Why not just buy a WRT54GL?

Hi All,

Thanks again for the feedback it has been very helpful.

We have agreed to make an initial device that may not appease everyone but will target as many features as possible given time and price. 

If we don't here some strong advice to a specific chip, we are leaning towards the BCM5354 as a starting point (if we can get broadcom to sell them to a small developer).  I do appreciate the advice that Broadcom's driver situation is difficult.  This is something we will have to keep our eyes on. 

From your feedback, this is how our "base" unit requirements are shaping up:

Minimum:
-200 MHZ+ Processor (probably BCM5354 @ 266)
-32MB Flash / 128MB SDRAM
-USB 2.0 Host Controller, at least wired to header if not a connector
-TTL headers (probably use MAX3232 like IC to convert to RS232 and possibly wired to DB9 Female)
-802.11G Radio (probably integrated on SoC) wired to removable antenna
-1 10/100 WAN and 1 10/100 LAN (looking into GiG-E)

Still Evaluating:
PCI
PCI-E
Crypto / VPN
x86 Processors

We will sell or link to a passive PoE injector and splitter pair for those who need it.

Nothing here is "dead set" just yet so please continue to help us here!

Thanks
phiz

...as you're aiming rather "high" in term of resources... maybe adding an empty miniPCI (or two) to the picture would be very nice and perspective... so you would have an option for accelerators, additional radio (A, N, high power... isdn, ethernet...) - and leaving just the connector should not be a cost issue...

regarding chip selection.... giving the "bad open source support" from Broadcom... (at least regarding radio) maybe an Atheros 23xx (or whatever) would be a better option.

just my 2 cents...

just a curiosity... what is your price target?

(Last edited by mculibrk on 8 May 2008, 00:06)

Your specs look good to me eve though it only comes with a single (preferably four) LAN port. One can always attach switches to it. If possible, make the router with a standard modular RAM (with additional empty modular RAM socket) so that end users will be able to plug and/or replace it with a much bigger standard capacity modular RAM.

i'd cast my vote in favour of atheros as well. for the mesh project I'm working on I can't use broadcom as it randomly uses the BSSID of a neighbour instead of the assigned value.

Hi,
As far as cpu is concerned I would recommend atheros 7k 300mhz processor or storelink arms core 9120. Storelink had given better performance than RB333 at much lower cost.
regards
norms

I second that.

@phizaleo
What about an integrated bluetooth csr based chipset?

Atheros has a very bad record on open source support.

Anyone heard any more about this project. We are looking to buy a lot of low cost routers and are leaning towards Linksys WRT54GL of course with a wholesale cost of around $35 but interested in anything else that is OpenWRT compatible and cheaper

The buffalo WHR-HP-G54 is excellent value for money.

With a range of Buffalo>Buffalo  of around 3 miles without external antennas (line of sight) once you've tweaked them a bit, they're well worth the extra money.

We used to use WRT54GL's too, and they don't really go more than 500 yards.

not sure if this is still going, but for a "maybe cheap" crypto solution, take a look at:

http://oldwiki.openwrt.org/HardwareAcce … rypto.html
http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=78805

Just a thought....
Do you noticed the (Ubiquiti) UBNT.COM hardware?? Depending on your usage that my be a very good option. Even more if you plan to buy/go in "mass"... as you can get very good prices for larger quantities.

Some other options would be www.open-mesh.com or www.wiligear.com - they both have rather cheap (cheaper than wrt54gl) options.... but all depends on your usage plan.

just my 2 cents

regards
M.Culibrk

How about you take a look at Mikrotik Routerboard. They are a little narrow in their offerings, and you could easily pare down what they offer (a bit) and fill in the spaces they don't offer anything.

For instance, I want an 8-port gig-e switch that can route, which you can have USB and some mini-pci ports for wireless. Then you can custom build this sort of thing with people. You can generally build a pretty modular system and offer it at a lower price. Not to mention how complex MikroT makes it to purchase the routers.