OpenWRT 18.06 Released!

[CrystalLattice]

OpenWRT 18.06 Released! OpenWRT is the free open source firmware underlying most of the routers mentioned here. If you really want to know how your router works, and desire complete command over it, try it out:

https://openwrt.org/releases/18.06/start

You will get the latest linux kernel, features, and more.

 

[sfx2000]

Very happy for them - if you have supported HW, it's worth a look.

It's been a rough time for the team lately - with the merge and outages - the OpenWRT forum situation was a terrible situation, with the HW failure and no back ups - they've recovered quite a bit, but there was good info that's basically gone forever.

 

[Easy Rhino]

So is there a good noob friendly handholding guide to installing LEDE? I mean OpenWRT?

Years ago I eventually figured out DD-WRT and can handle those installs, but LEDE has always seemed inscrutable.

 

[CrystalLattice]

They've improved their docs a lot over time. If you have hardware that's easy to flash, it's a no-brainer now. It comes up ready to use. With 18.06 you get either 4.14 or 4.09 linux kernel on recent routers. Security is generally much improved. There are some routers(broadcom wifi chip based) where wifi is lesser due to proprietary drivers.
hardware table:
https://openwrt.org/toh/start

18.06-rc1 is out, probably want to wait a little for 18.06.0 (soon)

 

[SwampKracker]

They've improved their docs a lot over time. If you have hardware that's easy to flash, it's a no-brainer now. It comes up ready to use. I will put a minimum list of extra goody things to do after to be even more secure. With 18.06 you get either 4.14 or 4.09 linux kernel. Security is generally much improved. There are some routers where wifi is lesser due to proprietary drivers.
hardware table:
https://openwrt.org/toh/start

18.06-rc1 is out, probably want to wait a little for 18.06.0 (soon)

Is it assumed that switching to OpenWRT will reduce the throughput of the router by not using the manufacturer's proprietary drivers?

 

[sfx2000]

Is it assumed that switching to OpenWRT will reduce the throughput of the router by not using the manufacturer's proprietary drivers?

Depends on the chipset - some have a proprietary kernel blob to enable certain things, others either have it in firmware, or don't need in the first place...

 

[sfx2000]

So is there a good noob friendly handholding guide to installing LEDE? I mean OpenWRT?

Years ago I eventually figured out DD-WRT and can handle those installs, but LEDE has always seemed inscrutable.

Initial setup can be daunting, but it's gotten much better over the years...

With the LEDE remerge, more devices are supported, and they've done a really good job with the WebGUI...

 

[sfx2000]

With 18.06 you get either 4.14 or 4.09 linux kernel

Depends on the chipset - some are still back on either 3.18 or 4.4

From openwrt/include/kernel-version.mk

LINUX_VERSION-3.18 = .71
LINUX_VERSION-4.4 = .121
LINUX_VERSION-4.9 = .109
LINUX_VERSION-4.14 = .51