What useful things can I do with Fresh Tomato software?
May 2, 2020 11:53 AM
What are some useful, low maintenance things I can do with Fresh Tomato on my access point? (Heads up: this is not a question about actual fresh tomatoes :-P )
I have a Netgear R6400v2 wifi router that I've configured as an access point (previously). I tried attaching an old USB laser printer to it, assuming it would make a good print server. But it turns out that the built-in software requires that you install some crappy software on every computer to be able to use it, and that software won't work with my work Linux laptop. Plus it didn't seem to actually work on any other computer either!
In a fit of pique I installed Fresh Tomato on it. I've never done this, but I figured since it wasn't my main router it would be OK if it went terribly and I hated it.
Turns out the opposite happened. The install was flawless, the network/wifi all works at least as well as it had before, and the print server was easy to configure on all of our computers. It Just Works, which is an increasingly rare feeling especially in a mixed windows/mac/linux home :-P
It was so simple and such a pleasure that it made me wonder what else I'm missing out on. Any suggestions for what I should check out/try? For example... I'm curious about enabling ad blocking, but I don't want my wife asking me every day why some websites won't load. That would make it a maintenance hassle.
Just to be clear about the config: I've turned off its DHCP server and have bridged it to my main router's LAN. Its primary DNS server is the main router's IP address. Wifi clients on my network may choose to connect to the main Zyxel 3000Z router which came from CenturyLink and which I am not messing with.
I have a Netgear R6400v2 wifi router that I've configured as an access point (previously). I tried attaching an old USB laser printer to it, assuming it would make a good print server. But it turns out that the built-in software requires that you install some crappy software on every computer to be able to use it, and that software won't work with my work Linux laptop. Plus it didn't seem to actually work on any other computer either!
In a fit of pique I installed Fresh Tomato on it. I've never done this, but I figured since it wasn't my main router it would be OK if it went terribly and I hated it.
Turns out the opposite happened. The install was flawless, the network/wifi all works at least as well as it had before, and the print server was easy to configure on all of our computers. It Just Works, which is an increasingly rare feeling especially in a mixed windows/mac/linux home :-P
It was so simple and such a pleasure that it made me wonder what else I'm missing out on. Any suggestions for what I should check out/try? For example... I'm curious about enabling ad blocking, but I don't want my wife asking me every day why some websites won't load. That would make it a maintenance hassle.
Just to be clear about the config: I've turned off its DHCP server and have bridged it to my main router's LAN. Its primary DNS server is the main router's IP address. Wifi clients on my network may choose to connect to the main Zyxel 3000Z router which came from CenturyLink and which I am not messing with.
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It's not perfect — it can't block ads served from the same domain as content (so Instagram and YouTube ads remain). But I can only think of one or two sites in the last couple of years where it's caused problems with functionality. So some DNS-based ad-blocking solution is well worth a shot.
Another option to explore is a VPN — running it on the router means no apps or configuration needed on devices. The new Wireguard protocol is far faster than its predecessors, and the zero-performance-penalty VPN is now in reach. No idea if it will run on your hardware (and might require DD-WRT?), but something to investigate.
posted by matthewr at 12:53 PM on May 2, 2020