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
Zack Rippy
2008-08-19 1204hrs
Tomato is amazing. I’ve been using it for quite some time now. The wireless client mode is fantastic for joining multiple access points/routers into one giant wireless mesh. It’s a perfect, low-cost (no cost if you’ve already got the hardware) solution for churches and small businesses. I use it at home and love it and have set it up several other places as well.
Good stuff for sure! :)
David Russell
2008-08-19 1210hrs
Zack That is definitely a strong point of Tomato. I also love the simplicity of the QoS setup. I was able to get some simple shaping in place in about a minute. Amazing!
Zack Rippy
2008-08-19 1256hrs
The QoS is fantastic. In fact, I’m a member of a couple DC++ hubs for trading (legal) live music - mostly DMB. Anyways, DC++ does not have a native bandwidth limiting capability like most network applications do. Tomato took care of it perfectly.
Walt
2008-09-06 2336hrs
Wow. Hadn’t heard of Tomato until I checked your blog.. Been slogging through life with DD-WRT, which was awesome for allowing traffic shaping, etc., but slow, and prone to lockups, and apparently the guy in charge likes to take contributions, but not to give back..
Anyway, it’s a slam-dunk.. Tomato is faster, and apparently more stable.. My only gripe is that they haven’t apparently figured out a way to get it running on newer WRT54G’s, so I’m stuck with dd-wrt for WDS on my newer router.. but I may try HyperWRT or OpenWRT and cross my fingers..
Anyways, wanted to give a thumbs-up and a thanks for the referral!
fak3r
2008-09-09 0807hrs
While I didn’t try the other options like you did, a few years back I specifically bought a Linksys 54GL so I could put Tomato on it, and it’s been fantastic. It opens up all the abilities of the hardware, plus allows you to do whatever you want/need outside of that by just being Linux! I’ve run it for months and just and it’s so trouble free I’ll just forget about it. I couldn’t be happier with it.