Optware is a free software

package manager A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner. A package manager deals wi ...

for

embedded system An embedded system is a computer system—a combination of a computer processor, computer memory, and input/output peripheral devices—that has a dedicated function within a larger mechanical or electronic system. It is ''embedded'' as ...

s. Originally developed as a distribution mechanism for the

Unslung Unslung is an open source firmware for the Linksys NSLU2. It is based on the stock Linksys firmware. Due to the device running Linux, and therefore being licensed under, and subject to the terms of the GNU General Public License, Linksys released ...

Linux distribution A Linux distribution (often abbreviated as distro) is an operating system made from a software collection that includes the Linux kernel and, often, a package management system. Linux users usually obtain their operating system by downloading one ...

for the

Linksys Linksys is an American brand of data networking hardware products mainly sold to home users and small businesses. It was founded in 1988 by the couple Victor and Janie Tsao, both Taiwanese immigrants to the United States. Linksys products incl ...

NSLU2 The NSLU2 (Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives) is a network-attached storage (NAS) device made by Linksys introduced in 2004 and discontinued in 2008. It makes USB flash memory and hard disks accessible over a network using the SMB pro ...

, Optware has been adopted by a variety of hobbyist communities and device developers. Optware has been used on a number of platforms, including the

webOS webOS, also known as LG webOS and previously known as Open webOS, HP webOS and Palm webOS, is a Linux kernel-based multitasking operating system for smart devices such as smart TVs that has also been used as a mobile operating system. Initially ...

community working on the

Palm Pre The Palm Pre , styled as palm prē, is a multitasking smartphone that was designed and marketed by Palm with a multi-touch screen and a sliding keyboard. The smartphone was the first to use Palm's Linux-based mobile operating system, webOS. The ...

and Pixi, the WL-500g, WL-HDD, WL-500gx, WL-500gP

Asus routers ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated (Asus) manufactures a series of network routers directly competing with Linksys routers from Belkin. The Asus series of routers usually ship with Broadcom chipsets, faster processors and more memory than average, ...

, Plug computers ( Pogoplug V1, V2, Pro, Biz, Dockstars, etc.), Asustor and Synology NAS devices. In late 2010, the first Optware for Android was released by the Novaports team for the

Nook Color The Nook Color is a tablet computer/e-reader that was marketed by Barnes & Noble. A tablet with multitouch touchscreen input, it is the first device in the Nook line to feature a full-color screen. The device is designed for viewing of books, ...

. Optware is no longer maintained. The authors have switched to Optware-ng.

Supported platforms

Optware packages currently run on the following devices: * Linksys

with

firmware In computing, firmware is a specific class of computer software that provides the low-level control for a device's specific hardware. Firmware, such as the BIOS of a personal computer, may contain basic functions of a device, and may provide h ...

with

USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard that establishes specifications for cables, connectors and protocols for connection, communication and power supply (interfacing) between computers, peripherals and other computers. A broad v ...

and WL-700gE WL-HDD with Oleg's or

OpenWrt OpenWrt (from ''open wireless router'') is an open-source project for embedded operating systems based on Linux, primarily used on embedded devices to route network traffic. The main components are Linux, util-linux, musl, and BusyBox. All com ...

DD-WRT DD-WRT is Linux-based firmware for wireless routers and access points. Originally designed for the Linksys WRT54G series, it now runs on a wide variety of models. DD-WRT is one of a handful of third-party firmware projects designed to replace ...

* Certain Netgear routers with

Tomato The tomato is the edible berry of the plant ''Solanum lycopersicum'', commonly known as the tomato plant. The species originated in western South America, Mexico, and Central America. The Mexican Nahuatl word gave rise to the Spanish word ...

firmware * Asustor on their entire AS-xxxx range * Synology DS-101, DS-101g+ and DS-101j with custom bootstrapping * QNAP Turbo NAS *

Maxtor Maxtor was an American computer hard disk drive manufacturer. Founded in 1982, it was the third largest hard disk drive manufacturer in the world before being purchased by Seagate in 2006. History Overview In 1981, three former IBM employ ...

Shared Storage with OpenMSS firmware * Maxtor Shared Storage II (MSSII) with custom bootstrapping * Iomega NAS 100d with LudeOS *

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

N800/N810 from cs05q1armel feed (install ipkg-opt) * Freecom FSG-3 with custom bootstrapping *

, Pre Plus,

Palm Pixi The Palm Pixi and Pixi Plus are multimedia smartphones, developed by Palm, which was purchased in 2010 by HP. The device is viewed as a successor to the Palm Centro smartphone and was Palm's second webOS device, after the Palm Pre. The phones ...

, Pixi Plus,

Emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run so ...

and HP TouchPad (with ipkg-opt from Preware) * Plug computers (

Sheevaplug The SheevaPlug is a "plug computer" designed to allow standard computing features in as small a space as possible. As one of the first such computers on the market, the device has a 1.2 GHz Marvell Technology Group, Marvell Kirkwood 6281 AR ...

, Pogoplug V1, V2, Pro, Biz, Dockstar, etc.) *

WD TV The WD TV is a consumer device that was produced by Western Digital which plays videos, images, and music from USB drives or network locations. The device was introduced in 2008 and played high-definition video through an HDMI port, and standar ...

devices running WDLXTV custom firmware (WD TV Gen 1, WD TV Live, etc.) * Android devices (

, etc.) * e-ink Kindle devices *TP-Link WR1043nd v1 with DD-WRT firmware

References

External links

*
Optware FeedsOptware source codeOptware-ng source codeEntware
an alternative to Optware. Linux package management-related software NSLU2-Linux {{Linux-stub