My Linksys WRT54G is dying on me and I'd like to replace it with a
real router/access point based on Linux and using only free software
drivers.

The old choice was Soekris [1] but they seem to be longer in the tooth
and in the price: ~$270 for just the box and the motherboard, with the
wireless being extra.

Now, it seems that the top contenders are MicroTik RouterBoard [2] and
Ubiquiti RouterStationPRO [3].  Netgate [4] has a nice kit for $300
that includes the motherboard, case, wi-fi card and antennas.

Looking at the devices themselves, the Ubiquiti has Gigabit ports,
while MicroTik doesn't yet have a board with both Gigabit and mini-pci
(for wi-fi).

From the software perspective, MicroTik has their own Linux Distro
(RouterOS) which seems to be quite polished, while Ubiquiti uses
OpenWRT, which I found to be not as stable.

Does anybody has any hands-on experience with either of these two
options and has good or bad experiences?  Any other option that I
should consider given the ~$300 budget?

Thanks,
florin

[1] http://www.soekris.com/shop/
[2] http://routerboard.com/pricelist.php?started_from_home=1
[3] http://www.ubnt.com/rspro
[4] http://www.netgate.com/product_info.php?cPath=27_104&products_id=812

-- 
Bruce Schneier expects the Spanish Inquisition.
      http://geekz.co.uk/schneierfacts/fact/163
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