Re: Routerboard was Anyone recommend a wireless firewall/router?

Thus spake Stephen Gregory ([email protected]) [27/05/08 15:09]:
: > Mikrotik is actually the OS, and it runs on RouterBoard hardware:
: 
: Can you reflash the routerboard hardware with a different distro?

I've never tried, but it seems possible, for some boards:

	<http://www.routerboard.com/archive.html>

Look for 'Debian', about four links down, and then again down under the
'Debian/GNU' section.

: I am considering either the Routerboard or one of PC Engines ALIX
: boards (also sold by Xagyl).
: 
: http://www.pcengines.ch/alix2.htm

One of my complaints about Routerboard is that a number of their devices are
fairly closed.  I initially wanted to put OpenBSD (what I was using before
Mikrotik) on a system, but the 200 wasn't powerful enough, and everything
else was just too much money.

: One of the advantages I see with the ALIX boards is that I can easily
: install Debian on it. One of the complaints I have read online about
: Mikrotik is that they are less then open about their use of Linux and
: giving back to the Linux community. A routerboard 433 is cheaper.

I'll admit that they're not too open about their use of Linux, and you never
actually get a standard shell on the system (at least, not by default).  I
can't really comment on their giving back, but they seem more than willing
to work with their community to develop new features, fix bugs, etc.

(Not to mention that one of the perks of RouterOS is that it is up and
running in <3s from power-on.  I was pleasantly surprised that a reboot of
the router didn't even stall my cross-network NFS mounts.)

I'd say that if you're stuck on running Debian, you're probably best off
with ALIX.

  - Damian
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