Hello,

I'm about to move house (flat) and I'm going to need a new wifi router. I've always wanted to use OpenWRT but given that I work remotely I couldn't risk to brick my router.

I'm a complete noob with OpenWRT but use Linux systems (Debian and the likes) daily.

I've had a look at the wiki (ToH) but couldn't figure out an answer to my question.

So, would you have any recommendation for a wifi router filing the following criteria ? :

- gigabit ethernet ;
- dual band ;
- mu-mimo ;
- 802.11ac ;
- well supported (fully compatible with openwrt).

Thank you in advance

step3

https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_ … t_dualband

Hello,

Thank you for your answer.

So, the Linksys WRT1900AC (v2) seems to be a good pick. That's actually what my first searches led to. But, then, I stumbled upon this post (new account, I can't post url... so here is the id=50173 *) with a big warning as the first post of the thread followed by 500+ pages (through which I didn't went).

Is there any update (on the lack of open-source/libre driver for the marvel chip)?

Thank you for your help.

step3

* forum mods/admins should, at least, allow links pointing to the forum for new accounts... By the way, the error message isn't a proper English sentence, it reads "Too more links in message. Allowed 0 links. Reduce number of links and post it again."

(Last edited by step3 on 1 Nov 2016, 14:42)

https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/linksys/wrt1x00ac_series

Hello,

Thank you for your answer.

I have got to say that I am even more confused right now. After going through all the messages of the dedicated thread on the forum and the "news" tab in the "historical" section of the dedicated wiki page.

I am still unable to answer these simple questions : is Linksys WRT1900AC v2 fully supported (full functionalities and web UI) ? If so, which firmware should I install, how to do so and how to keep my system updated ?

In the forum thread, I "learned" that "openwrt was dead and lede was the new fork were most active contributors went" ; then, later in that thread, I came across the information that this is bullshit ; then, I found messages and information on the wiki stating that lede contains patches that are not currently in openwrt 15.0.5 ; then, in the wiki, the "firmware" section lists 6 different firmware based on different version of the kernel - let's say 5 without taking the dev branch into account - without providing meaningful information to help pick one.

There is just too much different places where to search for info, too much contradictory information and too little to help new comers grasp the big thing that openwrt is. I am all for the RTFM approach, I m a software engineer, but the F manual is written in Klingon... (and, yes, I get that openwrt is a collaborative effort highly depending on its community but being pointed at pages without even a "hello" won't grow that community bigger IMO).

(Last edited by step3 on 1 Nov 2016, 14:43)

Yes, the WRT1900AC v2 is fully supported by OpenWrt, as are all the other devices in the series. The stable release has an old wireless driver. So if you want to use the stable branch (CC) build from source or use Kaloz images. The development branch (DD) has the support as well obviously. There it's again build from source or pick one of the community builds if that is up your ally.

Step3 - I use the WRT1900AC and confirm it works excellently under OpenWRT. As always, there are a few things you have to work out, but I've had help from experts on here, so yeah, go buy one...