Tomato
Recently, I published an article on DD-WRT. I have recently scoured the interwebs for alternative firmware for my Linksys WRT54G. While DD-WRT is a nice solution, I have found something superior: Tomato.
At first, I was a bit skeptical about Tomato. The official website isn’t quite the norm as “official” websites go. But it does answer all of the questions I had while researching the firmware and it gets right to the point with great screenshots, download options (including old “rotten” builds) and changelogs. The author of the site even lists alternatives to Tomato! That’s quite a different approach than DD-WRT, a project that has been criticized for turning away from its community. I don’t know much about the politics of the situation between DD-WRT and its detractors so I won’t even address that. What I do know is that I like when people recognize the fact that options exist and openly offer those options in addition to their own. Bonus points.
One key feature of Tomato is the brilliant user interface. I find the simplicity of it to be a breath of fresh air. If you’ve spent ten minutes using any router firmware, especially stock ones, you have probably experienced some pretty tacky interfaces. It’s really great to see Tomato focus on getting the features in a prominent space and getting the design out of the way. It’s tidy and attractive, but also very usable. One gripe I have is that it’s not easy to see the subnavigation of main sections, so you have to click into the main section before those options are visible. But this is a small complaint against an overall nicely done UI.
The features of Tomato are comparable to DD-WRT and many other alternative router firmware. Some of the key features include:
- Ajax-enhanced UI
- Real-time bandwidth monitors (SVG graphics)
- Network Tools, including wireless site survey
- Dynamic DNS, with sizeable options
- QoS
- Transmit Power Adjustment
- Lots of feedback, including nifty reports on traffic shaped by QoS
So, quit using DD-WRT even though I recommended it a few days back. Get Tomato instead. :)
Tagged: tomato, firmware, wireless, router, linksys, dd-wrt
