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Since we were talking about wireless routers the other day, I've been poking around. Found a couple of really good deals if anyone is thinking of making the plunge into a new router, or an upgrade.
These two:
Newegg.com - ASUS WL-500g Premium V2 IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g Multi-Functional Wireless Router - Wireless Routers
Newegg.com - ASUS WL-500W IEEE 802.11b/g
IEEE 802.11n Draft Multi-Functional Wireless Router - Wireless Routers
Are $49 + shipping for the 11g version and $65 shipped for the 11N version.
Whats cool about this pair is:
- Very fast processor
- Lots of ram and flash
- Pretty good wireless radio's
- Ability to run the 'mega' version of dd-wrt
- Two USB ports you can use to put disk drives and printers
The first four need some explaining. Linksys uses a lot of GPL software such as linux to develop the software on their routers. As part of the GPL requirements, any company developing commercial s/w using the freebies has to release their source code. When they did, a number of people used that as a template to either add on to it or redevelop it as a separate open source product.
Think of dd-wrt for routers what linux is to operating systems. Free, open source, lots of cool features, a little bit more complicated and obscure than what you get in the commercial product.
If you implement it, you get a ridiculous number of features and capabilities that makes your humble little $50 router into something more in line with an enterprise router. You can watch traffic levels and see how much data you've pushed and pulled...handy now that many ISP's are putting caps on monthly use. You can control which devices and types of traffic (like VOIP and video) can be prioritized. And one thing thats really nice is that even if the manufacturer quits enhancing or fixing the firmware on your router as it ages, the dd-wrt alternative will continue to be developed. dd-wrt also may offer your router a considerable routing speed improvement, and in many version/implementations you can tweak the processor, memory and/or 802.11 radio to increase performance and range.
Do read the instructions really carefully on some of that stuff before playing with it though...its like overclocking a PC...things can go wrong if you go too far.
The last item, the USB ports...is pretty slick for these price points. You can attach USB printers, web cams, or an external hard drive. Anyone on the network can access them, and the router can even be instructed to download files directly to the hard drive while your computer is turned off. Music, movies and photos can also be delivered to computers and compatible devices on the network.
Thats a ton of goodies for $50 and $65 (after rebates). What sets these routers apart from a lot of similar models is the amount of memory, flash and cpu power thats available.
You may also be able to run one of the smaller versions of dd-wrt on your aging, boring old router and get some performance, security and reliability improvements out of it. Other distributions that are smaller, faster, and have different features are also kicking around. "Tomato" is a good example.
DD-WRT :: News
Tomato Firmware | polarcloud.com
You can obviously do all of this stuff with a full blown home server, but at <10 watts and something you're going to have turned on all the time anyhow, its an interesting idea.
What do you do all day indeed...?
These two:
Newegg.com - ASUS WL-500g Premium V2 IEEE 802.3/3u, IEEE 802.11b/g Multi-Functional Wireless Router - Wireless Routers
Newegg.com - ASUS WL-500W IEEE 802.11b/g
IEEE 802.11n Draft Multi-Functional Wireless Router - Wireless Routers
Are $49 + shipping for the 11g version and $65 shipped for the 11N version.
Whats cool about this pair is:
- Very fast processor
- Lots of ram and flash
- Pretty good wireless radio's
- Ability to run the 'mega' version of dd-wrt
- Two USB ports you can use to put disk drives and printers
The first four need some explaining. Linksys uses a lot of GPL software such as linux to develop the software on their routers. As part of the GPL requirements, any company developing commercial s/w using the freebies has to release their source code. When they did, a number of people used that as a template to either add on to it or redevelop it as a separate open source product.
Think of dd-wrt for routers what linux is to operating systems. Free, open source, lots of cool features, a little bit more complicated and obscure than what you get in the commercial product.
If you implement it, you get a ridiculous number of features and capabilities that makes your humble little $50 router into something more in line with an enterprise router. You can watch traffic levels and see how much data you've pushed and pulled...handy now that many ISP's are putting caps on monthly use. You can control which devices and types of traffic (like VOIP and video) can be prioritized. And one thing thats really nice is that even if the manufacturer quits enhancing or fixing the firmware on your router as it ages, the dd-wrt alternative will continue to be developed. dd-wrt also may offer your router a considerable routing speed improvement, and in many version/implementations you can tweak the processor, memory and/or 802.11 radio to increase performance and range.
Do read the instructions really carefully on some of that stuff before playing with it though...its like overclocking a PC...things can go wrong if you go too far.
The last item, the USB ports...is pretty slick for these price points. You can attach USB printers, web cams, or an external hard drive. Anyone on the network can access them, and the router can even be instructed to download files directly to the hard drive while your computer is turned off. Music, movies and photos can also be delivered to computers and compatible devices on the network.
Thats a ton of goodies for $50 and $65 (after rebates). What sets these routers apart from a lot of similar models is the amount of memory, flash and cpu power thats available.
You may also be able to run one of the smaller versions of dd-wrt on your aging, boring old router and get some performance, security and reliability improvements out of it. Other distributions that are smaller, faster, and have different features are also kicking around. "Tomato" is a good example.
DD-WRT :: News
Tomato Firmware | polarcloud.com
You can obviously do all of this stuff with a full blown home server, but at <10 watts and something you're going to have turned on all the time anyhow, its an interesting idea.
What do you do all day indeed...?