Linux Router

Post by **Stavros** » 23 Aug 2008, 18:14

Ok, so a while ago I was having cable troubles and for some reason I went out and bought another routher (exactly the same kind). When I realized I didn't need it, the refund time limit had been surpassed. I put it away in my closet and forgot about it.

Now, while I was searching through my cd's for one of my linux live cd's (that I can't find; my shelf is like a CD blackhole) I wondered how difficult it would be to code an operating system to do what the original router software should do.

I looked up the technical specs, but didn't come up with what I wanted. I'm looking for basically processor and flash drive space, but http://www.dlink.com/products/resource. ... 1796&sec=0 is all I came up with. This may turn into a long term project, but right now I want to get an idea on how difficult this might be.

archnemesis · Post by **archnemesis** » 05 Sep 2008, 15:36

suprsingly not hard at all, i have a simular setup using a physical firewall setup called pfsense, pfsense acts as my router, DHCP Server as well . THere are alot of different linux distros that wil do this. Coyote linux is one fro back in the day, not sure if it has ben updated, there is also DSLinux (Damn Small Linux, cute huh)

Post by **bad_brain** » 09 Sep 2008, 11:25

phew...this can be very easy or very hard, depending on the router. I know, stupid answer...but the problem is the source code of the firmware. if it is available (seems it isn't, at least I found nothing) or 3rd party open source firmware is provided by some freaks (like for some Netgear ones) it will be pretty easy because then you can simply customize it to your needs or analyze and rebuild it completely.
else it will be very hard, because then you will have to analyze the hardware interaction with the software, and to be honest I have no real clue how to do this...it might even get harder when the manufacturer removed the type code on the EPROMS (many do this to avoid product piracy).
I guess floody can give more info about the hardware side...

but if I got you wrong and you simply look for a router distro:
http://www.devil-linux.org
it's a router/firewall distro and you should be able to customize it for your needs easily...

Post by **Stavros** » 09 Sep 2008, 19:56

Yeah. I've not found any ready-to-install linux distros for my model router. That's kind of the reason I want to do this, but I'm also very hesitant to start becuase if I screw up there is a chance I won't be able to undo my mistake and then I'll have a $60 chunk of worthless plastic and silicon. I also can't find any documentation on exactly what is under the hood and have no real idea of how to find out (if I can find out).

Post by **bad_brain** » 10 Sep 2008, 04:23

phew, wasn't a picknick but I've been able to find the specification of the used CMOS:
http://www.eonsdi.com/pdf/EN29LV800B.pdf

I have also found info that the router is technically the same as the D-Link dl-524...which is supposed to be technically the same as the Asus wl-530g. and for THIS router there is an open source firmware available:
http://www.bitsum.com/openwiking/owbase ... ?WL%2D530G
no guarantee at all for this info from my side....

Post by **Stavros** » 23 Sep 2008, 21:30

Alright well, something even better came along. So, my Wireless G router is not supported by any of the linux firmwares currently out. I do have a D-Link Wireless N router I traded my step-mom for (DHCP problems and even with DHCP disabled it would still cut out for a couple of seconds, really annoying when playing a game). The N router is supported by a couple linux firmwares, BUT I don't have a power cable that has the right voltage/amp output to turn it on.

(If any of you are curious as to exacly which models: Wireless G Turbo - WBR 2310/ Wireless N - DIR 615)

The good news is that a friend gave me a Linksys WRT54GS router. This is supported by DD-WRT. I successfully flashed DD-WRT on it, but have yet to implement it. I'm not too security concious (I live in a rural area and my wireless is the only detectable wireless and I live on a road where people go way too fast, so I don't have any worries about wardrivers). I noticed an option to increase the mili-Watt output (from FCC defined 70 mW to a maximum of 251 mW). There is just a plethora of options compared to stock firmware. I'll report back sometime in the future about it once I've figured out how most if not all the functions.