OpenWRT or DD-WRT for Netgear WNDR 4500?

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x509

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A few weeks ago I posted a question about finding a firewall that could block specific outgoing IP addresses, and one of the responses suggested a relatively low cost router running OpenWRT.

I had known about DD-WRT, so I'm wondering why there is now Open WRT. Is one better than the other? Is DD WRT no longer actively under development?

I have this Netgear router that I'm not happy with, and I don't like the firewall that is included in my Comcast cable modem, so I'm motivated to use one of these WRT packages.

Thanks in advance.
 
Try both and pick the one that works better for you. Haven't tried DD recently but in the past Open was more stable so that's what I still have running on some gear and there's no point in changing something that just works.
 
Unless you have v3 don't bother, it's Broadcom so it's closed source meaning that Netgear's firmware will be the best around.
 
diizzy said:
Unless you have v3 don't bother, it's Broadcom so it's closed source meaning that Netgear's firmware will be the best around.
Click to expand...

Dizzy,

I'm not sure I understand your comment about "v3."

Are you saying that the Netgear firmware is better than either of the WRT versions? I find the Netgear software reasonably easy to use but lacking in some important ways, notably a "real" firewall.

I need to filter on outgoing IP addresses or URLs so my "smart" TV doesn't rat me out to the manufacturer. And that's before smart TVs become a target for malware.
 
dd-wrt is the more feature rich (out of the box) firmware vs openwrt, but since openwrt is more open, you get better plugins to it. For most people I still recommend DD-WRT over OpenWRT.

i'm currently using the DD-WRT v3.0-r28548 mega (12/18/15) on mine.

As most of the newer DD-WRT's are beta, you do have to be careful, some are good, some are buggy.

You do have to see what is compatibile with your router and give it a try
 
@ x509
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_WNDR4500v1
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_WNDR4500v2
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_WNDR4500v3

The Netgear is most likely going to be better since you have a Broadcom based router unless you have v3 and most open source drivers for Broadcom are usually worse than the vendor provided ones. Mostly due to lack of documentation and drivers being made out of reverse engineering (WIP).

@ SoulWind
You couldn't be more incorrect about features and no firmware has "plugins".
 
x509 said:
I don't like the firewall that is included in my Comcast cable modem.
Click to expand...

A true cablemodem does not have a "firewall". Sounds like you got stuck with one of their POS combo units. Do yourself a favor and chuck it in the garbage (or return it to Comcast). Go out and buy a real cablemodem, preferably a Motorola 6183.
 
diizzy said:
@ x509
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_WNDR4500v1
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_WNDR4500v2
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Netgear_WNDR4500v3

The Netgear is most likely going to be better since you have a Broadcom based router unless you have v3 and most open source drivers for Broadcom are usually worse than the vendor provided ones. Mostly due to lack of documentation and drivers being made out of reverse engineering (WIP).

@ SoulWind
You couldn't be more incorrect about features and no firmware has "plugins".
Click to expand...

@diizzy Is there any way to combine the Netgear driver for the chipset with DD-WRT or are these both monolithic distributions? BTW, I have a WNDR 4500 V2.
 
You probably could but you're on your own.
Stay with stock firmware and/or get something that is supported upstream in Linux (Atheros or Mediatek).
 
x509 said:
A few weeks ago I posted a question about finding a firewall that could block specific outgoing IP addresses, and one of the responses suggested a relatively low cost router running OpenWRT.

I had known about DD-WRT, so I'm wondering why there is now Open WRT. Is one better than the other? Is DD WRT no longer actively under development?

