up.) but you essentially get "professional" router functionality in return. Meaning it doesnt stop at consumer grade stuff, it gives you everything you possibly could need (depending on the flashsize of your router.. ).

Its complex, but therein lies its charm..

In the past, I've bought certtain used routers for 20 USD, connected a harddrive to them, and had a fully fledged NAS going for 70 USD (transferspeeds usually limited to 5-10 MB/s over the network.) - and a torrent client running on it 24/7, and an ftp client, and a VPN client, and QOS, and specific routing tables, and I limited the signal strength for the WLAN to be really crappy outside of my building, and if it should hang some time - often its sufficient to just telnet in and restart the router remotely. Again it gives you everything you possibly could need.