Hacked my wireless router today.

[pocket-rocket]

Well, sort of. It's a Linksys WRT54GS v2. When Linksys made them, they ran them on Linux not realizing EVERYTHING that runs Linux has to be open source to comply with the way Linux does things. So Linksys was forced to release the code, and that gave people the opportunity to mod the routers software and enable options that the chipset has that Linksys didn't bother to make accessible through the web based configuration menu. So today, being sick of not getting a signal in my garage from the basement despite having the large antennas and being too poor for a repeater downloaded this firmware and uploaded it into my router after backing up the settings in it. I found out my router was set at 70 milliwatts for the power output, and jacked it up to 251mW (max). Now instead of hoping to get 5-10% signal, I've seen upwards of 39% and my internet radio stays on constantly and my laptop is no longer searching for a signal every 20 seconds. So far I'm happy with it. I know in the end, upping the power is going to lower the life expectancy of my router, but the thing is already something like 3 or 4 years old now. Later when finances pick up I plan on buying a repeater or another router to use as a repeater, but until then, this free mod is working just fine. I know some people are going to ask why I can't move my router closer to the garage, but I only have 1 USB wireless adapter, and that sits on the wifes PC, there is no phone line on the other side of the basement, and I've already got the CAT5 cable stretched going to my desktop already. For those interested in doing the same, here is a list of supported routers by the software place I downloaded mine from:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Supported_Devices

[Canyonero]

I've used DD-WRT, it's good software. We were buying Buffalo routers and flashing them with DD-WRT for use as customer routers, best routers we have. Too bad Buffalo is being sued and can't sell their wireless stuff in the states.

Remember that cranking the power up on the router only improves the transmit ability, not receive. So it doesn't really increase the usable range that much. You'll need to get a bigger antenna or improve the placement to get any gains that way. Or you can get a higher power card or better antenna for the laptop, but that isn't as easy.

I just used a TRENDnet device as a WiFi repeater at a customer house. It worked very well, and has a removable antenna jack so you can install a larger one.

Remember to keep the EIRP within FCC regs...

[geldartb]

i had dd-wrt on my wrt 54g v1 before i bricked it and now i have it on my wrt 350n. no problems whatsoever with it.

ive got a setup like this. cable modem then WRT 350n then a 24 port cisco swith for all the computers in my room.

[Canyonero]

I like DD-WRT, but I gave up on configuring it as an OpenVPN server. I even bought a sweet Asus router with mini-pci wireless and USB ports to run DD-WRT w/ VPN on (the factory firmware on that is actually pretty cool too).

I use an off-the-shelf D-Link DI-804HV VPN router, connected to a gigabit desktop switch, and with an Apple Airport Express for WiFi, Printer Sharing, and music streaming. Nice to have gigabit to the NAS (Buffalo Linkstation Live) when you want to run a backup or something. Both the laptops I use a gigabit, and it was like a $15 PCI card to upgrade the desktop.

[geldartb]

i love DD-WRT too way more options than linksys will ever give you.

every computer i have has gigbit on the mobo dont remember what the laptop has but i use the wireless on that anyway.

[Canyonero]

Gigabit is overkill for home use, but prices have come down, so why not... I use laptops pretty exclusively and I have my old desktop set up as a DVR using Windows MCE, really don't transfer large amounts of data often. Even when I do I often leave it on wireless because I'm lazy.

I thought about upgrading to N wireless, but remembered that I didn't really care that much. Also, most N adapters can transfer 300+Mb, but they only have a 100Mb NIC.

[geldartb]

everything now thats branched off the cisco switch i got is 100mb and even when transferring large files it doesnt take that long.

all the gigabit stuff i have is built into the mobo nic so if i hook the pc up to the wrt350 it auto senses to the gigabit, other than that the 100mb is more than enough for what i do.

the wrt350n is the first router ive had thats got gigabit built into it, but that wasnt why i bought it.
its a decent router and it runs DD-WRT i actually looked for the support on that before i bought it.

[pocket-rocket]

The dual NIC in my Asus A8N32-SLi motherboard is gigabit. The biggest problem I was having before was staying connected to the network in the garage because the signal kept dropping out. I've already got the 7dBi antennas on the router already too. Now with the boosted output on the router, I stay connected full time and my internet radio doesn't cut out. I read about Buffalo not being able to be sold in the states, what's that all about? Enlighten me on the FCC regs if you could I don't live anywhere close to a naval base, airport, or hospital so in all honesty, I don't think anyone would be coming to my door telling me to bump my signal output back down. Besides, with the router in the basement I think the signal shouldn't get out of the house too much. I even tried to take some foil and shape it like a dish to reflect the signal out to the garage before resorting to turning up the power output.

[Canyonero]

Yeah, no one will care about your beefed up WiFi. I don't know what the FCC regs for 2.4GHz are off the top of my head.

The suit against Buffalo would apply to all 802.11g. Buffalo is just the right size of company to sue.

http://www.buffalotech.com/press/releases/buffalo-issues-a-statement-about-the-csiro-appeal/

[Juglenaut]

You want a Super heavy duty Wifi setup go here:

http://www.superpass.com/products.html

I have a host computer in barebones state waiting for completion.

My current computer is a KA3 Extreme 1.0A with beta bios 1.0r, Amd Brisbane 4400 with other goodies....This new 64bit setup beats my Abit NF7 w/AMDxp3200+ clocked to 2.3gHz, by almost double and I am still using IDE ATA133. Bottle necks are almost unnoticeable.

However it has a slight glitch under Windows XP when switching idle of the second core and if audio is playing it has a digital fade of audio sampling when the cores idle up.

[pocket-rocket]

You want a Super heavy duty Wifi setup go here:

http://www.superpass.com/products.html

I have a host computer in barebones state waiting for completion.

My current computer is a KA3 Extreme 1.0A with beta bios 1.0r, Amd Brisbane 4400 with other goodies....This new 64bit setup beats my Abit NF7 w/AMDxp3200+ clocked to 2.3gHz, by almost double and I am still using IDE ATA133. Bottle necks are almost unnoticeable.

However it has a slight glitch under Windows XP when switching idle of the second core and if audio is playing it has a digital fade of audio sampling when the cores idle up.

Dude, move to SATA 2. I had to swap back for something that was on my ATA133 drive and it took so much longer to load windows. It slows the whole pc down due to waiting on data. It's like going from a Geo to a Corvette. I will never use another ATA100/133 drive in my pc again as long as I can help it :P

[Canyonero]

I'm a believer in fast hard drives, at least for the boot volume. It was a night and day difference going from a 4200RPM to a 7200RPM in my PowerBook G4, but now I'm down to 5400RPM again so I can get the larger capacities.

So I agree, run SATA2 if you can.

[pocket-rocket]

This is the drive I chose to replace my old ATA133 drive that was failing...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148140

Cheap, fast, decent cache, good rpm speed and HUGE! My invoice says 8/30/2007 and I have no complaints about it whatsoever. It has been running problem free for me for almost a year now. I read some not so hot reviews on it, but mine has been fine. I'm a Seagate fan anyways, have been for a long time.

[Canyonero]

Seagates have been my brand of choice for the last few years. My first seagate that I paid any attention to was a 40GB OEM drive that came in my G4 tower. I pulled it out for a larger capacity drive, but I would still use it in an external enclosure. I was amazed by how quiet/silent it was, for an OEM drive I wasn't expecting that.