On Wednesday, January 9, 2019 9:05:56 AM EST Chris Adams wrote:
It's the difference between using a multitool and a purpose-built tool. Sure, your Leatherman or Gerber can strip wires and screw in a switch, but a good pair of wire strippers and assorted size screwdrivers will usually be more convenient (and quicker) to use.
I cannot think of a more dishonest comparison. A multitool cannot be easily reconfigured to meet a given purpose. A multitool could not be made to be as ergonomic and efficient of a screwdriver as a real screwdriver, for example. With Fedora, you can configure the system to be anything you could ever need.
OpenWrt is a light-weight system designed for router setups. It has an integrated web UI (for those that want it) that can configure and monitor traffic, and all configuration normally needed is in a small set of config files in one directory and in a common format (makes management much easier for occasional edits).
Sure, and if you're alright with throwing up something in a system you're unfamiliar with, or you don't have time to properly manage yet another system, maybe it's a good idea.
There are things that OpenWrt does easily that Fedora doesn't do at all; for example, the web UI on OpenWrt includes real-time traffic graphs. I don't know of anything that can provide that in Fedora.
There are several packages that you could install to show you real-time statistics of your system's network interfaces (including virtual interfaces). Cockpit is one which the Fedora Server folks put in their default image.
Also, OpenWrt uses much less resources than any general-purpose OS install, so costs less.
This isn't necessarily true. It would depend heavily on what you install, and how you configure it. Out of box? Sure.