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Hacking Samsung 4510-Based APs
zoobab writes "Some belgian linux hackers met this week-end to hack some wireless access points based on the samsung4510 chip. They have succeeded in compiling and booting a uClinux kernel on a Dlink 614ap+, which is equipped with the infamous acx100 wireless chipset. There's still some work to do, but if you want to help, open your 22mbps AP and try to built your own JTAG adaptator to get access to the flash..."
The new Minitar (www.minitar.com) access point runs Linux. It uses the Realtek RTL8181 SoC (it's MIPS based) and if you look in the Minitar forum you will find the link for the source code. Unfortunately the good stuff such as the wireless core driver is in binary form only. Hopefully this will change soon.
The Linksys WRT54G runs on Linux. a lot of hacking done on them. some have even boosted its power output by send it command through its ping utility.
THIS is the kind of article that I started
reading slashdot for, pre-dotcom.
YuGo, girl.
-I like my women like I like my tea: green-
here
Very quickly I wish to say thank you to these hackers and similar programmers working on extending hardwares beyond original manufacturer intentions. I run a small business in India selling computer components. Many times, I am able to get much more out of inexpensive hardware due to peoples projects. In the developing world we simply cannot afford the high prices manufacturers are charging for certain equipment, but with these projects we are able to succeed. Many thanks. Rushabh.
The linux hacker
Not to mention, what the heck is an adaptator?
I don't think it's wise to plug a potato into an AP
Need a Catering Connection
JTAG adaptator
Is that like Tator Tots? Say, I'm hungry.
/me heads to kitchen for some overprocessed potato goodness.
Dlink 614ap+, which is equipped with the infamous acx100 wireless chipset.
I have this router (and I have been nothing but pleased with it), and would like to know why the acx100 chipset is considered infamous. It seems to function correctly and the 22Mbps is a nice bonus when used with the compliant cards. Where (or rather what)'s the beef?
A cook is nice. Cookbooks are better.
People make free drivers because the stupid devices are everwhere but limited by software. It takes lots of capital to make semiconductor devices, so there are only a few companies that do. Because of this, almost all hardware uses one of a dozen chipsets made for that kind of device. This is why Knoppix fits on a single CD and recognizes thousands of devices. Once you get a free driver, many devices can be used and you don't have to go out and buy a new one because the vendor does not make a non-free driver for the next eXPensive OS from M$. There are enough people interested in free drivers to get them. The pace is picking up and the quality is very impressive. Device drivers are a showcase of the effieciency of free software development. Everyone wins when a device driver comes out.
Especially since virtually all such efforts result in a device less flexible, less reliable and harder to use than the original. (XBox?)
Now you are a real troll. Obviously an Xbox that both runs M$'s games AND free software is more felxible than an Xbox that only plays M$ games.
Usability based on installability is the achilles heel of Linux for the masses.
So is the ignorance you display, except it's much easier to hit than a tendon.
installing Linux by destroying a perfectly good AP is no more useful than installing it on a stapler.
A stapler does not do iptables, run configuration utilities over a web server or act as a meshpoint. More importantly, your stapler won't tell other people about your bank account, herpese medication and other stuff most people would like to keep to themselves.
Right now, a typical PC user without Linux is like an Astronaut without an accordian.
A typical comercial software user is much like a typical free software user, except they are $400 poorer, have no privacy, suffer frequent crashes, and have to buy all new hardware every three years. Oh wait, that's nothing like the typical Linux user.
t intruder, you don't get paid enough to write such drivel but you are not worth what you are paid.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
In a related note, Linksys/Broadcom have released source code and the toolchain used in the wrt54g access point. They even have instructions on how to build your own firmware.
Everything you need to build your own firmware is available in version 1.42.2
Note that my wrt54g linux distribution won't work with version 1.42.2 unless your modify the firmware to re-enable the wrt54g "ping hack"
Some Belgian Linux programmers ("hackers" because they have worked out how to get hardware to do things other than what it was intended to) met this week-end to get Linux running on DLink 614ap+ wireless networking access points (the little receivers that act like hubs or swtiches for wireless networks). (DLink is the brand, and 614ap+ is the model.) These access points have CPUs in them to handle configuration tasks and whatnot. The CPU in these particular access points was the Samsung 4510 chip. They have compiled and run a specialized, stripped down version of Linux called "uClinux" (the uC is an abbreviation of "microcontroller"; the micro symbol looks like a "u") on the microcontroller in the access point.
The access points also contain a Texas Instruments ACX100 wireless chipset, which does the signal processing necessary for the 802.11b protocol that the device supports. The ACX100 also allows devices to communicate at 22mbps with other wireless network cards or access points that use the ACX100, using a proprietary method. This chipset has caused headaches for Linux users (PC Linux users) who own wireless networking cards that use this chipset, because Texas Instruments haven't released documentation on how the chipset works. This makes writing a device driver difficult, and so Linux users can't use wireless networking if they own a wireless network card based on these chipsets.
There's still some work to do. (I think they mean that they haven't worked out how to use the ACX100 from the microcontroller.) If you want to help, and you've got one of these access points (i.e. it says it supports 22mbps and 802.11b), open up your access point. Once it is open, build a JTAG adaptor (JTAG is a protocol that is used to communicate with embedded microcontrollers and programmable hardware). Get your JTAG adaptor to plug into your PC (probably via a serial or parallel port) and read or re-write the flash memory (i.e. the memory where the program code that runs on the microcontroller is stored). If you can read the memory, sending the memory contents to these people might help them understand how the ACX100 works in more detail. I doubt you'd want to re-write the memory unless you're testing code with them and you're willing to end up with a useless brick instead of a wireless access point. From their screenshots, they have written a bootloader that they write to the access point's flash memory. The bootloader downloads uCLinux from one of the computers plugged into it (i.e. normal wired ethernet), and runs it.