Hacking a Linksys WRT54G router...with Tomato!

[XMEN Iceman]

Just replaced the standard router firmware with Tomato and I must say I like it much better. Very clean and informative. You can also increase the router transmit power by more than 3x. It has QOS settings and performance graphs, etc. Very very cool.

http://www.polarcloud.com/

Here are some features:
Tomato is a small, lean and simple replacement firmware for Linksys' WRT54G/GL/GS, Buffalo WHR-G54S/WHR-HP-G54 and other Broadcom-based routers. It features a new easy to use GUI, a new bandwidth usage monitor, more advanced QOS and access restrictions, enables new wireless features such as WDS and wireless client modes, raises the limits on maximum connections for P2P, allows you to run your custom scripts or telnet/ssh in and do all sorts of things like re-program the SES/AOSS button, adds wireless site survey to see your wifi neighbors, and more.

What will this run on?

* Linksys WRT54G v1-v4, WRT54GS v1-v4, WRT54GL v1.x, WRTSL54GS (no USB support)
* Buffalo WHR-G54S, WHR-HP-G54, WZR-G54, WBR2-G54
* Asus WL500G Premium (no USB support)
* Untested but apparently works without changes: SparkLAN WX-6615GT

Note: Most WRT54G and WRT54GS (not WRT54GL) sold in stores right now are the v5.0+ variety and will not work with Tomato.

[Spinning Hat]

I've always been interested in flashing my router with a better firmware suite, but always been a little skittish with worrying about bricking the thing, or not ever getting my network running right.. However, the ability to crank up the transmit power would be incredibly beneficial.

[XMEN Iceman]

I have read that you can recover from a "bricking" on the routers. http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Re ... _Bad_Flash

Oh...there is also DD-WRT that you can load on MANY more routers than just these few.

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

This page lists and compares all routers that are known to work with DD-WRT. See also Known incompatible devices for the black list.

3 Supported Devices
3.1 Accton
3.2 Actiontec / Verizon
3.3 ADI Engineering
3.4 Airlink 101
3.5 Allnet
3.6 Askey
3.7 Asus
3.8 Gateworks
3.9 Belkin
3.10 Buffalo
3.11 Conceptronic
3.12 Compex
3.13 Corega
3.14 Dell
3.15 D-Link
3.16 FON / OEM Accton
3.17 Gateway
3.18 Iomega
3.19 Lanready
3.20 Linksys (all the rest that is not re-engineered til today)
3.21 Linksys
3.22 MagicBox
3.23 Meraki
3.24 Microsoft
3.25 Mikrotik
3.26 Motorola
3.27 Mitsubishi
3.28 NewMedia
3.29 NETCORE
3.30 Netgear
3.31 OSBRiDGE
3.32 Ovislink
3.33 PC-Engines
3.34 Ravo
3.35 Senao / EnGenius
3.36 Siemens
3.37 Sitecom
3.38 SOEKRIS Engineering
3.39 SparkLAN
3.40 Tonze
3.41 Toshiba
3.42 TRENDnet
3.43 Ubiquiti
3.44 US Robotics
3.45 Verizon
3.46 Viewsonic
3.47 Watchguard
3.48 WiliGear
3.49 Wistron
4 List of all supported routers
4.1 Note on DUAL/MULTI Wan routers