Turn a $60 router into a $600 router

I got tired of my old netgear MIMO POS and picked up a run of the mill Linksys. I found a linux hack called dd-wrt (dd-wrt.com) and this thing is now BAD ASS. My router performance is up significantly. Quite a few different routers are supported and it is pretty simple to do. If you're into this kind of thing it is worth looking into.

interesting....

it's a shame we use a community router

If the hack fails, is there a fall-back method to restore factory state..?

I have a capable Linksys, but don't want to turn it into a doorstop either...

beergears said:

If the hack fails, is there a fall-back method to restore factory state..?

I have a capable Linksys, but don't want to turn it into a doorstop either...

Click to expand...

Here is the install Wiki
http://dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation

The unbrick Wiki
http://dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Recover_from_a_Bad_Flash

Read them both before starting. It really is pretty simple though. Make sure you get the right procedure for the router you have and which file you use. I have the WRT54GS v7 and had to use the micro version.

I've used it, and it works pretty well. Just be careful. I did brick a router this way once. I made a JTAG cable to fix it, but it was a PITA.

I've got DD-WRT running on both my routers now. The feature that's key to me is the ability to run a wireless router in 'client' or 'client bridge' mode, which allows you to have your router connect via wifi to another wireless access point. This is great in my apartment building because we get free wifi internet access in the building, which is great for laptops but adding wifi to all the desktops isn't exactly desirable - so now all the desktops are connected to my router via regular wired ethernet, and the router bridges us to the building wifi.

Unfortunately, it can't ALSO act as a wireless access point at the same time as far as I know.

You can also put this on the Fon access points (fon.com) It's a bit more complicated but I got one for free during one of their promotions. you might can still find em on ebay cheap, or wait till they give out free ones again.

I created a cheap SAN by hanging a cheap USB enclosured hard drive off the USB port. Thanks whoever invented that retarded way to wire up a network and provide me a USB port.

Great little toy after you throw a real linux kernel on it.