In preparation for the imminent arrival of a new toy, I set upon installing open source firmware for our router. I bought the router, a Linksys WRT54GS, specifically because it is "hackable" – runs Linux and has had a nice selection of software adapted for it. I was a little anxious, knowing that I'd have to quickly configure it to get the internet back online, and hoping that I wouldn't screw it up and have to run to the store to buy a different router.
I crossed my fingers, did a rosary, held my breath, and installed the firmware. It worked, and not only did it work: it maintained all of my previous settings and worked exactly as it had before, but now with a huge number of extra features and configuration options. What a nice surprise: in the past, installing firmware always trashed my configuration – even when it came from the manufacturer. The extra features are really cool, and the configuration tools are much better.
Okay, so I like open source, big deal. What really surprised me here was that open source gave a better product than the supplier gives. Hardware manufacturers haven't really embraced open source software yet, except as invisible software utilities hidden behind a sealed plastic case (source code redistributed only begrudgingly). Yet the open source firmware for routers (such as X-Wrt) and mp3 players (Rockbox) is arguably much better than the stuff the manufacturers put on the devices in the first place. Actually, software for devices like residential routers is deliberately crippled to protect the lucrative, inflated business device market.
One of these days a hardware brand, someone like VTech or D-Link, is going to decide to take full advantage of these tools and contribute to their development. They'll save a lot of costs, sure, but more importantly they'll sell to people who want to do whatever they please with their devices.
6 comments:
Are you telling me that the settings are stored separately and used verbatim by the new firmware? Kick ass. I've been toying with the idea of hacking one of mine, and thinking I'd get by because I have a spare... but now I think I'm just going to have to!
You know, my experience with the WRT54GS hack was also surprisingly easy. I felt sure I would brick the thing, and it worked like a charm! I really make use of the extended range in my exurbian setting. (I have four floors of coverage in my own mini-high-rise!)
Yup... it just works. After I wrote this post I noticed that my firewall port forwarding was reset – those I had to enter again (actually a good thing, as there were a bunch that were out-of-date). Actually, it just left all of the settings intact in NVRAM which you can view in X-Wrt (it uses name-value pairs). But even DHCP leases were carried over. So really, that was quite slick.
Really, it makes sense, since the box was already running Linux, and based on the same stuff, but I'm continually impressed when something just works nicely.
What I found amusing was how the history of this particular open source hack came to be. If I remember correctly, Cisco/Linksys had no intention of altruistically supporting the open source market, but was outed when someone revealed they were using Linux in their stuff without providing the source. (As the licenses dictate.)
As far as cranking up the gain, I decided not to. Our place is the size of a small dancefloor, so signal isn't an issue. I'd hate to drown out my neighbors – we often have >100 wireless networks visible from our apartment.
Next stop: wireless mesh networking – put it to the ISPs. Yaaar!
It turns out Buffalo is using DD-WRT firmware in one of its products.
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