What is Reddit's opinion of
Gargoyle?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
30 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
Well I put an entire torrent client on my router, thanks to Gargoyle/Open-WRT. My router (Netgear WNDR3700) has a USB port in which I plugged in a harddrive, and then I just downloaded the linux version of Transmission torrent client to the router, and I access it through a web ui. That way I don't have to leave my PC running, or worry about precious CPU/HD cycles being eaten up by running a torrent client while playing a game.
It also has some of the best QoS in the business, where you can automatically limit things like torrent downloads on your network to make room for things like Netflix streaming on an entirely different PC. QoS in both upload and download is very hard to do, but it works really well on Gargoyle.
It has a neat little "force clients to use this DNS" checkbox that allows me to use things like Unblockus DNS proxies, even on hardware that tries to get around it like the Chromecast.
It has incredibly detailed charts and graphs of my download usage over time, per client.
I can set up a Tor client through the router.
I run my own VPN (OpenVPN) for free. So if I ever need a file on one of my computers at home, I just connect to the OpenVPN, send a wake-on-lan packet if they're asleep, and I can just browse to them as if they were on the local network. Even on my Android phone.
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/
Keep in mind you need at least 64mB of RAM to be doing all this kind of stuff at once. Or you can put a swap partition on said USB harddrive, but that will slow things down if it has to use it.
Gargoyle doesn't support a whole lot of routers though, they're a fork of Open-WRT designed for higher-end Netgear routers but with support for a few more brands.
The cheapest and easiest way would be to use the http://www.gargoyle-router.com/ software and flash an existing router. odds are you dont have their software, so you would have to fork out money to buy a router to flash.
I agree with evian89, its a terrible idea. If it was me i'd rape and pillage your bandwidth.
Only the Archer C7 is officially supported, but that's because that's all they've officially tested. This guy says he got it working on his C5 no problemo:
If not, vanilla Open-WRT supports almost anything.
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/wiki/doku.php?id=qos
Dota2 still lags with heavy downloading but it's a large improvement over no QoS. You'll need to buy a compatible router for Gargoyle, many of the TP-Link ones work well.
The way you have it set up is as separate as they can get. The access point mode I mentioned is not a default so if you are unsure what it is then it's not likely you have gone through the steps to change it over to that. I would suggest a better router to be honest. The ones you have were great in their day, but that was ages ago.
This is a very nice one that won't set you back all that much either. It supports most of the major 3rd party firmwares as well. You may also want to look into an offshoot of OpenWRT called Gargoyle. Their page can be found here. I mention this one because it has a lot more bandwidth controls than others I've seen. It even allows you to set quotas for specific devices or a shared quota between a few devices as a group.
On your access point, modem, router, whatever you want to call it, (these days they're usually all of that and more rolled into one box) there's often a very advanced kind of tweaking you can do to your connection using Quality of Service metrics, which can prioritize one kind of network traffic over another, or favor certain computers or devices over others, or in this case, throttle outgoing network traffic going to the E:D servers down to a trickle, slowing the game's response time, to try to gain yourself a few extra seconds to sell the PD unit before you get D/C'ed.
This is a long-ass essay but is just about anything you might want to know about QoS in practice.
> If your router doesn't have a dns option (some dont) either get one from Gumtree[3] or Ebay[4] that already has DDWRT firmware (Opensource & awesome)
Gargoyle is pretty easy to use firmware based on OpenWRT. It's best to have a separate ADSL modem that you plug into the router though. TP-Link do good, cheap if slightly fragile routers that support gargoyle. And they do a good 1 port ADSL modem too. Total budget < $150.
Hi there you can get the C5 for £50 here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TP-Link-Archer-AC1200-C5-Cable-Router-/361405349794?hash=item54256fffa2:g:-yEAAOSwAYtWIZ5n If you are new to Openwrt all so have a look at Gargoyle. It's much more user friendly. http://www.gargoyle-router.com/index.php Gargoyle will run on both the c7 and c5 so which ever one you get you can stil use Gargoyle if you like the look of it. The newest build of Gargoyle 1.9 is baste on the CC branch of openwrt it's just the web interface that differs. I am tapper on the Gargoyle forum so if you giv it a go just give me a shout if you need any help. Happy flashing.
If you find DD-Wrt confusing (or even if you don't but want more features) then you may want to check out Gargoyle. It's based off of OpenWRT but has a really nice interface and a quota system that can really be a godsend if you are managing a lot of devices and want to reign in some heavy users. You can find it at http://www.gargoyle-router.com/
Spend $50* on a TP-LINK TL-WR1043ND V2 and install the Gargoyle Router Management Utility. That will get you the functionality you want.
*Or better yet, spend $85 and support the developers.
Primary router: TP-Link WDR3600 flashed with Gargoyle firmware. Working great with 5 perk devices and up to 24 devices connected with as many as 10 of them streaming (big household) without issues.
