Change "> 4MB" to "8 MByte or more"

Talk about Documentation
1

I always have to stare at our advice about minimal Flash/RAM to figure it out. Specifically, when I see ">4MB Flash" I must mentally translate "more than 4MB Flash means the next step up is 8MB Flash, so I guess they're saying that 8MB Flash routers will work, and that 4MB Flash routers likely won't. "

For example, on https://openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_available_864_ac-wifi_gbit-eth we say:

[ devices that ... ]
have >4MB Flash ... 
have >32MB RAM ...

I propose that we change this advice to read:

[ devices that ... ]
have 8 MB or more Flash ... 
have 64 MB or more RAM ...

This becomes doubly-important now that 18.06 is on the horizon: it doesn't seem to fit into a 4/32 router. Let's tell people the specs that will work (8MB or more), not what won't. Thanks.

2 Likes
2

I would also suggest a "forward looking statement" along the lines of

Devices without at least 16 MB of flash may have a short support lifespan.

Edit: As well as changing Ideal for OpenWRT to reflect a minimum of 16/64 or even 16/128 devices

as well as a "public service announcement" like

Use of outdated firmware is strongly discouraged due to the security threats it may pose to yourself and to others. Its availability for download is intended purely for archival purposes, not for any operational use.

(Check with your legal advisors on that second one!)

2 Likes
3

I edited that wiki page along your thoughts to better reflect the practical minimum of 8/64.

Based on the earlier 4/32 discussions last year, the more difficult item is actually the 32 MB RAM, as that seriously limits the router usage (as e.g. package installations via opkg can cause memory consumption peaks crashing the router).

2 Likes
4

This is in fact the issue I'm experiencing with 8/32 devices...since Attitude Adjustment. Any high speed traffic could cause a crash; and the default apps use ~70% of available memory while idle. I first observed it over 5 years ago when a relative started a P2P client on my LAN...then even more issues when I upgraded from a 30 Mbps WAN to 70 Mbps connection. When I made the ISP switch, I purchased a router with higher specs (WD My Net N750) to handle the task.

Connecting most of those devices to a full 100 Mbps connection and running a speed test will crash them every time.

I've had more stability from WAN <> LAN WiFI than from WAN <> Wired LAN, so I use these devices as WiFi-to-Wired bridges.