Unfortunately the ProView PL576Ws LCD monitor, as nice as it is, had to go back. There was no way that it would do 1280×720 (720p) and the purpose of buying it was to be a second monitor in my home theater. So, I took it back to Staples this afternoon.

wrt54g I did, however, stop by Circuit City and get a new Linksys WRT54G wireless router and then to CompUSA to pick up two 9dbi high-gain antennas for it. I share my DSL line with a neighbor and this should give him much greater signal strength. My plan is to sell my WTR55AG router – it is the router that supports 802.11[abg] but does not have removable antennas. It’s a great router but not the best for my needs.

There are also projects which produce updated Linux distros for the WRT54G such as OpenWrt, lots of info at the SeattleWireless’ LinksysWrt54g pages and Sveasoft.

OpenWrt

From the OpenWrt website: “OpenWrt is a linux distribution for the Linksys WRT54G. Instead of trying to cram every possible feature into one firmware, OpenWrt provides only a minimal firmware with support for add-on packages. For users this means the ability to custom tune features, removing unwanted packages to make room for other packages and for developers this means being able to focus on packages without having to test and release an entire firmware.”

Sveasoft provides a modified version of the router’s Linux firmware for a subscription fee of $20/year. The additional features they have added include:

    Client/Bridge mode for multiple clients
    Adhoc mode
    WDS/Repeater mode
    WPA over WDS links
    Web based wireless statistics
    SNMP
    Remote NTOP statistics
    Captive portal
    Extensive firewall enhancements
    - track/block P2P, VoIP, IM, many other services by protocol
    - 99% of available iptables filters included
    VPN client and server (PPTP in all versions, IPsec as a compile-time option)
    DHCP static IP assignment to specific MAC addresses
    Wake-On-LAN functions with scheduling
    OSPF routing
    OSPF load balancing
    Multi-level bandwidth management (Premium, Express, Standard, Bulk)
    - manage P2P, VoIP, IM connections
    - also by ports, IP addresses, and/or MAC addresses
    Hardware QoS for the 4 LAN ports
    Power boost to 251 mw
    Afterburner Support (GS models)
    SSH server and client
    Telnet
    Startup, firewall, and shutdown scripts
    Safe backup and restore
    VLAN support
    Clone Wireless MAC
    Reset router on upgrade

Looks really cool. Of course the stuff is all GPL and you’re paying for their service but I wonder if someone else has reproduced their changes in a freely available version… I’ll have to check with OpenWRT to see what features they support.

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