Looking for a Router with Linux as native OS - Any thots / Favorites
 

Looking for a new Router for home network. It would be nice to have something that runs Linux so I can put up wireshark or iptraf etc.

I see that Linksys has a Media sharing Linux based router that has a USV port for an external hard drive to serve up streaming video / audio

Does anyone have any experience with this device or something similar?
Any Gotchas?

why don't you use a regular router?

I have the linksys wrt160nl and love it, not as much development out there as I would like but I am fond of the NAS option.

Regards,
JKZfixme

The default one they give you with the Virgin Media package (Linksys WGR-614) is a good option. You will need to crack it to enable Linksys firmware updates though. a quick google will remedy this

James

I picked up a linksys router at a yard sale for $5 US dollars, the guy said he couldn't get the wireless working but the rest worked fine. I checked it out and sure enough the wireless wouldn't work. I went to DD-WRT and downloaded the flash for that linksys model and flashed the unit. It works good now, and DD-WRT is linux based.

Sorry, what is the NAS option?

Network Attached Storage ... It has a usb port for an external HDD and a built in samba server, pretty sweet gig

Regards,
JKZfixme

You cannot run linux programs on a router. You can run wireshark on any linux machine, hooked up to any router. Most routers run some form of linux, usually embedded linux.

Thank you. Hope the Samba server is easier to get up and running than the one on my Ubuntu box.:-)

Not being argumentative, just trying to understand. I have seen others state that most router run Linux. My WRT54G does not. It can be loaded with Linux Firmware but does not come with Linux preloaded. Google only shows me a Linksys WRT160NL as a Linksys offering that comes with Linux preloaded.

Your statement above "you cannot run Linux Programs on a Router" is confusing. If I have a linux operating system on a router, it would seem reasonable to be able to run such things as Wireshark, IPTraf, Iperf and other Linux programs on that router. Is that not the case?

My real question in this thread is, which routers come with embedded Linux and what flavor of linux are they running?

What apps have you found for the wrt160nl in addition to NAS and SAMBA?
Can you run staandard Linux apps like iptraf, iperf and wireshark?

His router does NOT run any apps, it just allows easy access to a usb storage device.

It allows all systems/nodes on the network to access one usb storage device instead of having to move the storage device from system to system to access it. Samba is not run nor needed is this case as most usb flash drives have a file system that both linux and windows can read. Now a external usb hard drive would need to have a file system also that is able to be read by both platforms.

As I understand it and I may be wrong, the linux used in a embedded system is nothing more than a very stripped down linux kernel it's not a version/flavor of linux just the kernel. The linux kernel uses iptables which is built in by default, which make it ideal to run in a embedded system that the maker wants to have firewall functions. Plus the kernel stripped down takes a very small amount of storage space.

Ever hear of a floppy firewall? You can take a old pc with only a floppy drive limited ram, basic video card, NO hard drive, and two network cards and have a functional firewall.

Did a search for linux routers and found the wnr3500L which apparently does run apps per the blurb below.
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The RangeMax Wireless-N Gigabit Router with USB is also designed to serve as a reliable, high-performance open source Linux® platform supporting a wide variety of applications created by multiple development partners and the dedicated open source community. Some of these partners include BigFoot Networks for boosting network speeds for online gaming, Leaf Networks for easy remote access, Paragon Software for high-speed USB file reads and writes, and Sputnik for hotspot solutions
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Probably a "That was Then and This Now" sort of a thing

So the question remains, what apps are available for the
WRT160NL from Linksys and the WNR3500L from Netgear?

Any help will be appreciated.

are there any types of router that dont run embedded linux ?

Other than Commercial Routers I am unaware of any routers that do run linux other than the two Home networking tourers above.

Can you name any Home Networking routers that run Linux over and above the two that I have already discovered and those that run third party firmware like ddwrt and tomato?