
For example, the OpenWrt firmware is basically a Linux distribution for your router, complete with a package manager. People like installing custom router firmware because they provide additional features.

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However, the WRT54GL series only supports 802.11b/g Wi-Fi and lacks support for 802.11n wireless, so it’s not really the ideal router to purchase today. However, the line of Linux-based WRT54G routers continues in Linksys’s WRT54GL series - the L stands for Linux. They could take that code and change it, adding features, tweaking it, modifying the interface, and then flashing their customized version back onto the router.įuture versions of the WRT54G ran a different operating system. Enthusiast’s then had a router that ran Linux and the source code to the router. They eventually released the WRT54G firmware’s source code after some pressure.

Linksys didn’t release source code when they released the router, although they were supposed to. These routers ran a firmware based on Linux. Custom router firmware first took off with the Linksys WRT54G router released back in 2003.
