Introduction
Setting up wireless networking can be a frustrating experience. Available commercial routers vary greatly in their implementation and standards compliance, meaning that compatability between brands of router can be problematic. There are also significant security issues in implementing WiFi netowrks, compounded by the fact that manufacturers rarely update their firmwares and dump support for routers after only a few updates.
Thankfully, there are now some great options for installing open-source software on routers so that it’s easier to have cross-compatibility and maintain up-to-date security patches. The two main open-source software stacks for WiFi routers are: OpenWRT and DD-WRT . In fact, they are related to each other, with OpenWRT providing a lot of code for DD-WRT. They also serve slightly different interests, OpenWRT is focused on providing an open and modular architecture, ideally allowing low-level access to the nuts and bolts of router features, while DD-WRT aims for simplicity of use with a consisten user interface. There are also other open firmwares with narrower scopes, for example Xwrt-Vortex , Tomato , Advanced Tomato and Gargoyle which provide enhanced features for a smaller subset of routers (generally based on the Broadcom chipsets).
