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Linux Distro For Linksys WRT54G
scubacuda writes "Here is a tiny Linux distro for the Linksys wrt54g (d/l the distro here). In just a few seconds, you can give your access point's ramdisk syslog, telnetd, httpd (with cgi-bin support), vi, snort, mount, insmod, rmmod, top, grep, etc."
Interesting -- "The script installs strictly to the ram disk of the box. No permanent changes are made. If you mess something up, power-cycle it."
yeah i was looking and i hit refresh and his counter jumped about 200 hits in a couple seconds so heres the article in case slashdot kills another site:
/var/modules/ in the following order : sunrpc.o, lockd.o, nfs.o then mount your disk.
/var/bin/snort -c /var/etc/snort.conf &
/var/log/snort
Jim Buzbee
September 05 2003
Mini wrt54g distribution Version 0.1
This is a mini Linux distribution for the Linksys wrt54g. In about 20 seconds, you can install a small set of Linux tools to your access point's ramdisk.
Upon completion of the installation, you will have a system with basic tools such as syslog, telnetd, httpd (with cgi-bin support), vi, snort, mount, insmod, rmmod, top, grep, etc.
To install, modify the script wrt54g.sh for your ip address and password. By default the script uses Java to move files to the wrt54g. If you would prefer wget, uncomment the wget lines in the script. I had a problem with older version of wget translating escaped characters before passing the URL on to the server. Your mileage may vary.
The distribution has been tested on firmware version v1.30.7, Jul. 8, 2003. The installation has been tested on Linux and OSX
The script installs strictly to the ram disk of the box. No permanent changes are made. If you mess something up, power-cycle it.
Upon successful execution of the script, you will be able to telnet to your box and start exploring its capabilities. Note that there is no login prompt, you telnet directly in as root. Be careful.
An alternate web server is installed on port 8000 of the box.
The nfs drivers are not loaded by default If you would like to mount a nfs disk, insmod the drivers from
To run snort, execute the following command on the box :
The snort configuration file should be changed for your network configuration and needs. Snort logs will be written to
If you wish to change the files sent to the box, untar distro.tar and add or subtract files. Normally you should not run the install script more than once for a power-cycle of the box. i.e. if you want to run the install again, reset the wrt54g first.
I have attempted to limit all changes to the ram disk, but there are no guarantees that you will not damage your unit by using these tools.
Download the distribution
Visit my wrt54g snort page
Thanks to Ross Jordan, C. J. Collier, Ben Grech and others who did the heavy lifting in figuring out how to get new code on the box
Jim Buzbee jbuzbee@nyx.net
consolevision roxors!
The "ssh tunnels are very bad performance" statement may be elaborated a bit more on this page titled "Why TCP Over TCP Is A Bad Idea".
It does, here.