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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
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