Well, imagine you've decided to replace your router's firmware, but unfortunately DD-WRT is not compatible. While that isn't enough reason to give up, there's another possibility, and it's called OpenWrt. OpenWrt is the root on which many other projects are based (including DD-WRT itself), and although it tends to demand a little more from the user, its flexibility is simply unbeatable.
Why Consider OpenWrt?
Changing the firmware on any router is a project that shouldn't be taken lightly, however, the web offers an ever-increasing amount of documentation, combined with the experience of users themselves. The first part is always the most complicated, as it sometimes requires more aggressive commands, access to the router via telnet or SSH, and in isolated cases, modifications to the hardware. More than one has wondered if such an effort is worth it.
Personally, when I installed DD-WRT on my immortal Linksys WRT54G, I almost ruined it, but the available tutorials allowed me to bring it back from the dark side, and today I don't regret it. The router is much more stable and works as if it were the first day, despite its age. The WRT54G was a historic router for the development of alternative firmware, because the most important projects used it as a base. One of them is OpenWrt.
OpenWrt: Features and Differences
OpenWrt has been with us for more than twelve years and has served as a starting point for other initiatives, notably the aforementioned DD-WRT, Gargoyle and libreCMC. One of the main benefits of OpenWrt is its broad platform compatibility. In fact, there are already builds of OpenWrt with support to turn a Raspberry Pi into a dedicated firewall, demonstrating its potential.
Other differences to consider are philosophical: While DD-WRT has professional editions that require a license fee, OpenWrt maintains a more open profile, with no cost to the end user.
Installing OpenWrt: Not for Everyone
Now, let's not fool ourselves: Installing OpenWrt is not for everyone, its own official page admits it. Some models are so polished that the process is limited to getting the firmware and loading it through the official interface (the TP-Link TL-WDR3600 in the video is a good example of this), while in others you go to the extreme of preparing a small TFTP server (as with the 3Com 3CRWER200-75). Even so, it's not an impossible mission. With patience and good reading, anyone can do it.