> TP Link WR-1043
Not sure if you feel comfortable trying this but I had that specific router you mention (the TPLINK) and it's one of the best routers for Gargoyle firmware which is MUCH MUCH better than the default. Even with default firmware I highly doubt it's being overloaded by your devices. If you are up for it though with gargoyle and that router you can setup qos rules, see bandwidth usage by device, even set quotas for other devices that automatically either slow all internet or block it entirely when reached. Extended my ranges quite a bit on wifi connections and allowed me to monitor what devices were using how much. After 2 years when the router finally died I decided to splurge on a higher end gaming router with 4 separate wifi networks with dedicated antennas to each, and I actually regret it, miss the flexibility and control I had with Gargoyle. http://www.gargoyle-router.com/wiki/doku.php?id=supported_routers_-_tested_routers Yours is in the first section here.
If you are thinking of buying a new router anyway, I'd at the very least try to flash the old router with DD-WRT or Gargoyle as you can boost your signal as well as a host of other more advanced settings, for free.
Have used DD-WRT in the past on the same router and it breathed new life into it.
If the old router still doesn't work for you, then go buy a new one as the recommendations suggest.
Good luck!
DDWRT is out of the box os. If you are lazy it's good but if you need more sophisticated features etc. it can be not enough.
OpenWRT for me is like real linux. You get simple ui and basic stuff. All the rest is in easy to download (from webui!) packages so you install stuff you only need.
If you want something in between I'd try Gargoyle. It's based on OpenWRT with a lot of features pre-installed, nice gui and easy to configure (but OpenWRT with GUI it's easy as well!).
You should just try all of them and pick one which fits you the best. I really like Gargoyle but on my router it had problems with MAC spoofing on WAN port so I'm sticking to OpenWRT for now.
Useful links: * 1.OpenWRT * 2.Gargoyle
P.S. Text formatting is never working for me :(
Hi Thomas, thanks for the feedback.
We are actually using OpenWRT as a base firmware. Our QoS is completely novel and doesn't work using lartc and qdiscs. We will post a paper soon with real world comparisons. Please follow us on twitter @netduma if you're interested in being notified when we publish it.
During our R&D we considered using a constant ping drip for detecting ISP bandwidth changes like Gargoyle. However we decided not to as it adds extra stress on the Internet but more importantly ping packets are often policed and shaped through the Internet so they may give invalid results. I don't want to take anything away from Paul Bixel and Gargoyles fantastic implementation though, people should definitely check them out as well!.
Additionally we have way more exciting features.
Gargoyle firmware will do everything you just said, plus tonnes more. It's just another flavour of open-wrt, but it has some really nice monitoring features, which is why I chose to use it for a similar reason to you (sharing Internet with lots of data hungry people).
It looks at all traffic passing through the WAN port, so as long as everyone's traffic passes through the gargoyle router prior to any NAT, then you're good.
You can look at -
- Web pages being browsed from each host.
- Connections that are open from each host (and their bandwidth / ports / total data usage).
- Total line bandwidth usage
- Total current bandwidth usage per host.
- Download (and upload) quota assignments and usage monitoring.
have you tried Gargoyle ? Its a derivative of dd-wrt with all the nice GUI and stuff.I use that all the time to throttle bandwidth of my bandwidth hogging porn-junkie roomie.
I would get a Gargoyle Router you can buy one of their preconfigured ones or you can set it up yourself if you have the hardware already. It will run on several models of routers. I'm running it on a wrt54g-tm which is an awesome router but there are a few more it runs on. dd-wrt may also have this kind on monitoring now but I'm not sure, it wasn't available around the time I was looking for a similar solution. The cool thing about the gargoyle firmware is that you can set up qoutas of bandwidth for each user and if they go over it you can have the router either shut them off of throttle their speed.
Here is something that could help you then. It's a firmware addon to the router that will do what you want it to do. There may be others that exist if this is not compatible with your router, but I do not know them.
Yeap. You can either upgrade firmware from gargoyle web GUI or from command line http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=3558#p28224 Go back to stock firmware is also easy http://www.friedzombie.com/tplink-stripped-firmware/
Hi dude all the things you want are already baked in to a fermwair. You dont have to do all this messing about. I no it's fun to learn but i use it and it's realy cool! It's called Gargoyle and it is built ontop of Openwrt 15.04. Here's a link. http://www.gargoyle-router.com/index.php Here's a grate post on the forum about it's fantastic QOS. http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=7635 I am a mod on the forum so if you need any help i will help as best as i can good luck.
Yep, a Netgear WNDR3700v2 running a fork of OpenWRT called Gargoyle.
Most routers these days are MIPS CPUs running on Linux operating systems. Custom firmware like Open-WRT just allows you root access to the Linux OS, so you can SSH into the command line and use commands like apt-get (or in Open-WRT's case, opkg-get) to download whatever Linux apps are on their repository. Plus the fancier web portal.
