the rooter contribution (aka, what would be specifically and "uniquely" useful
to others) is:

* a documented, justified, available, and known-good combination of hardware,
  firmware, network daemons, routing policies, and conventions

which taken together both:

* improve the freedom/control/experience of all internet participants

and are:

* a solid and (reasonably) accessible platform for others to build upon.

the agenda is to:

* preserve the freedom and benefits of the open, uncensored, neutral, general
  purpose internet infrastructure for current and future participants.

the rooter project/group should definately:

* explore/discover new and alternative communications and information
  technologies (hardware, software, biological, and ephemeral);
* broadcast art, ideas, and opinions;
* expose any flaws with existing or proposed technologies and standards;

and could also potentially:

* provide centralized network services;
* manufacture and distribute end-user/retail hardware;
* maintain an operating system distribution with updates;
* provide interoperation and release testing services;
* serve as a role model for future open hardware products and projects

# problems with existing commodity routers
 - usability of web interfaces for casual operators
 - persistance of configuration across upgrades
 - "binary blob" drivers at most crucial points of system
 - poor performance with >5 active 802.11 clients
 - hardware extension possible but not as easy as it could be for no extra cost
 - difficulty for the inexperienced to reflash or explore new firmware
 - insufficient hardware power to host multiple services (plug style)
 - mixed delivery on promised specifications (throughput etc)
 - insufficient IPv6, IPSEC, DNSSEC support
 - delayed/difficult kernel upstreaming process

# problems with existing plug computers
 - binary blobs
 - thermal overheating

# improvements over plug computers and firmware+commodity
 - no binary blobs at the heart of things
 - hardware that can be more easily studied, reproduced, improved
 - familiar environment for web and embedded developers
 - hosting resources of plugs with topology of router
 - more agressive adoption of new protocols and features (progressive)
 - infrastructure-grade and -oriented