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Apr
07
|
DISCLAIMER: If you decide to flash ANY device with something other than the Vendors correct firmware then you are on your own!!!
Moving on from a previous post the other day regarding "Supercharge Your Wireless Router With Open Firmware – Wired How-To Wiki" I was chatting to my brother and it turns out that he has recently been having troubles with his Billion device and as a consequence of it being out of warranty he decided to buy an ASUS WL-500G
And now I can see why, not only is it a Wireless Access Point with ADSL but it also has 2 x USB 2.0 ports as well so that this can effectively act as a mini NAS unit as well by hosting additional storage <see table below>
Model
|
Ver.
|
Platform & Hz
|
Flash
|
RAM
|
Wireless NIC
|
Switch
|
USB
|
Status
|
WL-500g Deluxe
|
|
Broadcom 5365 @ 200MHz
|
4MB
|
32MB
|
Broadcom (integrated)
|
in CPU
|
2x v2.0
|
Supported
|
WL-500g Premium
|
1
|
Broadcom 4704 @ 266MHz
|
8MB
|
32MB
|
Broadcom 4318 (mini-PCI)
|
BCM5325
|
2x v2.0
|
Supported
|
WL-500g Premium
|
2
|
Broadcom 5354 @ 240MHz
|
8MB
|
32MB
|
Broadcom (integrated)
|
?
|
2x v2.0 (SMC USB2520)
|
WiP
|
WL-500W
|
|
Broadcom 4704 @ 266MHz
|
8MB
|
32MB
|
Broadcom 4321 (mini-PCI)
|
BCM5325
|
2x v2.0
|
WiP/Kamikaze
|
But the real neat part is that with his help I was also able to discover that there is a complete OpenSource effort at OpenWrt
About OpenWrt
OpenWrt is an extensible Linux distribution that runs on Linksys WRT54G/GS routers, as well as some related hardware. Unlike many other distributions for these routers, OpenWrt is built from the ground up to be a full-featured, easily modifiable operating system for your router. In practice, this means that you can have all the features you need with none of the bloat, powered by a Linux kernel that’s more recent than most other distributions.
This is where I obtained the information in the table above (link – TableofHardware) – at the very least if you are considering purchasing some form of Wireless Access Point then you should really glance through this table and satisfy yourself that have made the right choice on Hardware?
So back to OpenWrt, is it for you? well it is based on Linux so it is somewhat command line driven etc. and it’s more than likely that as much as this might provide a benefit to some, they will be put off by the install method and the possibility of bricking their device?
So if that is the case then simply move on to: X-Wrt, "OpenWrt for end users"
About Us:
X-Wrt was started because there was a need for end user extensions to OpenWrt, such as an enhanced web management console (webif). For a long time now it has been established that OpenWrt is the best firmware in its class. It far exceeds other firmwares in performance, stability, extensibility, robustness, and design. We at X-Wrt decided it was long past time for end users to get access to this superior firmware.
We are a separate project from OpenWrt due to the difference in focus and development ideals. We are considerably more pragmatic than OpenWrt and have the goal of providing solutions today, while OpenWrt has a more idealistic development philosophy and intends to perfect the firmware core, no matter how many rewrites and how much time it takes. This difference in development attitude creates a complimentary atmosphere that benefits everyone.
So how easy is this to install? Follow the screen shots from here at Installation
