Linux on Linksys WRT54GL

[blu at vl.com (Tom Metro)]

Robert La Ferla wrote:
> ...are there other low power (<$150) devices out there that can run 
> Linux and have 2 ethernet ports?

At one time there were hundreds, as listed here:

http://wiki.openwrt.org/TableOfHardware

and those are only the devices compatible with the OpenWRT distribution 
that was targeted at the WRT54G hardware.

If you broaden the a scope to any kind of appliance hardware, there are 
hundreds more. For example, this article:

http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT2005548492.html

lists a pile of devices that are "Linux-based gateways, servers, 
wireless access points," though probably most don't meet your price 
criteria. Browse around linuxdevices.com and you should find plenty that 
are.

Soekris Engineering (http://www.soekris.com/) and Nimble Microsystems' 
NetEngine NP51R (http://www.nimblemicro.com/products/netengine.htm) are 
two examples of OEM hardware intended for building router appliances 
running Linux.

And lastly this wiki:

https://rnvs.informatik.tu-chemnitz.de/twiki/bin/view/Main/NetworkAttachedStorage

on low-cost NAS hardware lists many low-cost appliances that run Linux 
and often notes when third party firmware is available.


Ward Vandewege wrote:
> Be VERY careful - the current (v5) version of the WRT54G runs VxWorks, not
> Linux...
> See here for instance:
> 
>   http://www.boingboing.net/2005/12/22/the_great_linksys_wr.html

Very interesting. I hadn't heard about that. Now I don't feel so bad 
that I bought a WRT54G a while ago, which has been collecting dust 
waiting for me to load OpenWRT onto it. :-)


> ...and it's hardware has been reduced (flash and ram halved, I believe).

More discussion of the version 5 hardware can be found here:

http://wiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs/Hardware/Linksys/WRT54G#head-aa9dbcb261b3296783c2dcb8cea967503530fe0e


> The WRT54GL is the new Linksys model aimed directly at firmware modders;

Amazing that there is enough of a market (expected sales of 120,000 
units a year, according to that article) to warrant a dedicated model. I 
guess with the engineering and manufacturing tooling work already done, 
it wouldn't take much of a market to justify continuing to sell the old 
hardware.

  -Tom

-- 
Tom Metro
Venture Logic, Newton, MA, USA
"Enterprise solutions through open source."
Professional Profile: http://tmetro.venturelogic.com/