I have this Netgear router that I'm not happy with, and I don't like the firewall that is included in my Comcast cable modem, so I'm motivated to use one of these WRT packages.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


dd-wrt is more features, some can not be combined..
you have to know what are you doing

open-wrt is more general and less features than dd-wrt

try dd-wrt if you router supported dd-wrt...

has been in dd-wrt and open-wrt for > 10 years, time goes very stealth-ly :D

if you got some questions, I can answer when my time is permitable at that time..
or
swing to dd-wrt wiki and forum...

good luck
 
diizzy said:
You probably could but you're on your own.
Stay with stock firmware and/or get something that is supported upstream in Linux (Atheros or Mediatek).
Click to expand...

stocked firmware is limited :p...
you can unleash the beast with open-wrt or dd-wrt

Broadcom is OK, theri BLOB is working mostly with a little bit tweak,
Broadcom releases GPL source code... and BLOB object files

Atheros, is OK too, but not very willingly to update theri GPL source code and their BLOB

Mediatek, is semi GPL follower, some I/O and registers are hidden and never releases their BLOB files. their GPL release is very vanilla with so many holes to patch
do not believe me? check on Mediatek support in open-wrt source code...
 
i like dd-wrt so you can "set it and forget it." if you like tinkering you may prefer open-wrt
 
@ cantalup
You're a bit off....

Broadcom is downright bad, they do not release sources that are usable.
QCA is decent, the ath10k isn't great but good for being 11ac and their SoCs have good support upstream.
Mediatek MT762*-series works really well, I run several and the WiTi board is also based on that SoC series which works fine (MMC is supposed is broken upstream ATM however).
 
diizzy said:
@ cantalup
You're a bit off....

Broadcom is downright bad, they do not release sources that are usable.
QCA is decent, the ath10k isn't great but good for being 11ac and their SoCs have good support upstream.
Mediatek MT762*-series works really well, I run several and the WiTi board is also based on that SoC series which works fine (MMC is supposed is broken upstream ATM however).
Click to expand...

I am not, since working on this area :D
Broadcom is up dan down, overall is good.

what is QCA?

mediatek is not really good, check on open-wrt suppot....

witi board is supported by mqmaker https://github.com/mqmaker/witi-openwrt
the board maker make a deal with mediatek, NOT mediatek release by themself

if you look on mqmaker github, they provides blob files that needed.

by using witi board, you do not deal with mediatek directly, mqmaker will provides blobs,
most gpio and interface are non in source codes.. please check the MT762* spec...

witi board use classical mips 1004K, that is very slow.. simple home user or very small office should be OK

iyou should get MT7623X or MT7683 that has much powerful than classical mips
 
Last edited:
sweets3450 said:
i like dd-wrt so you can "set it and forget it." if you like tinkering you may prefer open-wrt
Click to expand...

dd-wrt more tinkering, but many users has posted their configuration to reuse :D

if you look on dd-wrt, so many features can be conflicted,
you would avoid those, if you know what you are doing
 
@ cantalup

QCA is Qualcomm Atheros (since 2011)

I have no idea what you're talking about, OpenWRT supports the WiTi board among othe MT7621 platforms and support is also upstream (Linux kernel).
https://dev.openwrt.org/changeset/47845/
You also have GPIO support etc...

The MT7621 SoC pushes more than 500mbit/s (NAT) so I fail to see what you're complaining about, both Broadcom and QCA have much slower SoCs in that price range by far.
 
diizzy said:
@ cantalup

QCA is Qualcomm Atheros (since 2011)

I have no idea what you're talking about, OpenWRT supports the WiTi board among othe MT7621 platforms and support is also upstream (Linux kernel).
https://dev.openwrt.org/changeset/47845/
You also have GPIO support etc...

The MT7621 SoC pushes more than 500mbit/s (NAT) so I fail to see what you're complaining about, both Broadcom and QCA have much slower SoCs in that price range by far.
Click to expand...

openwrt support witi due on mqmaker gpl source code...
openwrt have not control.. thanks to mqmaker (witi maker....). there is still some holes that people are ignoring due no support gpl release from mediatek.



what broadcom or atheros you are comparing with MT7621?

MT7621 is damn slow mips, they put hardware acceleration on it, try to force filtering such as squid or url filtering, you will see in the correct sport..

you just see in one direction not whole roads on MT7621
as I said, get risc A8 A9 mediatek soc to get longterm demanding in the future

broadcom and Atheros has many soc solutions, which one do you refers? old or new soc solution?
 
The support is from the Linux kernel, documentation provided by Mediatek and of course some reverse engineering. Unless you're unaware of licensing you can not import (distribute) sources from SDKs into mainline and the MT7621 support was in much earlier than when MQMaker made Mediatek's SDK public. If you don't believe me, have a look when support for the D-Link DIR-860L was checked in as an example.

