LAS VEGAS--Long time networking device leader Linksys has finally made good on its promise to bring the open-source DD-WRT to its Wi-Fi router family. At CES, Linksays announced you'll be able to use the Linux-based, alternative open-source firmware with the company's WRT1900AC, WRT1200AC, and recently released WRT1900ACS dual-band Gigabit Wi-Fi routers.

Linksys has a long history of supporting alternative firmware going back to the famous mid-90s Linksys WRT54G. After Cisco bought Linksys in 2003, however, Cisco removed Linux firmware support from its new devices. Ten years later, Belkin bought Linksys and Belkin began bringing open-source firmware back to the Linksys line.

Now, most users just want to be able to plug in their Wi-Fi routers and go. But for people who want the most from their routers -- from upping transmission power to running an OpenVPN server -- DD-WRT is exactly what they need.

DD-WRT now expands the third party firmware choices for the WRT series of routers beyond the current support via OpenWrt's "Chaos Calmer" release. With DD-WRT, developers can provide custom firmware solutions for commercial applications for the new Linksys WRT platform.

"With Linksys and Marvel working closely to improve the upstream support for the Marvel CPUs and Wi-Fi radios, DD-WRT can now provide stable and robust support for the modern WRT series of routers in our alternate firmware platform, building on what was started many years back with the first WRT," said Peter Steinhauser, Co-CEO, DD-WRT in a statement.

"Today we are honoured to have DD-WRT supporting the complete WRT Series of routers. This gives users that have relied on DD-WRT support for their legacy WRT router applications a powerful hardware upgrade path utilizing the latest in AC Wi-Fi technology and Gigabit wired speeds found in the award-winning WRT1900AC, WRT1200AC, and WRT1900ACS routers," added Vince La Duca, the Linksys project manager.

To use it, you need to download the latest DD-WRT builds for the new Linksys WRT Series.

At this time the firmware is not yet ready for download, but it will soon. After a lengthy process, all the drivers needed to build a complete firmware have now become unencumbered under appropriate Open Source licenses, and the firmware has been finalized.

DD-WRT and Linksys is currently putting the finishing touches on the documentation, and by month's end you'll be able to tune Linksys to your exact exact needs with DD-WRT.

I can't wait.

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