A few years ago Justine Haupt combined classic phone design and modern tech to create a working cellphone with a rotary dial. Later she began selling kits to folks who wanted to make their own. Soon a version aimed at folks who aren’t hardware hackers will ship, and a video shows how the new Rotary Un-Smartphone […]
openwrt
Lilbits: Asus ROG Phone’s light show, GPD Win 3, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux is free for small workloads
The Asus ROG Phone line of smartphones are designed for gamers… and they tend to pack features that only a gamer could love or need like multiple USB ports, ultrasonic “airtrigger” buttons, and support for clip-on accessories including game controllers, desktop docks, and cooling fans. Last year’s ROG Phone 3 had all of those features, […]
FreeMesh is a $150 open source mesh WiFi system (1 router + 2 nodes)
Mesh WiFi systems have taken off in the last few years, with pretty much every company that makes routers offering a mesh option or two. But they tend to be on the pricey side, since you typically have to buy two or more devices to get the most out of a mesh system. And like […]
OpenWrt 18.06 released (Linux OS for your router, first major update in years)
OpenWrt is an open source, Linux-based operating system designed to run on hundreds of routers and other embedded devices. It can add new features to your networking gear and give you more control over the software running on the hardware in your home. This week the developers released OpenWrt 18.06, which is a big step […]
FCC settlement means TP-Link routers might support third-party firmware after all
Remember how TP-Link decided that the simplest way to comply with FCC’s new rules for wireless routers was to make it difficult for users to load third-party firmware on the company’s products? Yeah, it looks like the company has agreed to “work with the open-source community and Wi-Fi chipset manufacturers to enable third-party firmware.” So […]
Linksys WRT routers to continue supporting open source firmware (update: Asus too)
The Federal Communications Commission recently adopted rules that required makers of WiFi routers to prohibit users to change some parameters of their devices. And some device makers have decided that the simplest way to comply with those rules is to prevent users from replacing their router’s firmware with third-party alternatives such as OpenWRT or DD-WRT. […]
TP-Link routers sold in the US won’t support DD-WRT, OpenWRT
Don’t like the firmware that comes on your wireless router? You may be able to replace it with an open source alternative such as OpenWRT or DD-WRT as a way to tighten security, tweak performance, keep an old router up to date after it’s no longer supported by the manufacturer, or just to gain more […]
Turn an $11 microSD card reader into a WiFi router
The Zsun WiFi Card Reader is a tiny, cheap microSD card reader that sells for between $11 and $15 (or a few dollars more if you want to order from AMazon instead of from a Chinese retailer). You can plug the card reader into the USB port of your computer, but as the name suggests, it also supports […]