19Jan08
Lifehacker has an interesting post on the Tomato custom router firmware. When a friend emailed me about the Lifehacker post, I first dismissed the article because when I was deciding on which firmware to flash my Linksys WRT54GL
with, I looked at Tomato but didn’t think it was as powerful as DD-WRT or OpenWRT. However, when I read Lifehacker’s post my interest was re-sparked in Tomato. The author did admit that dd-wrt had a more robust feature set and polished admin interface. However, he also indicated that Tomato had a better layout, better Quality of Service (QOS) support, and prettier graphical charts than dd-wrt. Also, the average user probably wouldn’t use the more powerful dd-wrt features anyway.
I wish I had the time/patience to re-flash my Linksys WRT54GL with Tomato just to try it out. Its very unlikely that I will because I don’t want to risk bricking my perfectly functioning dd-wrt enabled router. I also really like dd-wrt. Too bad flashing a router is a lot more complex than just installing software.
Also, the Lifehacker article doesn’t mention OpenWRT (a couple of commenters do) but OpenWRT seems to be the hard-core geek’s choice. I’ve thought about making the switch to it but it is probably more complex than I want to deal with. I really considered OpenWRT over DD-WRT but DD-WRT’s site looked better maintained and easier to read. Plus, until recently all OpenWRT management seemed like it when through a Linux shell (i.e., command line). Now though x-wrt seems to address what some would call a short coming of OpenWRT.
If anyone wants to send me a Linksys WRT54GL so I can experiment with it and write more tutorials on firmware flashing, let me know and I can add it to my Amazon Wish List so you can send it to me easily. Also, don’t forget to check out my ever-popular “How to Flash the WRT54GL with DD-WRT Firmware” tutorial.
14 Responses to “Tomato Firmware Option for WRT54GL”
i flashed me wrt54gs v1.1 with tomato. very impressed. will keep and not go back to linksys stock firmware. very stable and fast too.
Thanks for providing some feedback on Tomato as I haven’t had a chance to try it yet. I keep hearing these rave reviews and it makes me want to switch from dd-wrt for a while at least. I never even used the Linksys firmware (just for a second) because I bought my WRT54GL with the intention of flashing the firmware.
[...] Tomato Firmware Option for WRT54GL [...]
To anyone who is interested, I recently published a tutorial that switch from using the DD-WRT firmware to Tomato firmware. Check it out at http://www.mandladventures.com/2008/12/03/how-to-change-your-wrt54gl-firmware-from-dd-wrt-to-tomato/.
[...] and gain additional features by upgrading to an open source firmware such as DD-WRT or Tomato. I happen to own a Linksys WRT54GL version 1.1 and have flashed it with the DD-WRT firmware. [...]
FWIW, after having a year of 1500/300 speeds with Time-Warner (supposedly after the RR-Turbo free upgrade), I called T-W and they sent out a tech to do some line checks. He replaced a bad cable drop outside the house, and for a few minutes, we saw 8000/700 speeds. After he left, it dropped back down to the old speeds.
Make a long story short: The Netgear firewall turned out to be the choke point. After resetting it, throughput quickly drops. I bought a WRT54GL router, installed Tomato, and now have 9000/750 peak speeds. Not too bad for a $60 router and open source software!
brianko, great feedback. It’s always good to hear another person who is as equally impressed with dd-wrt as I am. No wonder the WRT54GL router has been won the customer choice award 26 times on Newegg.
I just upgrade my brand new wrt54gl to dd-wrt. Do have compare dd-wrt with tomato ? Which is fast and stable ? I could not find any complete comparison bwteen these two firmwares.
I’ve been meaning to write a comparison of dd-wrt to Tomato. Quickly, both seem stable. Tomato might be ever so slightly more stable but that is in comparison to an older version of dd-wrt. dd-wrt seems to have more features but lacks the pretty graphs. The main reason I switched to Tomato was for bandwidth tracking but the new dd-wrt has that feature now. Also, dd-wrt seems to be under more active development. If I were you, I’d stick with dd-wrt but don’t get me wrong, Tomato is an excellent option as well.
Matt: I upgrated to DD-WRT for a trial. It looks like Tomota is slightly more fast and stableas you mentionned. DD-WRT really has a lot of features. After researching a lot in web, I did not know the answer for the MOST IMPORTANT issue for me: Tomato supports IPV6 ? Vista is using IPV6 and Window7 also. I am planning to upgrade my OS to Window 7(Windows 7 also runs IPV6).
Jun: Tomato is nice as is DD-WRT. Not to burst your bubble but IPv6 support is not important. Pretty much every new OS supports it as does every new router. However, IPv6 is not actually used by the public Internet. For more info read the PCWorld article titled Study Shows Glacial Pace of IPv6 Adoption and check out Security Now Episode 199 (“The Geek Atlas,” IPv6 & Non-VPN).
Matt: When I tried DD-WRT, there is an option to enable or diable IPV6 from Administration. If IPV6 is not Enabled, I could see wireless signal but no Internet connection when a laptop installed Vista was used to test(a laptop of a firend). With the currently 1.25 tomato, it is ok for Vista ? (My friend has gone to a vacations for severals months). No way to test it.
It should be fine for Tomato. Very surprised it didn’t work correctly with DD-WRT. Typically, the issue is with Vista’s wireless networking configuration rather than the router. If you hide your SSID (i.e., don’t broadcast your wireless network name), you have to enable a setting in Vista in order to connect.
[...] detailed firmware flashing instructions. However, I’ve been debating on switching to the Tomato firmware for close to year [...]