| From: John Lange <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> | The Linksys WRP400 is an all-in-one firewall/router/wireless device. As | a bonus it also has 2 FXS ports. | | This replaces a previous model with similar features (that I can't | recall the model number of). However this device is specifically | designed with a more powerful CPU and larger memory capacity so it can | do much larger throughput and hold a larger state table.
I'm soured on newly announced hardware, from Linksys in particular. I bought a Linksys WRV200 and its firmware has been unsatisfactory. For a year and a half! Have a look at the linksysinfo.org forum for lots of once hopeful and now disgusted users. I've never used my WRV200 seriously in all the time I've had it. The reports suggest that the router has too many problems. I bought it because the manual said it had a feature I needed. Others would like it if they knew of it. But the delivered product did not have the feature. When I phoned support, they eventually said that they would fix the manual. The WRV200 runs mostly GPLed software. Linksys did not release the source code until about a month after I started bugging them. I don't know if my asking caused the release, but I am a copyright holder of a fair chunk of the firmware and I did mention this. They still don't release the source for betas even though they are obligated to (the beta binaries are leaked but not the sources). Nobody has rebuilt firmware from the released source. One reason is that there is no known fallback if the router gets bricked. So this is more dangerous than hacking on the WRT54GL. The cost-reduced Linksys WRT54G, the versions based on vxWorks, have had a terrible reputation. (They may have improved.) "Everyone" seems to say the old Linksys WRT54G firmware, based on Linux, was better than the the vxWorks version, but not nearly as good as several 3rd-party firmwares. The trouble with all these claims is that they don't seem to be based on reasonable testing, only perceptions. It is hard to tell how reliable those perceptions are. Recommendation: when it comes to these inexpensive routers, wait for some other folks to break them in. Buy whatever seems to have worked out well. Perfectionist recommendation: build a testbed with repeatable methods to test relevant characteristics (performance and correctness). Qualify boxes and firmware before deploying. In my experience, folks guessing at performance characteristics are often wildly wrong. Including me. You cannot get your box fixed, even with a warranty, if the manufacturer doesn't know how to fix it. The WRV200 bugs are most likely in the firmware and are thus perfectly replicated in all routers of that model. This is the fallacy of depending on a warranty. Getting your money back doesn't satisfy your requirements. I'm experimenting with OpenWRT + Openswan (IPSec) on a Motorola wireless router (similar to a WRT54GL). This is not problem free. I can get things fixed but it takes time and effort. Just what the original poster does not want to hear. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
