Overview
Optware was originally developed as a distribution mechanism for software for the Unslung Linux project for the Linksys NSLU2 (a small low cost network storage device). That consumer storage device ran on Linux and was later modified to run custom firmware by the developer community.
Since 2004 Optware has been adopted by a variety of Linux communities and device developers including the webOS community working on the Palm Pre and Pixi, the WL-500g, WL-HDD, WL-500gx, WL-500gP Asus routers, the Synology DS-101, Plug computer (PogoPlug V1, V2, Pro, Biz, Dockstars, etc.) and DS-101g+ NAS devices. In late 2010, the first Optware for Android was released by the Novaports team for the Barnes & Noble Nook Color. Optware now is not limited to Unslung Linux but runs on a variety of distributions, such as the DD-WRT firmware.
At its core, Optware is a package manager to allow you to easily install and uninstall cross-compiled linux applications on your device over the internet. At this time, Optware supports the automatic download and installation of over 1500 programs.
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