I would start by heading to http://advancedtomato.com/, downloading the firmware for the N16, flashing it and ... enjoying problem free internet access until I needed/wanted dual band wireless. At that point I would buy the best router that I can afford and that is supported by Gargoyle - http://www.gargoyle-router.com/download.php. I would set it up, and go about my life without ever thinking about it again.
It had been so long that I hadn't looked at my NETGEAR WNDRMACv2 running Gargoyle that I had to login just now to see what router I had.
Here ya go!
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/wiki/doku.php?id=supported_routers_-_tested_routers
There are three main CPU architectures they support:
Atheros AR71XX - this one is ideal.
Broadcom
and Atheros AR231X/531X
This list might be very old - there might be new Netgear WNDR routers with the same Alethros AR71xx architecture, for example. You might find more newer information on the forums.
Since Gargoyle is based on Open-WRT, you can use parts of their list as well:
http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/views/toh_extended_supported
Here's another good list that might be useful:
https://wiki.commotionwireless.net/doku.php/development_resources/router/hardware_compatibility_list
Just ctrl-F for "AR71" - any AR71 router confirmed working with Open-WRT is the best choice for Gargoyle, and if you can afford it, no less than 64mB of RAM.
You should try using Gargoyle-Router Firmware. It has an easy to configure page for setting up your own VPN server. It will run on the WR1043ND. I have a TP-Link WDR-3600 that i run it on, never had any problems, I got it specifically to run Gargoyle, never really tried the original firmware aside from using it for the initial upgrade.
You do need to "modify" your router in that you'll replace TP-Links firmware (Which is based on the same stuff gargoyle is), by updating it to gargoyle. The process is the same as if you where to apply a standard update from TP-Link, except you use gargoyle instead.
There are 2 different versions of the WR1043ND (v1 and v2), check either the manual or your router's current firmware should have it listed somewhere (perhaps on an "about" or "update" page). You can use gargoyle's "squashfs-factory" update for your version to upgrade it to gargoyle from the original firmware's upgrade page.
Check out Gargoyle firmware for routers.
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/index.php
You can put the firmware on compatible routers yourself, or if you are not comfortable doing so, you can buy pre-flashed routers from them.
DHCP is pretty vanilla, slap up a range and be assigned. Or assign them with a static IP according to their MAC. (I hope I answered your Q.)
Version 1.6.2. gives the following settings for quotas: 1) Entire Local Network 2) Only the following Host(s) 3) All individual hosts without explicit quotas. 4) All hosts without explicit quotas (combined) A link for more details regarding that: http://www.gargoyle-router.com/wiki/doku.php?id=quotas
The latter rules are the interesting ones. So you could go with a known/unknown approach. You know your family has a few devices and can assign IP's to them (as well as your own devices.) Create a quota that is fitting for the general needs with some good elbow room.
Then create a secondary quota for devices that are 'guests' or not assigned an IP/quota. Apply a rule such as X gigs a day/week. So regardless of who happens to hop on, they will automatically drop into that rule/quota. If your renter gets a new device and you're not around to assign it an IP. Not a problem. It drops into the secondary quota and you don't have to touch the router to assign anything.
Or there is one other thing you could do. Get another compatible router, drop gargoyle on it and have it connect to the existing wireless network as a client. Then configure it to be an access point simultaneously and broadcast a different SSID. Drop in the quota rules for the entire network and relocate the new unit to the rental.
I'd give gargoyle a go. With quotas being a nice perk within the software. You can set daily, weekly, monthly limits with the choice of either dropping their connection completely or throttle it. Just find a compatible router to drop it in on.
Most likely not. The provided routers are usually very limited. Some routers which can be loaded with the Tomato firmware can be set to cut connection after a limit. If you're not comfortable with that, maybe look into getting a Gargoyle Router
I'm not going to talk about the morality of what you're doing, as others have already done that, I will simply say that you would be wise to at least listen to what they have to say.
That being said, what you are trying to achieve is most commonly implemented on the router or gateway device to the internet. In the past I have used third party router firmware like Gargoyle, as it has lots of built in monitoring / connection control tools. Website tracking is one of them. I never used the website tracking though, for the same reasons that others have already stated.
Instead of tracking / logging what websites they were trying to access I simply enabled download quotas per device in the household and told my housemates what was going on. I.e. If you use my internet connection to illegally download movies then you'll burn through your months internet quota very quickly. This may be too much of a culture shift for you though. I live in Australia where all internet connections are capped out per GB, so people are already in the habit of rationing their download quotas.
There are also tools that exist to enable blacklisting of certain websites, which I see as being far less invasive than web tracking. To implement one of these you will need to use a gateway device (like a proxy server) that is capable of inspecting all web traffic and blocking sites that which match the blacklist.
Also, just throwing it out there that SOME (few) ISPs in some countries will actually offer parental controls on your internet connection to do this (blacklisting) at the ISP level. The downside of this is that it would block those sites for everyone, not just your new tenants.