Re: [Discuss] Linux box for under $20? TRENDnet
I bought a new Netgear router earlier this year, couldn't get the time zone out of -08:00 (Pacific), even after going through five levels of technical support at Netgear. It was returned for a Cisco. Jim Gasek wrote: I love the $15 refurb netgear wireless routers. Automatically download latest firmware. Automatically enforce security/encryption. There were at least 3 choices under $20. ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [Discuss] Linux box for under $20? TRENDnet
Rich Braun wrote: On an impulse, I bought a wifi router at Microcenter a few days ago, thinking that heck for $25 I wouldn't mind have an upgrade from g to n. * The vendor supplies full GPL source code on its website * It's on the OpenWRT hardware compatibility list About 2 years ago I applied the same reasoning to buying a TRENDnet TEW-652BRP at Micro Center. Anyone else here have comments about the TRENDnet routers? I reported my experiences with the TEW-652BRP on this list back around the Fall of 2009/Winter 2010. In summary, I found that several devices on my wireless network had trouble establishing a connection, even though they worked flawlessly with the WRT54G I used previously. Additionally, my N supporting clients saw no speed improvement over the G connection they previously used. I set up the TEW-652BRP to log to another server via syslog, and over the course of the year I used it it captured kernel buffer overruns and at least a few panics, requiring restarts. Other than recommending a hard reset, TRENDnet support wasn't helpful. (Which is consistent with the level of support they provide for their IP cameras when I've tried reporting bugs or seeking workarounds for said bugs.) My WiFi network improved greatly when I switched to an ASUS RT-N16 running Tomato USB firmware. ...I found it interesting that prices for a Linux box have dropped below $20. That's novel for a device claiming to support 802.11N, but otherwise there have been several Linux-based routers at or near that price point. Several of the ASUS models that used to be popular with 3rd party firmware users were around that price. I don't yet see a reason to swap out the vendor's software for OpenWRT Likewise, I ran it stock for the time I had it deployed, but now that it is sitting on a shelf gathering dust, I ought to try loading a 3rd party firmware onto it and put it to some use. I wish Dnsmasq was designed to operate in a master/slave fail-over arrangement. If it was, I'd set it up as a backup DHCP/DNS server. -Tom -- Tom Metro Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA Enterprise solutions through open source. Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/ ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [Discuss] Linux box for under $20? TRENDnet
On Tue, 2011-11-08 at 13:46 -0500, Rich Braun wrote: On an impulse, I bought a wifi router at Microcenter a few days ago, thinking that heck for $25 I wouldn't mind have an upgrade from g to n. Now I see you can get this for $19.99. Hi Rich, Do you have a model number for this device? -Chris ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [Discuss] Linux box for under $20? TRENDnet
On Tue, 8 Nov 2011, Rich Braun wrote: On an impulse, I bought a wifi router at Microcenter a few days ago, thinking that heck for $25 I wouldn't mind have an upgrade from g to n. Now I see you can get this for $19.99. It plugged right in and did what I want out of the box. Why bother posting such a pedestrian purchase to this list? Here were the surprises: * My P3 Kill-A-Watt reports 1 watt (vs. WRT-54G, 5 watts) * The vendor supplies full GPL source code on its website * It's on the OpenWRT hardware compatibility list I don't yet see a reason to swap out the vendor's software for OpenWRT but I found it interesting that prices for a Linux box have dropped below $20. Admittedly, it's only a 400MHz CPU with only 32Mb of RAM, but it does have 5 100Mbit Ethernet ports and firmware that, off the shelf, does more than my old faithful Linksys. Amazon reviews for the product are lukewarm but I suspect most of them are for early hardware revs. Anyone else here have comments about the TRENDnet routers? I have a couple of these. On the positive side, they are the only cable/dsl routers I have seen with the ability to set a default deny firewall rule. On the negative side, I wasn't able to figure out how to set firewall rules without help - there is no explanation and the menus are confusing and obscure. Among a score of similar devices, this is the only one I had any trouble with. Dan -rich ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [Discuss] Linux box for under $20? TRENDnet
Daniel Feenberg feenb...@nber.org noted: I wasn't able to figure out how to set firewall rules without help - there is no explanation and the menus are confusing and obscure. The unit I bought /seems/ straightforward in this respect: left nav Access-Firewall Rule takes you to a list of rules that you can insert/remove (and enable/disable) with the standard fields (name, allow/deny, source iprange, dest iprange, dest port, protocol). Not exactly the latest-greatest iptables but it doesn't seem confusing. The manual and context-sensitive help, of course, don't go into any examples of what rules you might want to have--that knowledge is an assumed prerequisite. Firmware rev is 3.00b13. -rich ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
