Adam @ Lifehacker’s how to on installing linux on a Linksys WRT54GL – “Of all the great DIY projects at this year’s Maker Faire, the one project that really caught my eye involved converting a regular old $60 router into a powerful, highly configurable $600 router. The router has an interesting history, but all you really need to know is that the special sauce lies in embedding Linux in your router. I found this project especially attractive because: 1) It’s easy, and 2) it’s totally free.” – Link.
14 thoughts on “HOW TO – Turn your $60 router into a $600 router”
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This is going to completely blow a lot of products out of the water. I’m working on at least 4 projects what would be directly impacted by this, I cant wait to talk to the marketing guys tomorrow… their roadmap is starting to look like ground zero!!!
heads up if you have the latest linksys wrt54g router- its is really incompatible with 3rd party stuff (not enough ram) it is possible to hack, but with a jtag and even then its not the greatest..
heads up if you have the latest linksys wrt54g router- its is really incompatible with 3rd party stuff (not enough ram) it is possible to hack, but with a jtag and even then its not the greatest..
Yep, they are fun! Mine’s got a 256MB SD card and integrated GPS. I use OpenWRT though
You can also install asterisk on it and have a VOIP enabled router.
But, I wouldn’t suggest increasing the output power as it it tends to cause heat problems and such.
http://www.frontiernet.net/~beakmyn/OpenWRT%20Kimset%20Server.htm
Beware when updating your firmware from Firefox…It might stop your router from working (like it just did to mine). Use IE. It doesn’t have the Javascript blocking function that Firefox does.
Also, be sure to select the option to reset the router settings back to their defaults otherwise you will have all kinds of trouble getting it to work. It took me about an hour just to figure out how to fix it when I didn’t reset the defaults.
!sam!: that’s why you want the WRT54GL, which is the original WRT54G; current WRT54G models have less RAM than the original WRT54G.
There’s why more to firmware updates you should know about before attempting this your self. It would completely suck to turn your brand new router into a brick of joy. First of all you need a router.. There’s many linksys routers that you can update the firmware on but there’s also many serial numbers that correspond to what’s in side the router in the first place. I work for a leading technology reseller and all the models of the wrt54g are the latest with 16mbs of ram and only 2mbs of flash memory. So only suggestion I should make for you is do a little research first. Never use firefox for connection to your router. And always connect via LAN and not wireless.