Views : 85,002
Genre: Science & Technology
Date of upload: Dec 13, 2023 ^^
Rating : 4.988 (15/5,100 LTDR)
RYD date created : 2024-05-14T16:28:33.31746Z
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Top Comments of this video!! :3
Cannot recommend OpenWRT enough.
I bought a number of Meraki routers at a city auction a few years ago for like $5 each. If I wanted to use the built-in Cisco firmware I would have had to pay a yearly license fee. Thanks to OpenWRT I was able to flash them (needed a UART) and actually use them in my and other family members' homes.
Also was pretty straightforward to setup WireGuard between them so we could share a Jellyfin server. Could not recommend enough.
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The easiest approach to test out OpenWRT is generally to have a different router available just in case your experiment goes awry. A cheap router that performs basic functions can be had for less than $30. Think of it as an emergency failback for that one time your ideas didn't pan out.
If you don't, be sure to at least know how to hook your smart phone up to your computer and use it that way- before you start.
The more you experiment, the more likely you'll need a failback.
Word of advice: LUCI ( the interface used by OpenWRT ) is set so that if you lose connectivity when making changes, just wait 90 seconds and it should revert back... Don't panic and reset the box or pull the power plug.. WAIT.
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Great coverage on OpenWRT! I've had nothing but a great experience running it on a cheap TP-Link Archer A7, and it is a dream compared to the other junk firmware that comes with consumer routers. Also, the front-end (LuCI) is incredible! It's relatively easy to install as well, I would highly suggest anyone with a spare router should absolutely install this and give it a shot! It's my main router right now and no problems in the slightest.
It's the only software that's ever inspired me to join their community forum and try to contribute! Crazy.
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The latest firmware kinda bit me earlier this year. The firmware I had from TP-Link was dropping connection every hour or so. I found OpenWRT, flashed my router, and it has been stable since then.
I had to buy a second hotspot for 2.4 ghz because the routers 2.4 ghz chip is closed source... So that was less than ideal. But I still didn't have to buy a whole new router. I'm super impressed with OpenWRT so far.
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Impeccable timing, literally earlier today I brought up OpenWRT in my workplace, we ended up flashing a small stack of decommissioned and discontinued APs with it. I got off my shift from doing that an hour and a half ago, that makes it roughly thirty minutes after I got off work you talk about the very thing I've been messing with for the day.
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Good stuff. I love OpenWRT. DD-WRT too I guess. Like you said about those missing binary blobs though, it can really hurt the device. I had one device that went from full gigabit line routing speed to 20-30 megabits because it lost hardware acceleration. I think it's probably a lot better on more modern processors that have enough horsepower to push the data without needing hardware acceleration.
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Note: This video doesn't show the full steps. If you see the message indicating that you're in initramfs mode, this means your changes will be undone after a reboot. To finish the installation, you need to flash your router from OpenWrt upgrade interface, after which it'll be a persistent install. On some routers, you'll be able to just flash it from the stock firmware upgrade interface right away.
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I'm glad you made this because it's encouraging me to finally get around to it. I'll happily spend entirely too much time diving into pretty much anything except networking and printers but my frustration with this industry has reached critical mass. My area will have access to fiber soon and the thought of having uncapped upload speeds up to 2 gigabit makes me as excited as when my parents upgraded from dial-up back in the day. The upgraded NAS project I've been putting off is finally at the top of the list.
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@alexander1989x
5 months ago
Thanks for covering OpenWrt. It's an amazing piece of tech that doesn't get the credit it deserves. I've fallen so in love with it that I got involved in the community and made my own builds for undocumented ISP routers.
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