This question might be useful to people in general as it wouldn't be a bad thing to have some sort of page dedicated to knwoing the cheapest OpenWRT supported router at any given time.

I have a bare bones setup that would work on pretty much the smallest of OpenWRT devices (no need for 16mb+ SDRAM etc...).
I've been asked to build a large number of units and I just don't know how to go about finding a source for devices that sell to me at a reaosnable cost for resale.

If anyone out there has any suggestions (or if you work for one of these manufacturers)  I'd be happy to hear for you.

Thanks.

I work on some Belkin units there were only $8 each (on sale). Only 2MB Flash and 8MB RAM but it's very easy to do the USB mod.

what were they ??

http://wiki.openwrt.org/F5D7230

It's not worth it to get those Belkins if you need them in volume.  The price was that low due to mail-in rebates.
The Buffalo WHR-G54S (a 4MB flash/16MB ram model) can commonly be found for under $50 (USD)
The Linksys WRT54G can be found for the same price, but that is a 2MB/8MB model running VxWorks, so it requires additional steps to load OpenWRT.

I would suggest you go with the Buffalo WHR-G54S.  I quickly searched across the net and found a few places were you could pick up more than 50 at a time for under $50/unit.

what about  WRT-311

http://www.straightcore.net/us/

is possible to use openWRT on it?

I use this machine for clients only, it's stable usefull, cheap and so on.

(Last edited by reset on 25 Sep 2006, 11:02)

All of these boards are unsupported yet, since they use the RTL8186 SoC, which is unsupported yet. Currently in the works is the RTL8651B, a Lexra LX5280-based SoC, which shares the same core with the 8186, so if we're finished with that, it won't be too hard to support 8186 also.

Edit: To avoid confusion, I was referring to the Straightcore boards.

(Last edited by wigyori on 25 Sep 2006, 13:43)

ok & thx

Got a link to the USB mod? The page at http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Har … in/F5D7230 doesn't mention USB

MOTOROLA WR850g  V2      $28 USD or  less and Openwrt works great. I have one of this two years ago   

And i need a few right now but i'm not in the US....   :   (

Just look at http://ebay.com

The WISP I work with uses WRT54GL.  Commonly available, already got the solder points arranged neatly in 2x5 for serial and 2x6 for JTAG ready for an easy solder-job to add the connectors.  Simple 12-Volt power supply that is commonly available, and is very flexible on voltage it will accept from 7V up to 20V at least.  Very good if you are doing simple passive PoE like I have done, where voltage may drop over an ethernet cable but in this case the WRT is forgiving of that.  Power consumption about 5 Watts.

I have a Buffalo unit also to play with, but have to say it's inferior on all the points I just mentioned.  I'm not sure what the original poster's motivation is but I don't like to CHEAP OUT too much and have to do a lot of fiddling with hardware after installation.  The GL is very temperature resistant also, I stick a simple aluminum ramsink on the CPU and have them in attics and outdoor enclosures in Georgia summertime no heat-related hardware problems so far.  I did have a wasp-nest problem inside one enclosure where I hadn't sealed an entry point well enough.

I have used cheaper D-Link and SMC AP's in earlier years, and MY GOD you have no idea how annoying it is to get access to and climb up to replace a failed unit.  Especially those dadgum D-Links every single one of them blew out within a year.  Time is money and I spent way more in manhours FIXING the problem than I ever saved by shaving a couple of bucks off the original hardware, all of which I ended up replacing with GL units.

(Last edited by vincentfox on 13 Jun 2007, 01:58)