MT7621 is a very fast SoC in its price category, compare that to QCAs offerings (11ac is separate radio) which are single core. Broadcom isn't any better in that regard...
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Qualcomm_Atheros#.28a.29bgn_2
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Broadcom

Yes, it's slower than the ARM counterparts but support for Broadcom (again, 3rd party) is pretty much non-existant except some firmware hacks not to metion quite a bit more expensive (read 2-3 times) for such a device. QCA have their IPQ-series but just like Broadcom they're very expensive (it's cheaper to build a faster x86-box) and while support is slightly better its far som as stable as the MIPS counterpart.
 
diizzy said:
The support is from the Linux kernel, documentation provided by Mediatek and of course some reverse engineering. Unless you're unaware of licensing you can not import (distribute) sources from SDKs into mainline and the MT7621 support was in much earlier than when MQMaker made Mediatek's SDK public. If you don't believe me, have a look when support for the D-Link DIR-860L was checked in as an example.

MT7621 is a very fast SoC in its price category, compare that to QCAs offerings (11ac is separate radio) which are single core. Broadcom isn't any better in that regard...
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Qualcomm_Atheros#.28a.29bgn_2
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/Broadcom

Yes, it's slower than the ARM counterparts but support for Broadcom (again, 3rd party) is pretty much non-existant except some firmware hacks not to metion quite a bit more expensive (read 2-3 times) for such a device. QCA have their IPQ-series but just like Broadcom they're very expensive (it's cheaper to build a faster x86-box) and while support is slightly better its far som as stable as the MIPS counterpart.
Click to expand...

please read " reverse engineering"

I love working on linux people since they are very bravely on reversing
support for earlier mediatek is plain, so many holes!!, check openwrt source code and read the sources...
mqmaker make sweeten the deal!!!
without mqmaker, the support on openwrt is plain and many to patches

lol, mediatek release cheap Soc since years and years back.
I still have mediatek tablet ,that pretty old :D

I do not trust blinlyd on wikideve, 99% based on my working experiences,
wikidev is just a starting point :D

MT7621 is cheap!!!, do not believe me? ask mediatek sales reps by pretendding to buy 1000 more chips :D.. very cheap...
Broad/athe has longterm support for their release
mediatek has short tem support. let say 5 years and nada
this is the reason cheap soc always goes to consumer product that change very fast within in 1-2 year. need a better speed? buy a new one

based on my experince, broad and athe, still better than mediatek.
but mediatek can beat them with lowest price with lowest performance when many home and small office do not care as long as works.
something wrong? press reset or yank the power cord..

firmware hacks? this is reverse engineering
they should provide blob files with binary update... please check what is blob files..

MIPS is dying... RISC is away beyond MIPS
MIPS licensing is less than RISC...
you compare architecture between MIPS and RISC

company will pick MIPS for microcontroller product and pick RISC for micrprocessor product

even RISC is gready know, flooding to microcontroller product with M series... minimal Risc arch for microcontroller

this is the reason as I always tell " for running 5-7 years hardware with open source, get RISC A8 - A9 minimally".



once again... you can not compare MT7621 with old broadcom/athe...
compare with the same released generation...

refurbished broad/athe are easy to get, and cheap!!!, just pick the correct time

I stop this reply due on going further to deep in technical.

this is OOT too....
 
I have no idea what you're going on about, I clearly stated that there is quite a bit a difference in price between MIPS and ARM and MIPS still works just fine and is used for many applications. Most commercial entry mid-range routers are still MIPS and or MIPS64.

https://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/benchmark.openssl?s[]=benchmark
While OpenSSL doesn't represent "everything" it still shows that MT7621 performs well and by far better than what Broadcom and QCA offers on the MIPS platform. ARM SoCs are generally faster but also much more expensive usually more than twice without delivering performance matching what you pay.

I think you're missing the point that we're talking about "cheap" consumer hardware here, not enterprise solutions...

Feel free to show where MQMaker contributed to the OpenWRT tree.
 
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