[kwlug-disc] what is the perfect openWRT router?

[Khalid Baheyeldin]

Going back to the original thread subject.

These are the routers that I researched, and what is available on the
market for what I think is a reasonable budget ($100 or less). Of course,
there are others.

All have Gigabit Ethernet, Wireless N, and USB. Some have more USB ports
than others.

Flash memory size is important, the more the better, and some degree of
future proofing, as OpenWRT gets bigger. Also RAM is important, since
OpenWRT uses a portion of it as a filesystem. Also allows you to run
applications.

D-Link DIR-835
=========
The one I have working at home now
Has 16MB flash, and 128 MB RAM and 1 x USB

Disadvantages: support is in snapshots, which is a moving target, so at
times you may find packages missing.

$90 regular price, on sale now for $80
http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/d-link-d-link-dual-band-wireless-n750-gigabit-router-dir-835-dir-835/10195576.aspx

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/d-link/dir-835

TP-Link WDR-4300
===========
$70
Has 8MB flash, and 128 MB RAM, 2 x USB

The 2 USBs mean that you can have one hard disk attached and configure
minidlna on it for your TV/tablet to stream, and the other USB can have
flash storage for other neat things (which I will cover in the August
presentation)

Less flash RAM than the first one, so may get tight in the future

Many hardware versions though. Some versions have support in the latest
stable version (12.09)

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/tp-link-tp-link-n750-dual-band-wireless-gigabit-router-tl-wdr4300-tl-wdr4300/10219154.aspx

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr4300

TP-Link TL-WDR3600
============
$59
Has 8MB flash, and 128 MB RAM, 2 x USB

Again, the 2 USBs mean same as previous.

Less flash RAM than the first one, so may get tight in the future

All versions seem to have support in latest stable (12.09), which makes it
predictable.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/tp-link-tp-link-wireless-n600-dual-band-gigabit-router-tl-wdr3600-tl-wdr3600/10230126.aspx

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr3600

TP-Link TL-WR1043ND
=============
$52
Has 8MB flash, and 32 MB RAM, 1 x USB

Seems not a good price performance ratio, since for less than $10 more you
get double the RAM.

Many hardware versions, with various support.

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/tp-link-tp-link-wireless-n-router-tl-wr1043nd-tl-wr1043nd/10157821.aspx

http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr1043nd
-- 
Khalid M. Baheyeldin
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