Firmware v2.93 Poll (creating space on 2mb flash routers)

[thechief]

We are running out of space for new features in the firmwares for routers with 2mb flash and 8mb RAM, because of the smallness of the flash memory. There are a number of features that take up valuable space which can be used for other things (e.g., to make space for a 64kb minix read/write partition, and other useful things).

We need to make decisions on whether to keep supporting routers with 2mb flash, and, if so, what current features are the least used, making them suitable for removal. These are the current candidates:

1. the ftpfs driver + ftpmount (46k + 9k uncompressed) - how many people actually make any use of ftpfs?
2. the USB driver (86k uncompressed) - how many people actually make any use of the USB port on these routers?
3. upnp (85k uncompressed) - it doesn't really make any sense to run upnp on low memory routers

This poll is to allow users of RT firmwares on low memory routers to express their views on which of these features is the least used and therefore slated for possible removal from the RT firmwares for these routers.

Note that there is always the choice to remove nothing, and simply stop updating the firmwares for these routers.

Thanks.

[thechief]

Thanks to all those who took part in the poll.

Verdict:
It seems that the candidates are ftpfs and the usb driver. They are both very close, and ftpfs comes out slightly worse off - but the logical choice for the axe is the usb driver, because [a] removing it frees up the largest amount of space, most 2mb-flash routers do not have a usb port, and [c] it is just one file, which is straightforward to process after downloading it from the RouterTech repository (see the "individual downloads" section).

The usb driver is already available for separate download from the repository, as are upnp and ftpfs. Firmware v2.93 will have scripts that will automatically fetch any one of ftpfs, usb and upnp, extract the files, and load the drivers. So those who really need USB will still have easy access to it.

There will also be "lite" versions of the firmwares for routers with 2mb flash. This will have all the candidates removed from the firmware. Those who don't need any of these candidates for removal should feel comfortable with the lite versions. But they will still be available for download from the repository.

This poll is now closed.