Hey guys,

I'm looking to get another router to add to my list of openwrt devices. So far I already own 2 wrt54g (version 2) and a NSLU2. For my next addition, I want to get a router with a usb port and possibly mini-pci. For now, I just plan to use it as a wirless<->ethernet bridge, but I'm sure I'd like to do many other interesting things with it in the future. My budget is about $100.

With this said, what does everyone suggest? So far, I've been considering these, but I have a few concerns with each:

WRTSL54GS - Can't seem to find it anywhere, also no mini-pci.
WGT634U - readily available and cheap. Has an Atheros card! I've seen comments about it not being a reliable device?
WL-500gp - I need version 1 and all I can find is version 2
WL-500w - Can't seem to find a whole lot on this one. Hardware supports 802.11N. Comments indicate that it's nearly identicle to the WL-500GP. Is this my best bet? Will we ever see 802.11N support on this chipset? How hard is this thing to get working?

Given my budget and requirements (USB and mini-pci expansion slot), are the above decent choices? What's my best bet?

Thanks in advance.

I guess I'm going to go with the WL-500w. After looking everything over, I can't see any compelling reason not to.

None of them. Buy a Alix or Avila and forget about N support with Linux at the moment...

(Last edited by Yanira on 10 Oct 2008, 17:38)

I ended up getting the WL-500w ($75 after MIR, $99 before on newegg + free shipping).

Yanira - My budget was $100, I price Alix systems and after I tallied up all the costs it was going to be over $200 for everything. For that much, I'd have a lot more options (for example: http://www.via.com.tw/en/products/mainboards/ I'm sure there are others.) I like what Alix is doing, but once you get over $200 or so, there are a ton of options. Also, 1/2 the fun is in the hacking.