Originally Posted by
MrFatbooty
Maybe I'm just not nerdy enough, but that DD-WRT site is so cryptic as to not give much indication of what exactly DD-WRT is except for something to do with routers, and GPL software, and it had some screenshot of what looked to be a router control panel but no apparent explanation of what all this was. Only when I looked it up elsewhere did I figure out what the hell DD-WRT is.
The damn simple explination (which you have probably already come to the conclusion) is that DD-WRT takes the standard ability of some wireless routers, pumps up the features to have more flexability, more options and get your hands on some things (like signal strength) that the unit can physically do but the standard firmware doesn't allow you to.
It's able to do this and for free because it is made from Linux. Which is also used in routers, servers, workstations, desktops and many other things. It's free and has lots of features and options. Gives you much more freedom to tweak things. But it also is simple enough that it works, even if you don't need to tweak things.