157

Guys please in your privacy journey don't forget the routers (lemmy.ml)

submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by aprehendedmerlin@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/privacy@lemmy.ml

53 comments fedilink hide all child comments

before buying expensive routers check OpenWRT's table of hardware and buy one that is supported by the current OpenWRT release and has decent specs. There is a detailed installation guide for each supported device in the wiki too so there are no excuses it's dead simple and Free yourself from stupid hardware manufacturers and their planed obsolescence products.

Edit: also here is the new version of the table of hardware with more details They seem to have buyers guide too in the wiki.
Edit2: seems like GL.iNet devices ship with OpenWRT out of the box with their GUI on top and you still have access to openwrt under the hood if you need it which sounds awesome so look into them if you're interested. Thanks you guys who brought them up.
Edit3: there is firewall sulotion called OPNSense which is not limited to commercial routers like OpenWRT and can be run on any x86 hardware of your choice (like N100 mini pcs) so like into it if you're interested. Many thanks to the guys who contributed in the comments
Edit4: Sorry for the multiple edits but some of you guys suggest some fantastic insights that I had to add. Anyways here is a list of good candidate devices for hassle free installation and yet powerful enough hardware from OpenWRT's Forum

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] drkt@scribe.disroot.org 12 points 2 days ago

Also powerful but I reckon if you're at this level then you already know about it; https://opnsense.org/

[-] aprehendedmerlin@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 2 days ago

As a matter of fact I heard about them but I don't know much about OPNSense. Do they support devices other than ones they sell? They seem to be rather about professional environment not home network am right?

[-] drkt@scribe.disroot.org 3 points 2 days ago

It supports any x86 device you throw at it. I'm running it on a hodgepodge PC I built out of scrap.

[-] ReversalHatchery@beehaw.org 1 points 2 days ago

I use it too in a VM, but this doesn't support being installed on routers, right?

[-] drkt@scribe.disroot.org 3 points 2 days ago

It doesn't support being flashed to a low-end commercial router like you'd do with OpenWrt, no. Those tend to require special firmware and binary blobs, hence OpenWrt has to specifically support a model or it likely won't work. It's like flashing Android ROMs.

OpnSense is great if you're in the market for totally owning your own router, though. You can get an N100 box with 2 NICs off of ebay or something and slap OpnSense on that. That's arguably more FOSS than flashing OpenWrt to a cheap commercial router.

load more comments (4 replies)

load more comments (5 replies)

this post was submitted on 29 May 2025

157 points (99.4% liked)

Privacy

38116 readers

395 users here now

A place to discuss privacy and freedom in the digital world.

Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.

In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.

Some Rules

Posting a link to a website containing tracking isn't great, if contents of the website are behind a paywall maybe copy them into the post
Don't promote proprietary software
Try to keep things on topic
If you have a question, please try searching for previous discussions, maybe it has already been answered
Reposts are fine, but should have at least a couple of weeks in between so that the post can reach a new audience
Be nice :)

Related communities

much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS