In context: OpenWrt’s historical past started in 2004 when US {hardware} producer Linksys constructed the firmware for its WRT54G collection of wi-fi routers. The firmware contained code shared via a GNU license, and Linksys was in the end pressured to make the supply code of its personal implementation out there beneath the identical open-source license.
OpenWrt is 20 years previous, and its builders have determined to correctly rejoice this vital milestone with a brand new community-driven mission. OpenWrt One, the primary ‘totally upstream supported’ {hardware} design within the historical past of the open-source mission, is a {hardware} platform constructed across the OpenWrt firmware.
The OpenWrt One proposal, which is topic to the group’s formal vote, describes a wi-fi networking system designed for open-source software program lovers. The {hardware} reference design goals to encourage individuals to tinker with and study embedded growth, the proposal states, whereas the OpenWrt growth group will get a share of the income on every unit offered.
The concept of an “official” OpenWrt {hardware} implementation is not new, developer Petr Štetiar stated. The PCB can be constructed round one among Banana Pi’s open-source {hardware} boards, reusing design options and the shape issue of current PCBs offered by the Chinese language firm. OpenWrt One isn’t conceived as a contender for industrial off-the-shelf routers or APs, the builders stated; as a substitute, it goals to be a mission that is “totally compliant” with copyleft and different FOSS (Free Open Supply Software program) licenses it makes use of.
The OpenWrt group has ready a listing of the {hardware} specs the mission’s first reference {hardware} ought to have. Options embody two completely different NAND Flash chips, which ought to make the system virtually “unbrickable” and simple to revive after a safety breach or different severe points, an M.2 slot for NVMe-based storage choices, and a battery-backed real-time clock which any community system “ought to have” on-board by default to correctly handle time in security-related purposes (VPN, DNSSEC).
OpenWrt One goals for a $100 value level, with schematics to be made publicly out there beneath a FOSS license. The voting course of is ongoing, with 16 builders having already accredited the mission. If the vote succeeds, the OpenWrt group will finalize the reference {hardware} design working along with the silicon vendor (MediaTek) and the ODM (Banana Pi).
Banana Pi is predicted to supply at the very least 15 engineering samples to the ” events” after the {hardware} design is finished, with extra samples going to the Software program Freedom Conservancy (SFC) non-profit group for license compliance validation. The Linux-based OpenWrt platform have to be configured via a command-line interface, and this shell-based method will doubtless be preserved with the OpenWrt One reference board as effectively.
