Third Party Router Firmware

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jchauncey86

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A while back I read an article about a comparison between I think it was 2 different third party router firmwares. I cant remember which magazine ran this article. Does anyone know? I know Tomato was one of the firmwares but I cant remember the other one.

Also, if any of you know anything about third party firmware for routers I would like some advice to. Pros and cons of using it and what your experiences with it and whatnot are. Thanks.
 
odds are you're talking about Tomato vs. DD-WRT. Tomato favors usability over richness of features, doesn't require as many reboots, has better QoS traffic shaping, better visual bandwidth monitoring and is easier to install. DD-WRT packs on the features (especially on the advanced end) and lets you tweak far more, but has a slower GUI and requires reboots on every config change. DDWRT has a more complicated install procedure that puts people in fear of bricking their routers, and has been said to be less stable (requires reboots every few days).

Might be relevant to note that Tomato has released updates more recently than DD-WRT (DD-WRT updated about 10 months ago, Tomato 1 month ago), and that the Tomato reviews on most sites are for really early versions, ~1.09 or so, while the most recent release is 1.25. DD-WRT reviews and comparisons are typically for v24, which released over a year ago, rather than the v24 SP1 release.
 
DD-WRT does not require reboots after every config change and on most routers the flash is just as easy as tomato...it is simply upload a firmware file and go. The ones that need more work need more work for tomato as well.............

DD-WRT has more features and is a bit more heavy weight though. Tomato is lightweight and has better QoS and Bandwidth monitor features.

If you can get done what you want in Tomato it is usually the way to go. DD-WRT has the adv. features though.
 
There are quite a few alternate firmwares.....DD-WRT has the highest visibility, Tomato is another popular one. Some others...Hyper-WRT, Sveasoft/Talisman, Alchemy, Phoenix, X-WRT, MustDie, and a few others.

As said above, DD-WRT has some versions with many features...most features the average home user will never touch/use/even begin to look at. You generally get improved stability, as a little better performance.

Tomato is a lean mean more barebones firmware, more lightweight. I use it at home, I find it more stable than DD....as far as the wireless goes...never have to reboot it. DD on the other hand...once in a while I'd have to bounce it to get my wireless clients to connect again. And with DD, I find when making changes to settings on it...it annoyingly wants to reboot almost every time you apply/save a change. Gets annoying. But if you want more VPN features 'n stuff...DD is the way to go, they have a VPN version

A good article to read about performance...and remove some of the "myths"
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/30437/55/
 
When will DD-WRT or Tomato work with the WRT160NL? It looks interesting
 
jchauncey86 said:
Oh ok so those would just be for the linksys routers then. I have a netgear rangemax wpn824
Click to expand...

Not necessarily, both support a fair amount of non-linksys routers. DD-WRT in particular supports a ton of devices.
 
For those asking about compatibility with different devices, each firmware has a complete compatibility list available on their respective website.
Or just google the router name + the firmware and you are bound to get the information you are looking for.

Basic internet knowledge... ;)
Posted via [H] Mobile Device
 
I personally use Tomato on my Buffalo WHR-HP-54 whatever...I don't remember the letter order. I used dd-wrt. The thing that sort of turned me off about it was when issues and questions about the validity of it operating in compliance with the GPL under which it was published. I looked for alternatives and found tomato which has all of the features that I really need and use.
 
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