[Tfug] Routers

[Bexley Hall]

Hi, Angus,

> On 22 Jan 2009 at 14:12, Bexley Hall  wrote:
> 
> > Actually, I believe *all* of the WRT54G's are "Linux-powered"
> > (or, at the very least, easily reflashed with a Linux kernel)
> 
> Actually the WRT54Gv5 is NOT flashable -- not enough flash
> storage (2mb instead of 4mb).

<frown>  The smaller flash doesn't make it "un-flashable";
it just means you can only put smaller images *into* the
flash!  ;-)

Note that much consumer kit is reflashable even though
it might not provide a utility to do so (like the "upgrade
firmware" screen in the stock 54G's).  But, to do so, you
may need to resort to JTAG tools.  This is a bit more involved
and usually requires special jigs and/or adding connections
to the "main sircuit board" -- since *building* the units with
the extra "connector" needlessly adds a few microcents to
the product's cost  :-/

> After they "upgraded" the v4 to the v5,
> the dd-wrt people discovered 
> they could no longer "upgrade" the native OS to
> their own distro.  The 54GL was 
> brought out in response to demand for the older versions
> with more RAM as sales 
> dropped off significantly enough to get Linksys's
> attention.

Ah!  It would be amusing to have been a fly in a hole in
the wall when they had *that* "internal discussion"!  :>
I'm sure there was pressure from the NIH'ers to move
away from a GPL'ed product just to "stick it to 'em".
And, another crowd probably pushing to cater even
*more* to these "consumers".  It would be interesting to
see how big of a market share was impacted and guess
at the cost-benefit analysis they must have done...

> See "Linksys WRT54G series" at Wikipedia for more
> info: 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linksys_WRT54G_series
> It has more than you ever need to know and it also lists
> all the different 
> variants (WRT54G, WRT54GS, WRT54GL, and WRTSL54GS) along
> with flashability etc.
> 
> HTH