dd-wrt

[Sean Sheedy]

+1 on OpenWRT!

The wiki at OpenWRT.org has a list of devices on which one of the 
prebuilt binaries should work without modification.  You might think you 
need to build your own binary, (and you can if you need to load up with 
apps and shed as much memory weight as possible) but you probably don't 
need or even want to (I went down that road and found out it was totally 
unnecessary.)

Once you install the binary, you have access to a package manager.  
Through the web interface (or, IIRC, a secure shell), you can download 
and install precompiled packages and there are a LOT available.  OpenWRT 
has come a long way in a few short years.  It really has become a mini 
Linux distro.

It does help to have familiarity with the Linux command line if you want 
to do more off-the-wall stuff.

As an example, I hooked a WRT160NL (the next gen of the WRT54GL, which 
has a USB port) to a Logitech web cam.  From a laptop on the WRT160NL's 
wifi side, I was able to download some packages and SSH into the box to 
configure a console app that let the WRT160NL serve the webcam's images 
via HTTP.

I then stuck this in my van (a Dodge Sprinter, which is almost a mini RV 
and has a house battery bank) and gave it a mobile internet connection 
via a Sprint EVDO card with a static IP address through a Cradlepoint 
router which provided an ethernet connection to the WRT160NL's ethernet 
WAN connection.  I'm sure I could have plugged the EVDO card right into 
the WRT160NL's USB port using a hub, and set it up to make a PPP 
connection through serial USB, but I was *really* short on time.  In 
fact I was headed to California and needed to leave the van at the 
airport, so I monkeyed with the firewall settings of the WRT160NL so 
that I could SSH in from the Internet, and prayed that I got it right 
(when done I had one hour to catch the flight.)

Fortunately I did get it right, and from California I was able to 
complete the firewall changes to enable the web configuration interface, 
open up a second port for the camera image HTTP server, configure the 
web cam app to stream images, download a few more packages, and reboot a 
few times (perhaps not necessary) and not once did I have to manually 
yank the power (which would have been impossible from 2700 miles away, 
and I thought for sure was going to be needed and would have ended the 
party.)  After messing with this during a meeting I was able to show my 
friend sitting next to me in Santa Clara a view of the inside of the van 
looking at snow that had piled up on the windshield overnight in Virginia.

So here's a big endorsement for OpenWRT.  It's stable, it's not too 
difficult to figure out, and it is a popular "distro" so you will find 
help via Google.  A lot of linux packages have been ported so you can 
find lots of help for those packages individually.  If you spring for a 
supported device that has a USB port you can hook up all sorts of 
interesting gadgets.  You can do a lot of different things with the only 
real price being the need to be familiar with SSH and the linux command 
line since many of the available packages are command line apps and 
don't have a web interface.  If you're not already familiar with the 
linux command line, OpenWRT provides a great opportunity to ease your 
way into it, hands-on.

Sean AI4ID

On 03/30/2011 07:17 AM, Josh Smith wrote:
> Alex,
> You should also check out open-wrt. It is a similar but more open
> source project.
>
> If you are looking for something more ham centric then you should also
> check out the hsmm-mesh project.  It is based on open-wrt but has a
> focus on using the devices under part 97 rules to establish a mesh
> network.
>
> 73 de kd8hrx
>