How to install DD-WRT firmware
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Considering how difficult it can be to install this at times, If you don't find specific instructions, I would not even try it.
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If it's not on the approved list then I'd be wary of bricking it. Check out Tomato instead of DD-WRT. The procedure itself is pretty simple. Just TFTP in and upload the firmware.
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@Nic said:
If it's not on the approved list then I'd be wary of bricking it. Check out Tomato instead of DD-WRT. The procedure itself is pretty simple. Just TFTP in and upload the firmware.
Honestly, the DD-WRT should be avoided at all times. DD-WRT is fine for home users and tinkerers, but not for IT. Even at home.
As @scottalanmiller puts it, do IT at home.
That means using the same gear that you use in the office.
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@JaredBusch said:
@Nic said:
If it's not on the approved list then I'd be wary of bricking it. Check out Tomato instead of DD-WRT. The procedure itself is pretty simple. Just TFTP in and upload the firmware.
Honestly, the DD-WRT should be avoided at all times. DD-WRT is fine for home users and tinkerers, but not for IT. Even at home.
As @scottalanmiller puts it, do IT at home.
That means using the same gear that you use in the office.
Other then "do IT at home", why would you avoid DD-WRT, it is a far more stable firmware then what is generally available on SOHO routers. It also offers many enterprise features at a fraction of the price of "enterprise" gateways.
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@coliver said:
Other then "do IT at home", why would you avoid DD-WRT, it is a far more stable firmware then what is generally available on SOHO routers. It also offers many enterprise features at a fraction of the price of "enterprise" gateways.
Is it really a fraction of the price of enterprise routers? Enterprise routers start at $85 will full, official support. No need to risk bricking something and no need to use low quality hardware. No need to switch the OS. Yes, you can save a buck or two, but not enough to matter.
And there is huge value in having enterprise gear at home for your career, there is no value to have DD-WRT at home other than the fun of trying to get it to work if you are an embedded systems hobbyist.
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DD-WRT is definitely better than a standard SOHO router (except several are now starting to ship with it, it's become a standard SOHO OS offering today.) But "than a standard SOHO router" is the problem. That's already not advised. The same advice that says not to use the hardware on which DD-WRT can go cascades down to suggest that DD-WRT itself isn't therefore very useful.
It's a great project by the people who do it and if you already own old gear and you just are really interested in seeing what you can do with it, hey, great. But in this day and age where top end gear is cheaper than the average SOHO router.... just avoid that whole situation.
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@coliver see @scottalanmiller's answers above. I happen to agree with both.
You can buy things like the Ubiquiti ERL for less than $100.
It may not have built in WiFi, but then again following the do IT at home thing, I have a separate AP anyway.
I have nothing against DD-WRT in a home enthusiast environment.
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@JaredBusch said:
@coliver see @scottalanmiller's answers above. I happen to agree with both.
You can buy things like the Ubiquiti ERL for less than $100.
It may not have built in WiFi, but then again following the do IT at home thing, I have a separate AP anyway.
I have nothing against DD-WRT in a home enthusiast environment.
Ditto ^^
It's so cheap and so valuable, for everyone from entry level newbies in IT (or students who want to be in IT) to seasoned pros to run enterprise gear at home that there just isn't a good reason not to. Use DD-WRT if you are doing it for the love of doing it, but outside of doing it for its own sake, avoid it.
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I'm working from my brother in law's house and he has dedicated to using these hobby class consumer units. His wireless is never stable, things are always flaky. We had our Ubiquiti gear with us and popped it in place and suddenly everything works. The router is stable, the wireless goes everywhere instead of having all kinds of dead spots. So much better.
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Ubiquiti rocks - mine is rock solid at home and covers not only the whole house, but I still get signal half way down the block.
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@Nic said:
Ubiquiti rocks - mine is rock solid at home and covers not only the whole house, but I still get signal half way down the block.
Same here. I went from not being able to get it everywhere in the house to being able to sit in my car at the far side of a parking lot and still getting it!
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@JaredBusch said:
@coliver see @scottalanmiller's answers above. I happen to agree with both.
You can buy things like the Ubiquiti ERL for less than $100.
It may not have built in WiFi, but then again following the do IT at home thing, I have a separate AP anyway.
I have nothing against DD-WRT in a home enthusiast environment.
Right, it sounded like you had some kind of vendetta against the software. The Ubiquiti equipment is fairly new so many people that I see using DD-WRT, including myself, didn't have that as an option when it was installed. I would be purchasing it now, as I did for my AP. For people who are enthusiasts or looking for some things with a comparable feature set at a reduced price, eBay has lots of compatible devices for 20-30$, DD-WRT fits the bill. I'm not defending my decision by any means, just stating that it is a good option to have.
I did get a Unifi LR AP for my house because they worked so well at work.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@coliver said:
Other then "do IT at home", why would you avoid DD-WRT, it is a far more stable firmware then what is generally available on SOHO routers. It also offers many enterprise features at a fraction of the price of "enterprise" gateways.
Is it really a fraction of the price of enterprise routers? Enterprise routers start at $85 will full, official support. No need to risk bricking something and no need to use low quality hardware. No need to switch the OS. Yes, you can save a buck or two, but not enough to matter.
And there is huge value in having enterprise gear at home for your career, there is no value to have DD-WRT at home other than the fun of trying to get it to work if you are an embedded systems hobbyist.
And Pfsense & VyOS are enterprise routers if you have the hardware. and who doesn't have an extra pc?
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@thecreativeone91 said:
And Pfsense & VyOS are enterprise routers if you have the hardware. and who doesn't have an extra pc?
Great options.
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VyOS is the open source derivative of Vyatta, that runs on the Ubiquiti gear too.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@coliver said:
Other then "do IT at home", why would you avoid DD-WRT, it is a far more stable firmware then what is generally available on SOHO routers. It also offers many enterprise features at a fraction of the price of "enterprise" gateways.
Is it really a fraction of the price of enterprise routers? Enterprise routers start at $85 will full, official support. No need to risk bricking something and no need to use low quality hardware. No need to switch the OS. Yes, you can save a buck or two, but not enough to matter.
And there is huge value in having enterprise gear at home for your career, there is no value to have DD-WRT at home other than the fun of trying to get it to work if you are an embedded systems hobbyist.
And Pfsense & VyOS are enterprise routers if you have the hardware. and who doesn't have an extra pc?
I wasn't thinking about these, also great options.
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@coliver said:
I wasn't thinking about these, also great options.
Those are what I personally ran prior to the Ubiquiti equipment. pfSense was my personal preference. I have never ran DD-WRT simply because I have always been in the do IT at home mindset. Even before I knew it was a mindset
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@JaredBusch said:
@coliver said:
I wasn't thinking about these, also great options.
Those are what I personally ran prior to the Ubiquiti equipment. pfSense was my personal preference. I have never ran DD-WRT simply because I have always been in the do IT at home mindset. Even before I knew it was a mindset
LOL, same here.
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@JaredBusch said:
@coliver said:
I wasn't thinking about these, also great options.
Those are what I personally ran prior to the Ubiquiti equipment. pfSense was my personal preference. I have never ran DD-WRT simply because I have always been in the do IT at home mindset. Even before I knew it was a mindset
I ran pfSense as a firewall between my virtual environment and the rest of my network when I was doing that. Never had the spare hardware to run it dedicated for the rest of my network.
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If it's not in their router database on the dd-wrt website, it's not supported. Sorry. They have every exact model they support listed. Trust me.
