
Linksys resurrects classic blue router, with open source and $300 price - chaostheory
http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/01/linksys-resurrects-classic-blue-router-with-open-source-and-300-price/
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noonespecial
The magic wasn't just the hack-ability, it was the $69 price. In a world
dominated by $1000 desktop pcs, having a $69 linux minion as your home router
was appealing.

There's just no place for it today at $300! The market is full of $25 TP-Links
and Ubiquiti's that can do the same. Even full-on netbooks are cheaper.

~~~
simoncion
This is true. As a broke-ass college student, I would never have picked up my
little WRT54 if it wasn't cheap. Leave it to Cisco to completely misunderstand
the low end of the market...

As an aside, where are you finding Ubiquiti APs for under $50? Craigslist?

~~~
mcgwiz
Belkin bought Linksys, so they're the ones to blame, not Cisco.

I'm wondering if there's still marketability in stackable form. Do they even
have switches of compatible footprint? Although I always dreamed of the day
I'd stack my router on a switch from the same line to create a beautiful
networking statue on my desk, I always deferred to price and other features
when making purchasing decisions.

~~~
abcd_f
You guys are comparing apples to oranges.

I would rather have a $300 fully open source, hackable device than a $50
locked down box, which is what recent WRT models were. Belkin's price is off,
but they inherently get "it", they aren't afraid of letting their devices go
and this is _awesome_.

~~~
simoncion
I agree that most anything is better than an underpowered $50 locked down box.
However, I suspect that the thing that Belkin gets is that they can charge a
_substantial_ premium for a Linux-compatible router/AP.

Belkin seems to be charging a 2 to 3x premium when compared to comparable
dual-band 802.11ac routers. _If_ this work results in wider 802.11ac support
in OpenWRT et al., then this will be _awesome_. If not, then Belkin is selling
a decent bit of kit, but you'd probably be better off hanging up a Ubiquiti AP
and using a tiny PC for routing.

------
wmf
I prefer this article [http://semiaccurate.com/2014/01/06/linksys-wrt1900ac-
spritua...](http://semiaccurate.com/2014/01/06/linksys-wrt1900ac-spritual-
successor-wrt54g/) since it give some hints about why this thing costs $300 —
if it has an Avoton Atom and 4GB of RAM it's more of a home server being sold
as a router.

I have been pretty disappointed by the hackability of routers since they
usually come with hardly enough RAM and flash to even perform basic duties, so
even though alternate firmwares exist you probably have to strip them down to
almost no features which negates the point. This router should be one of the
few exceptions, being designed with extra hardware resources that can be used
by hackers.

~~~
chaud
I'm not sure where they got the idea that it has 4GB of RAM or an Atom CPU.
The press release ([http://www.linksys.com/en-
us/press/releases/2014-01-06_Links...](http://www.linksys.com/en-
us/press/releases/2014-01-06_Linksys_wrt_revolutionizes_wireless_networking))
says it has 256MB of RAM, and every other site says the CPU is ARM based.

~~~
reirob
I guess directly from the linked article: "[..] RAM is a generous 4Gb so it
shouldn’t choke on lots of open sockets like lesser devices. [..]"

~~~
simoncion
It doesn't take GBs of RAM to handle boatloads of open sockets. My 54GS with
32MB of RAM would handle multiple wired machines running torrent clients
without any slowdown (when running a 2.4.x kernel).

------
tiatia
Best router?

[http://www.fritzbox.eu/en/products/FRITZBox_Fon_WLAN_7390/in...](http://www.fritzbox.eu/en/products/FRITZBox_Fon_WLAN_7390/index.php)

specs [PDF]
[http://www.fritzbox.eu/Datenblaetter/AVM_FRITZBox_7390_en.pd...](http://www.fritzbox.eu/Datenblaetter/AVM_FRITZBox_7390_en.pdf)

with this OS [http://freetz.org/](http://freetz.org/)

------
cyberjunkie
My dream of owning a reasonably affordable ADSL router (with support for
custom firmwares) is never going to be fulfilled.

~~~
dingaling
I'd recommend you decouple the ADSL requirement, shunt that into a bridged
modem. It's not a native router function and if you move to VDSL or DOCSIS
then you'll need a separate modem anyhow.

Then you've much more choice as the market offers many capable routers ( like
the one we're discussing ) that can terminate PPPoE.

~~~
nobodyshere
+1 to that concept. I decoupled my equipment so now ADSL is run by a cheap but
stable 1-port Zyxel modem and home routing is handled by time capsule. As for
LinkSys, their adsl routers haven't been the best for me lately. Whenever I
connected about 3 wireless clients to WAG320N, it started to freak out and
show serious lags and sometimes it just hangs. No more same device
ADSL+routing for me.

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pwenzel
It's funny to read about peoples' experience with the WRT54GL in the past-
tense.

I bought mine for $65 in 2006, and it's still running great in 2014!

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kayoone
the WRT54 was awesome, i loved mine running tomato firmware. For $300, i would
never have considered it though.

------
tbarbugli
linksys routers are piece of shit; cant believe this people are still in biz
with all the crap they sell...

~~~
simoncion
You must never have used the WRT54GS or WRT54G. Or, if you did, perhaps you
stuck with the stock firmware? Oh well. The reputation of those models is not
undeserved.

