Gargoyle OpenWRT Router Management Utility Reviewed, Briefly

I stumbled across what looked to be another WRT54GL-compatible flash upgrade for routers.  Neat!  I've been looking for a new base, on which to build the minor customizations I do, for a while now.  Ever since OpenWRT went all Kamikaze and dropped NVRAM support, thus becoming valueless and useless to me, I've been in need of another source to tune.

Enter Gargoyle.  It's mainly a set of UI tools, like X-WRT, built on an OpenWRT 8.09 Kamikaze platfo--

F A I L

That was far too quick, and I'm disappointed they chose a platform that renders their product similarly valueless for me.  Its feature set looked really impressive:

• easy QoS config with sensible throttle rules (and, new, improved monitor/throttle points, it seems)
• easy monitoring of pipe drains, on a per-machine basis too
• simplified bridging setup -- which is a potential pain in the ass they've totally alleviated
• lazy?  Go buy a new router with Gargoyle installed.  Click, Buy, Sign for the Fedex.  How easy is that?

In all, to believe the (believable) brochure, it looks like a project in motion and active; just missing a market due to the reduced potential in the upstream product they're improving.  Hobbyists with 1-2 routers, probably at their own location so they're easy to reach and personally reconfigure after the upgrades render them non-routing vegetables, may find this useful.  Those of you who are either hobbyists with routers providing the routing at offsite locations, or those who have more than 1-2 routers total, may want to consider something which effectively uses the non-volatile RAM within the units to store settings in such a way that it survives the upgrade.

Unfortunately, basing their project on OpenWRT 8.09 limits their potential and cuts them out of a significant non-niche market.  SOHOs, branch offices, those who've grabbed a $50 router to use as a very capable $500 router, will find this product is not a suitable upgrade because of this early decision.  And the real pity here is that potentially a lot of work, by apparently a good and active bunch of very smart people, is rendered moot.