[Cerowrt-devel] Ideas on how to simplify and popularize bufferbloat control for consideration.

["Frits Riep" <riep@riepnet.com>]

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The concept of eliminating bufferbloat on many more routers is quite
appealing.  Reading some of the recent posts makes it clear there is a
desire to  get to a stable code, and also to find a new platform beyond the
current Netgear.  However, as good as some of the proposed platforms maybe
for developing and for doing all of the new capabilities of CeroWRT, I also
would like to propose that there also be some focus on reaching a wider and
less sophisticated audience to help broaden the awareness and make control
of bufferbloat more available and easier to attain for more users.

 

.         It appears there is a desire to merge the code into an upcoming
OpenWRT barrier breaker release, which is excellent as it will make it
easier to fight buffer bloat on a wide range of platforms and provide users
with a much easier to install firmware release.  I'd like to be able to
download luci-qos-scripts and sqm-scripts and have basic bufferbloat control
on a much greater variety of devices and to many more users.  From an
awareness perspective this would be a huge win.  Is the above scenario what
is being planned, is it likely to happen in the reasonable future?

.         From my perspective, it would be ideal to have this available to
many users in a more affordable platform, something like an 8mb flash router
like the TP-Link WDR-4300, which is otherwise a very capable router with
dual channels and good performance.

.         (I've managed to set up such a WDR-4300, with OpenWRT trunk,
figured how to telnet and install Luci, then luci-app-qos, and qos-scripts
and I thought the bufferbloat control was remarkable.)  How much better
would it be if I were able to use luci-qos-scripts and sqm-scripts instead?

.         For these target users, they need simplicity, good performance,
ease of setup and affordability.  They are not able to deal with the routing
between subnets on wireless, IPv6 setup, and any complexities introduced by
DNSSEC.  Marketing  the advantages of bufferbloat alone requires lots of
education and publicity (and as we have seen there are many misleading posts
by seemingly persuasive nay-sayers that it is all smoke and mirrors.

.         Would it be possible to have a simplified release of CeroWRT (in
terms of setup, and features), make It available for a reliable and
affordable platform, and publicize it and have it reach hopefully a much
wider audience?  This could potentially be through the OpenWRT channels.

.         Part of the reason why Tomato had been so popular is that the
firmware upgrade,  install, configuration, and management was well within
the capabilities of the average weekend hacker, and there were compelling
features and reliability vs the factory firmwares at the time.

.         Even installing OpenWRT, especially Trunk, and finding,
downloading and enabling packages, while very powerful, and flexible, is
still quite complex to someone who does not spend a lot of time reading
wiki's and release notes.

 

I'd be interested in feedback on these thoughts.

 

Frits Riep

 


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