🔎 When a product 100% open source?

voloff · 2022-05-19T10:34:31.685Z

Hello everybody!

This is Ian I am a big of your products definitely inclined for having a solid device that warranties having a solid performance, as much possible customize and of course that It can have the direct posibility of running with Open Wrt update to the latest version.
Even I know the developers of Glinet are doing a great effort for moving out from snapshot version hook to the firmware of so many products.
I heard this concern from so many friends as glinet or pinephone are not complitely a 100% opensource.
So here my recommendation for creating a device with Atheros that definitely are not focused anymore in great interface of GLinet, just something that you can wipeout right away as you buy and install Openwrt. (Bc for licenses you cant directly sell it with Openwrt).
You may save a time, only investing in assure one product that only works (obviously with the right hardware as I mentioned Atheros before). It may seems market risky but there is a lot of people who is looking exactly one router to buy and modify so I think if the device is as powerfull or even better than Flint you could in the right path of the market. When I talk about customize maybe I wouldn’t go so crazy as Omnia Turria because most of the people can’t afford that… but there is many things that can be done to not increasing costs and focus on the esential, a solid performance running on Lucy with the most updated version of Openwrt.

Reply this post if you are seeking for a 100% open source Openwrt product.
Hope you don’t take this as a negative feedback, and just to clearify that I know I can access Luci from the advance features of the main interface but it is not the same to me.

elorimer · 2022-05-19T13:11:49.847Z

I give the openwrt folks all credit for an opensource product, but I think it is very difficult to aim for that across the board because chips are evolving constantly and with new features. The manufacturers are gravitating to closed source precompiled blobs and just don’t seem interested in releasing open source drivers, so any purely open source product is likely to be way behind.

groentjuh · 2022-05-19T13:29:39.481Z

GLiNet is dependant on the availability of open source for the chips they use. Let’s be honest there: If i look how few OpenWRT devices support Wifi-6, there is not a lot! (All using MediaTek MT762… chipsets).

OpenWRT Devs are still working hard to get the Qualcomm Atheros IPQ807x SoC stable into OpenWRT. Also ath11k is still being worked on.

At the same time, people do want the latest and greatest. So GLiNet needs to make choices. Do they make an open source router with older hardware (, because latest is not supported yet) or do they make a OpenWRT router with more recent hardware, but with closed source drivers in the firmware (, which the QSDK does for example)?

elorimer · 2022-05-19T15:30:25.691Z

groentjuh:

or do they make a OpenWRT router with more recent hardware, but with closed source drivers in the firmware (, which the QSDK does for example)

And the Beryl and Mango, Mediatek chips with MTK proprietary drivers.

alzhao · 2022-05-20T08:09:24.379Z

elorimer:

And the Beryl and Mango, Mediatek chips with MTK proprietary drivers.

Would rather to use open source drivers. MTK proprietary drivers are so difficult.
Open source wifi driver for Beryl seems usable now.

voloff · 2022-05-20T13:57:41.258Z

Well I think that offer different product configuration that meet this creteria or other, it is not a bad idea.
How many companies do you know that running they own running his own firmware and interface are pure garbage but then running another external firmware maximaze their performance.
Again I want to be clearify that this is not a complain about what Glinet has to offer or in the way they offered, I think having different products that can be customize out of the original that comes from the company can take to another level the final product and performance.

smiths · 2022-05-20T22:39:12.257Z

The original slate (AR750S) uses open source drivers, its just a tad slow in this day and age. I say opensource, I assume so as switch and wireless behave well with OpenWRT in GL firmware, and everything works in vanilla OpenWRT. It is my favourite router from GL, until the new slate offically comes along that is.

I actually quite like the GL interface particularly the travel router and VPN side. The number of scenarios where you have to actively fight it are diminishing, and its based off of 19.07 (well current commercial is). When version 4 hits it will be newer.

Given the above, I am in the “I want my toys now” brigade, even if it means proprietary drivers for the short term.

Simon