Originally created for the Linksys

Linksys

Linksys by Cisco, commonly known as Linksys, is a brand of home and small office networking products now produced by Cisco Systems, though once a separate company founded in 1995 before being acquired by Cisco in 2003...

 NSLU2

NSLU2

The NSLU2 is a Network-attached storage 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 protocol...

 Unslung

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 licensed under, and subject to the terms of the GNU General Public License, Linksys released the source code....

 firmware, Optware is an advanced package manager used for distribution of additional software packages on various operating systems.
Optware was originally developed as a distribution mechanism for software for the Unslung

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 licensed under, and subject to the terms of the GNU General Public License, Linksys released the source code....

 Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 project for the Linksys

Linksys

Linksys by Cisco, commonly known as Linksys, is a brand of home and small office networking products now produced by Cisco Systems, though once a separate company founded in 1995 before being acquired by Cisco in 2003...

 NSLU2

NSLU2

The NSLU2 is a Network-attached storage 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 protocol...

 (a small low cost network storage device). That consumer storage device ran on Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

, and the community opened it up, but they needed a lightweight distribution mechanism for their lightweight devices.

Since 2004 Optware has been adopted by a variety of Linux

Linux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...

 communities and device developers including the webOS community working on the Palm Pre

Palm Pre

The Palm Pre is a multimedia smartphone 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...

 and Pixi, and developers for devices as diverse as Asus

ASUS

ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated is a multinational computer technology and consumer electronics product manufacturer headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. Its product range includes motherboards, desktops, laptops, monitors, tablet PCs, servers and mobile phones...

 WL-500g,WL-HDD, WL-500gx, WL-500gP Asus routers

Asus routers

ASUSTeK Computer Incorporated manufactures a series of network routers directly competing with Linksys routers from Cisco.The Asus series of routers usually ship with Broadcom chipsets, relatively faster processors and more memory, removable antennas, and USB ports for expansion...

, the Synology

Synology

For information of Sinology, Chinese Studies, see here.Synology Inc , founded in April 2000, is a Taiwanese company that produces network attached storage appliances for the SOHO and SMB/SME...

 DS-101, Plug computer

Plug computer

A plug computer is a small form factor server for use in the home or office. Compared to their PC-based counterparts, plug computers are lower cost, consume less power, often do not have a video card, and are intended to be powered up at all times...

 (PogoPlug V1, V2, Pro, Biz, Dockstars, etc.) and DS-101g+ NAS devices.