Einfuehrung
From X-Wrt
X-Wrt: Short background
Der Anfang
Es gibt entweder immer eine lange oder kurze Version einer Geschichte - obwohl es häufig am besten ist, bei der kürzesten zu bleiben. Die Geschichte,warum dieser Wegweiser entstanden ist, liegt ein paar Jahre zurück Begonnen hat alles mit der Markteinführung der ersten Wirelessrouter auf denen ein Linux als embedded OS lief.
Das erste Logo war, und ist es noch, das charakteristische blau-schwarze, zwei Antennen, der Linksys WRT54G/GL/GS Modelle. Aber andere Modelle folgten kurz darauf und hatten sogar mehr Potenzial als das Original. Die Firma Linksys did at first neglect to adhere to the requirements of the GNU GPL licensing of the Linux source-code. The process of "convincing" Linksys to release the source-code, has become one of the prime examples of the legal position of free software. The subsequent release of the original Linksys source-code, through the intervention of the Free Software Foundation (FSF), erupted quickly into numerous projects developing alternative firmware distributions. The presently most popular, and wellknown, of these distributions is: OpenWrt.
OpenWrt
The introduction text on the OpenWrt.org website describes it as a Linux distribution for embedded devices. Embedded devices is a somewhat broad category, and the main target of the OpenWrt developers are cheap consumer-grade wireless routers (a complete list of supported devices can be found at: http://toh.openwrt.org/).
The OpenWrt developers have instead of trying to create a single, static firmware, constructed a fully writable filesystem with package management. This frees users from the application selection and configuration provided by the vendor and allows users to customize the device through the use of packages to suit any situation. For developer, OpenWrt is the framework to build an application without having to build a complete firmware around it. For users OpenWrt offers the ability for full customization, to use wireless devices in ways never envisioned.
X-Wrt
The common, or classic, way of interacting with a Linux OS is through the text-based world of a shell within a terminal-window. This is also the case with the default installation of OpenWrt. It is a challenging process to learn to navigate and interact in text-only mode. The majority of all users of wireless networks are accustomed to graphical user interfaces (GUI), with mouse and click.
The default version of OpenWrt does come with a simple web-interface (webif). But it is quite limited and lacks numerous functions and controls. X-Wrt is thought as an extension of the basic webif of OpenWrt, which adresses the need for enhancing the users experience of OpenWrt.
It is here important to clarify that X-Wrt is NOT a fork of OpenWrt. The developers of X-Wrt work in conjunction with the OpenWrt developers to extend OpenWrt. The X-Wrt extensions/packages currently work with the latest public release of OpenWrt - White Russian 0.9. The X-Wrt project does maintain backwards compatibility with the prior releases; OpenWrt White Russian RC5/RC6. In conjunction with this, there is support for OpenWrt's upcoming Kamikaze firmware-branch in development. X-Wrt was started because there was a need for end user extensions to OpenWrt, such as an enhanced web management console (webif). For a long time now it has been established that OpenWrt is the best firmware in its class. It far exceeds other firmwares in performance, stability, extensibility, robustness, and design. We at X-Wrt decided it was long past time for end users to get access to this superior firmware. We are a separate project from OpenWrt due to the difference in focus and development ideals. We are considerably more pragmatic than OpenWrt and have the goal of providing solutions today, while OpenWrt has a more idealistic development philosophy and intends to perfect the firmware core, no matter how many rewrites and how much time it takes. This difference in development attitude creates a complimentary atmosphere that benefits everyone.
