Slashdot Mirror

See:
http://openwrt.ksilebo.net/
http://www.linksysinfo.com/
http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wifi-box/
http://sourceforge.net/projects/newbroadcom
etc.

It is Linux, and more or less Linux is equal to Linux. Many people are good in Linux development and administration ;-)

I'm using Open Wrt which works wonderfully. May not be as easy as sveasoft, but its free and actually comes with the source. In fact the main site only distributes source, though you can find binaries as well. There are also other options if you google around for a bit.

/*
* Copyright 2003, CyberTAN Inc. All Rights Reserved *

This is UNPUBLISHED PROPRIETARY SOURCE CODE of CyberTAN Inc.
the contents of this file may not be disclosed to third parties,
copied or duplicated in any form without the prior written
permission of CyberTAN Inc.

This software should be used as a reference only, and it not
intended for production use!

THIS SOFTWARE IS OFFERED "AS IS", AND CYBERTAN GRANTS NO WARRANTIES OF ANY
KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, BY STATUTE, COMMUNICATION OR OTHERWISE. CYBERTAN
SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS
FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE OR NONINFRINGEMENT CONCERNING THIS SOFTWARE
*/

See this post about source code comments in the Linksys source release which explicitly prohibit any redistribution, and this post regarding linksys.

In brief, what sveasoft is working on is a forked version of Linksys's source code release. Linksys's release was already highly questionable in regards to GPL compliance, since it does not include source code for all of the binaries included, particularly the wl.o module. In addition Linksys included in their source distribution a great deal of source code which claims to be proprietary and non-redistributable.

This is IMHO the elephant in the room that nobody's talking about, and it affects wifibox just as much as sveasoft.

I'd urge anyone interested in wrt54g development who is concerned about these GPL issues to check out OpenWRT, which aims to be a fully GPL-compatible clean-room implementation of Linux for this hardware (they use Linksys's modified version of the kernel, but not much else).

I think it's clear now that Jimmy-the_great_businessman made a big mistake while dreaming about his great and rich future. It's clear now the the 'company' he have found will finish it's life soon. Let's speed up the process a bit with common efforts.

Here are all the new and old projects and places where you can get an alternative code:

New Broadcom
Firmware forked from Sveasoft Alchemy code
http://sourceforge.net/projects/newbroadcom/

Rustam's Download Mirror
Download both binaries and sources of Alchemy
http://freewrt.da.ru/

Annejuul's Download Mirror
Download Alchemy binaries
http://www.30mb.com/x/annejuul/

EWRT
Linux for WRT54G hotspots
http://www.portless.net/ewrt/

OpenWrt
OpenWrt - Wireless Freedom
http://openwrt.ksilebo.net/

Wifi-Box
Wifi-Box Firmware for WRT54G
http://sourceforge.net/projects/wifi-box/

FreeWRT Mailing List
Stay up to date about Linksys FW projects
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/freewrt/

suckers must die

I had been using/following the Sveasoft firmware for some time.

Here are a few fun facts:

1. In a post on the sveasoft forum (a post long since deleted) Svea himself said that he had set up a paypal donation site. He claimed that this was opt in, and that he would NEVER charge for the firmware releases, but appreciated any donation. He has since done a complete 180, and decided that he owns this source. The removal of anyone who donated originally from the source distribution list seems to imply a breach of contract as svea obtained this money under false pretenses.

2. Svea is simply using the cross-compile environment to add functionality to the WRT. This firmware has almost no original software. Anyone with a working knowledge of linux could compile software for the WRT (as I have) and add any functionality they would like. He simply adds a few web pages that allow it to be configured without linux knowledge. To a non-techie this appears to be magic.... In reality he is profiting from much more GPL code.

3. Svea has always deleted any posts that questioned his GPL compliance. Back in April I voiced my concerns, and was silenced without so much as a single legitimate response to any of my concerns.

4. There are better firmwares. My personal favorite is Openwrt which supports the same level of functionality, AND has a writable filesystem.



GPL compliance or not, this project can be easily thwarted by lack of demand. If people stop wasting their money on it, the user base dries up, and Svea opens his project, or disappears.

For an alternative, check out the linksys wrt54g and the wrt54gs.
Linksys has released the full source code and build environment to these routers enabling you to extend the linux install that these are based on.

These devices are not as powerful as the meshbox, but they are much cheaper. They also have more ethernet ports to add a switch/dmz/whatever, although there's only a single wireless device.

Multiple projects have sprung up to extend the functionality of these routers, along with a bunch of informational sites about other hacking projects

I just bought one 2 days ago and set it up, I think it did have security on by default- but the admin passwd is just admin by default. Gotta be simple on some level for end-users I suppose.

batbox, EWRT or OpenWRT will let you really have fun with this hardware.

only a base system, which can be customized for your needs.