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Hacking the Linksys WRT54G
knightrdr writes "Robert X. Cringely has posted an interesting article on the PBS web site about modifying the Linksys WRT54G wireless G broadband router to build a wireless layer on top of the Internet. He argues that with as little as a $70 investment per node, the Sveasoft WRT54G Firmware could be the first in a line of many wireless devices to enable a giant leap forward for the Internet."
It's a dupe, was posted on friday. Still one of the better cringely columns...
only a base system, which can be customized for your needs.
The next article will be ready soon, but Slashdot editors can dupe it early!
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broadband is easy to get. just live in an apartment where there are 3 or 4 unprotected wireless nodes.
Evolution or ID?
EWRT, from Portless Networks (a fork of Sveasoft)
Wi-Fi Box
Ahh... the wonders of OSS and GPL. :-)
I feel like my intelligence is being insulted by the pervasive labeling of these devices by Linksys as "Wireless G" and "Wireless B" (as opposed to "802.11g" and "802.11b"). Why can't any technical term ever remain unadulterated by end-users and marketeers? Yeesh. What's next, they'll start referring to the "Linux Kernel 2.6" as "PenguinPopper 2004"?
Honey, I shrunk the Cygwin
Ummmmm...it's GPL'd. They cannot put any restrictions on distribution other than those implied and expressed within the GPL itself (unless my understanding is incorrect). I am a paying Sveasoft subscriber, and all that gets me is access to the betas and pre-releases which aren't available to non-paying. Oh, and I can download the PDF manual.
From the article, it seems that Cringely perceives this as being an idea which could put your local phone company out of business.
Would this be the same local phone company which provides the ADSL link this would require?
I would like to say that there is not only Linksys, but all Broadcom based routers (Trendnet TEW-411BRP, Belkin F5D7230, Motorola, Asustek wl300g et wl500g, Buffalo Airstation, Dell Truemobile2300).
u te rs
See:
http://seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/BroadcomRo
There is also the other APs based on Intersil:
http://isl3893.sf.net
I'm not alone here in being more interested in stuff like that than in WISPs, am i? A Cisco-like router (at least as far as the interface goes) for $70 or so would be awesome. :,)
You asked the question wrong. On Slashdot, if you wanted to find out how to do VOIP, you have to say:
"VOIP is a dead technology. You can't implement it. There aren't and headsets or software available, and it doesn't scale between countries well."
This will cause the modern geek to feel challenged, and he'll reveal your answers as he rebukes you.
-----Buy the ticket, take the ride.-----
That's only partially true. What you're talking about are pre-release versions of the firmware. Sveasoft has said that release versions will be available to the public completely for free.
Also, the redistribution clause you're talking about is a little vague. No one "instantly loses access to future versions" as you so carelessly put it. This link helps clarify:
Sveasoft Faq
I suspect they don't want people redistributing the source, but pointing to Sveasoft for support issues. It's not an uncommon thing in free software...check out some of the DVD Shrink and VCD Easy support horror stories. Both of these products were included in software packages without the developers' consent, and any support issues were forwarded to the developers.
With regards to the "restrictive development model," I believe that it became a pain in the ass supporting their pre-release versions for free. People bitched about features not being available, demanded the source code to prereleases (rightly so, according to the GPL, but to hear Sveasoft talk about it, they were rude about it), and in general, were assholes about the software (it's getting pretty typical for people to be jerks about free software, while paying an arm-and-a-leg for Microsoft's software and being complacent..boggles the mind). Anyway, requiring people to pay for the binaries seems to have greatly reduced the amount of crap that goes through the forums. There's now a subscriber-only forum that has fewer demands and accusations in it. The source code is freely available to anyone who pays for the binaries, as is completely allowed by the GPL (you only have to provide the source to people you give the binaries to).
Personally, I run OpenWRT (http://openwrt.ksilebo.net/) on my WRT54G. In my opinion, it is better, and my contact with the developers so far on IRC has been wonderfull.
:-)
Check it out, and a WRT54G (or the WRT54GS) is a nice investment, even if it was just for its geekyness
They can't put any restrictions on redistribution, but they can revoke your subscription at any time for any reason. Technically, they still have to provide the source to anything they provided you, but revoking your subscription means they don't have to provide you with any more updates.
This means a WISP in a box for everyone - and LinSpot handles the roaming between all linspots and fills your PayPal account while you sleep (and while others roam).
I guess it will take the LinSpot crew a couple of weeks to iron the bugs out and release this for your enjoyement.
We just ordered two new NIC's for our Cisco load balancer. They cost $1000 (one thousand) each. We needed them, we had the budget, blah blah blah.
We got them, and we looked at them, and for the life of me, they looked like cheesy $15 PCI no-name-brand NICs.
We got the FCC approval number, and guess what... they were $15 PCI no-name-brand NICs. We just learned a $2K lesson.
Won't make that mistake again.
I would like to know where he gets the dollar values from at the bottom of the article? He starts to toss out how much money an access point will start to make but no real values to back it up.. come one.. you need some sort of proper accounting..
:)
Almost sounds like a get rich scam, look at how much money you can make by buying this device. Just like the gold rush, very few made money on gold, everyone got rich selling shovel's and supplies to the masses..
Another cringley article that is partially based on facts, partially on fiction..
... if a single damned one of the web pages gave me a good couple of concrete examples of what the payoff is of installing one of these alternatives. That is, beyond whatever disease makes so many linux users desperate to install linux on their toaster, pda and remote control. OpenWRT touts being small with a focus on installable packages, EWRT says what they have up on the others is the captive portal but none of them have an entry in their FAQ that answers "Why would I replace this currently functioning, rarely crashing pre-installed firmware and features with something else? Does it DO anything other than bragging rights at the geek pub?" And yes you troll, I know some have bandwidth shaping and other features but any software that purports to be a solution to a problem might want to identify that problem right off the bat or it should just call itself devTitsOnaBull.
Bad management trumps ideology - Show the world you want better leadership. http://www.timefornewmanagement.com
The core firmware of these routers runs linux, and as such Linksys was compelled to offer the source code back to the community. Sveasoft was kind enough to modify the firmware using the provided source and to then provide compiled binaries and source back to the community.
p hp?t=1259
Now they've changed their model somewhat. Currently you can only download the binaries and source for the older versions of the firmware. To access any of their newer works, you have to pay them a $20/year subscription fee. Once you've ponied up the $20, you can download the new sources and binaries.
While the GPL allows for this sort of action, it's their policing of it that makes me uncomfortable. You can download the code and binaries and post them on a website, but if they figure out which user did this they will cancel your subscription. If you post links in their forums to download sites for their new version your subscription is cancelled, your forum account suspended, and the post is deleted.
What they've done is to take a GPL-covered firmware, improve it, charge $20 for access to it, and then do anything they can to censor any action of sharing that code. While their actions still obey the letter of the GPL, I can't really see that it is in keeping with the spirit of the free software movement.
Sveasoft's FAQ about charging $20 for GPL software and canceling accounts that are caught distributing the software: http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.
I've had a WRT54g v2 since February, and have tried several third-party firmware offerings over the past few months. I have a Comcast 3000/256 cable modem connection, and have been 100% Linux at home for almost nine years. Here's my quick impressions of each: