Linksys WRT54GL - PC-BSD Forums

thenrie · #1 01-12-2011, 08:31 PM

I have been having such a bad time getting my Netgear WNDR3400 to hook up with my laptop that I started looking around at other routers. A friend told me about the Linksys WRT54GL, which can be reflashed with Linux firmware. I have been told this unit will work for freebsd/PCBSD, but I can't find anything current in the web. As a matter of fact, I found a thread from back in 05 where they were talking about creating FBSD firmware for the router. Anybody have any experience/knowledge to share before I go out and buy one?

Ole Juul · #2 01-12-2011, 09:49 PM

I've had a WRT54GL in use for about 4 years without a glitch. There is no need to install any other software unless you want the features that offers. We're using the router for home use but we really give it a workout with several of us using it for internal file transfer and internet up and downloads at the same time. The wireless works well and is currently using WPA2 with TKIP+AES.

Bear in mind that it's a router and that's what it does. If that's all you want then there is little meaningful difference between brands. If you have a problem with connectivity then it is not a router problem unless it's broken.

That said, I wonder why your Netgear WNDR3400 won't hook up with your laptop. It doesn't know, or care, anything about what you're running. All routers work with FreeBSD/PCBSD because the TCP/IP protocols are the same for all operating systems. It sounds like you need to look at the network setup on your laptop.

thenrie · #3 01-13-2011, 01:37 AM

I've tried everything I know to do and everything that has been suggested on the forum. I just can't figure it out. Since my Netgear WNR854T was working fine, except that it started dropping connections every hour or so. When I installed the Netgear WNDR3400 all the windows and apple computers in my house hooked right up, but my FBSD laptop would not. I fiddled with the settings until I crashed my laptop, so I decided to give PCBSD a try again. Still no joy. I worked with it again today until PCBSD crashed irrecoverably this afternoon, so I reinstalled from DVD. Just after it finished, my lan (rl0 - Realtek 8139) hooked up, but as soon as I set the hostname to "mylaptop" it stopped and I can't get it back.

My Atheros 5212 is working in the clear (open, privacy off), but it won't work encrypted at all under any protocol. As a matter of fact, I can't even seem to get it to work on my home network channel (2.4MHz), even unencrypted. I have to connect on the Guest channel.

I've got a thread on here about it, but you're the only one who has responded at all. While PCBSD has improved, the community seems to have dwindled.

Ole Juul · #4 01-13-2011, 06:29 AM

Originally Posted by thenrie

I've tried everything I know to do and everything that has been suggested on the forum. I just can't figure it out. Since my Netgear WNR854T was working fine, except that it started dropping connections every hour or so. When I installed the Netgear WNDR3400 all the windows and apple computers in my house hooked right up, but my FBSD laptop would not. . . .

That tells me that your router is OK, but your laptop is struggling.

I did a quick search on "Atheros 5212" and it would seem that many people have problems. I wouldn't be surprised if you would have better luck with another chip. I also know from the Kubuntu world that wireless often causes problems for open source. Many companies just aren't helpful enough toward driver developers. Anyway, even if the device is built into your laptop, you could perhaps try a USB wireless dongle containing a chipset which is known to work well with PC-BSD.

Quote:

I've got a thread on here about it, but you're the only one who has responded at all. While PCBSD has improved, the community seems to have dwindled.

I was surprised at how few people are here. I've only got one computer which is running PC-BSD and I don't plan to do much more than keep it running well, so I'm not a good candidate for helping a lot around here. However I do have an interest in promoting it and I plan to at least help keep the forum alive.

thenrie · #5 01-18-2011, 05:58 PM

I had an exchange with Kris Moore on another thread about my wireless problem and we agree it seems to be a bug in FreeBSD 8.x, not PCBSD. The Atheros nics have always been supported very well by the FBSD developers, so I don't think it is an issue with the ath driver. My 5212 works fine in open-privacy-off mode. I believe it is an issue with wpa_supplicant or wpa_cli. Some Linux people are reporting the same problem. I'm going to try to confirm the bug and report it on the FBSD mailing list and see if we can't get it fixed.

That being the case, you're probably right that the WRT54GL probably wouldn't help. Seeya.