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Comment by shmerl | Hacker News Reader

Oh, I agree that criticism is fair. I just don't think his approach was optimal or even the fastest way to fix those issues (and he said in the beginning, that he wants to save time). Those who recommended him DD-WRT were right, but he didn't listen. That "no, no" answer sounded more like a rant.

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I've tried DD-WRT and OpenWRT on this particular Linksys router and it was no better, but this is besides the point. It made me step back and realize that I shouldn't ever have to install a third party OS just to have a router that doesn't drop out multiple times per day.

I think the opposite. I prefer to have an open OS installed. It's a question of trust.

And did you try the recent version of DD-WRT there by the way?

At the point where you realise the sw + fw + hw package you bought doesn't do what it is supposed to I'd say you should strongly consider returning it; if for nothing else then to teach them a lesson :-/

> you should strongly consider returning it

I specifically bought hardware with open WiFi driver and well compatible with open OSes, to be able to replace the stock installation. Why should I return it now?

Ok, I'm talking about the general "you", the public, not "shmerl".

You might be able to do that. Troy Hunt doesn't want to. I don't want to. If I want to be able to inspect my network gear I guess I should go with Microtik or something but to each their own.

> I think the opposite. I prefer to have an open OS installed.

An open OS with closed source drivers? The comparison with Android XDA images wasn't so far fetched.

> And did you try the recent version of DD-WRT there by the way?

You mean the nightlies? They don't even release any stable versions anymore.

The driver is open.

I stopped running Linux and went back to Windows (until I could get my hands on a Powerbook) the day that I sat down to write an essay and six hours later found myself rebuilding a new kernel. All I wanted to do was run a word processor and I yak-shaved myself into a two-hour kernel build before I gave up. It was an edge case, to be sure, but it was just a more extreme example of the problems I'd had already. I gave up the ability to customize every single detail in exchange for the freedom from having to customize every single detail. Simplicity.

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