The Linksys WRT54G Linux Saga

The story surrounding this router is an interesting one. The WRT54G is a consumer level router with a wireless access point that has been selling “literally hundreds of thousands per month” according to an article at Linux Devices. The router has been through several versions (around 6 major versions) as Linksys has tweaked the hardware and software. Recently Linksys has decreased the hardware performance of the WRT54G while leaving the product name unchanged, confusing and arguably, cheating consumers. The change came about as the router was switched to a new OS called “VxWorks” that has fewer hardware requirements. Networking enthusiasts enamored with running Linux on this router could no longer do so. Did Linksys cheat their customers or did they simply do what any business would do?

The first four versions of this router became very popular over the last several years (Wikipedia WRT54G). The onboard hardware included 16MB of RAM and 4MB of flash memory, which was sufficient hardware to perform many “advanced” networking features like Quality of Service (QoS) for network packet shaping, adjustable radio signal output for local wireless devices, RADIUS authentication, and VPN support to name a few. These advanced features were not part of the Linksys firmware (a.k.a. operating system) running on the router however, but were exposed via third-party firmware options like DD-WRT.

DD-WRT is one of several third-party firmware solutions based on the Linux operating system and is currently made available for free to anyone willing to install it on their supported router. By running a third-party open source firmware, end users and administrators all over the world can take advantage of the heroic programming efforts of Linux embedded device programmers that have made available myriad features not found in Linksys firmware out of the box. Linksys has discluded these features so that they can include them on more expensive models (models that generally do not offer increased hardware performance).

This all changed with the fifth version of the WRT54G (a.k.a. “v5″) when Linksys decided to reduce the RAM and ROM by half, and more interestingly, change the firmware to a proprietary alternative called “VxWorks”. Now the router could not be flashed (initially anyway) and the hardware requirements were not present to run the full version of DD-WRT (later on the router was made flashable through software). The real kicker was that Linksys did not change the model number, they left it as “WRT54G” even though the product now had different hardware and software. For consumers like myself that wished to buy what they thought was “v4″ of the WRT54G, they now had to “gamble” when deciding to purchase a WRT54G from an online retailer since there was really no way of knowing which version one was purchasing. The serial numbers of v4 and v5 routers can be found online and are present on the outside of the retail box, however online shoppers do not have the luxury of examining the retail package.

WRT54G v5

Even with a mature hardware platform, five major released versions, the new proprietary OS “VxWorks” is a poor. A columnist from “Toms Networking” published a recent article (June 8, 2006) titled “Yes, the Linksys WRT54G V5 Really Is a Lousy Router.” This TechBuilder article titled their review of v5 as “an Upgrade that’s a Downgrade.” Peter Rysavy, author of this article had this to say about the VxWorks-based v5 WRT54G:

I personally feel that Linksys has executed a “bait and switch” by not revealing the change, keeping the model number the same and not even putting the version number on the package. I contacted Linksys a week prior to writing this column to offer the company a chance to comment but received no reply. I would like to hope that Linksys will have the commitment to bring the v5 quality level to that of v4, but having no assurance of this, I went back to Wal-Mart and bought a spare v4 router. It was only $50. Maybe that was Linksys’ plan all along–to get paranoid owners to double up on their router purchases!

DD-WRT Micro

Fortunately the developers were eventually able to flash the WRT54G router and figure out how to install DD-WRT onto the router. The new problem was that the current version would not fit. Instead a stripped down version of the free Linux firmware DD-WRT was released as “DD-WRT Micro,” and sized at 1.7MB, would now fit on the 2MB of available Flash ROM. Now customers that had purchased the v5 WRT54G could experiment with a third-party Linux firmware, albeit one that was inherently limited. Did Linksys forget about the networking enthusiasts looking to maximize their hardware potential?

WRT54GL

In a swift move to improve their bottom line, Linksys repackaged the v4 version of the router (16MB RAM/4MB flash memory) as the “WRT54GL“, where the “L” stands for Linux since it “supports” third-party Linux firmware, but added around US $20 to the price. For people that want to purchase a WRT54G-based router that will support DD-WRT, their options are now limited to buying a used “v4″ from eBay or elsewhere, or the Linksys WRT54GL, because one cannot guarantee they are purchasing (and as of July 2006 are guaranteed to not be purchasing) “v5″ of the router.

The saga involving Linksys, the WRT54G and networking enthusiasts continues. In learning these various aspects of DD-WRT, I’ve discovered that DD-WRT can be installed on a number of router products (not just Linksys) from brands like Buffalo and D-Link. Check the DD-WRT for full support information. On July 11, 2006, the DD-WRT website now links to their “shop” section where customers can purchase Buffalo routers that have DD-WRT preinstalled for around $65 EUR ($83 USD).

Stay tuned to this website for my “first look” at DD-WRT that I’ll be installing next week on my recently purchased WRT54GL. Many resources are available online showing how to install DD-WRT on Linksys and other brand routers.

Just make sure you know what you are buying before it is too late.

ExtremeTech article “Hacking Your Linux-Based Router”