[aprssig] RE: WRT54G

[Drew Baxter]

When I say 'shot themselves in the foot' I mean I can't just go buy 
one at a retail store like I could the WRT54G and WRT54GS models.  I 
checked Pricegrabber.com and didn't see a big box retailer that 
carries the L units at all, but they are readily available 
online.  It's pretty much always been that way as far as I know (I've 
never seen the L series in a big box).

Best Buy and Circuit City both carry the Buffalo units.  I can just 
walk in and buy one here in Bangor Maine.  I suspect they're just as 
easy to find in those stores elsewhere.  They used to be hard(er) to 
find (only Best Buy carried them), but now both places do and they're 
virtually diagonal from one another here in the city.  At 50 bucks, 
the WHR-G125 is a decent unit and while the first firmware upload 
scheme is a bit nonconventional, it seems to work without 
problem.  You can see the installation instructions at: 
http://tinyurl.com/2a95am .  The initial upload works out pretty much 
the same on a Mac too, as it should.

The WHR-G125 is 240mhz BCM5354, 16MB RAM and 4MB Flash and doesn't 
have the removable antenna that the G54 and G54S do.  The WRT54G v8 
and WRT54GS v7 both use this same processor, but with 2MB of Flash it 
is a difficult fit for a Linux system image (DD-WRT does have a 
special small image for the 2MB models though).  Previous WRTs have 
used the older 200mhz BCM5352, which Buffalo's older WHR-G54S and 
WHR-HP-G54 also use.

I prefer the Buffalos for several reasons.  One is that they're easy 
to get.  One of the other reasons is that they support AP (no router) 
mode.  My last experiences with the WRT54 series were that you 
couldn't just use the device as a straight AP without NAT or Routing 
getting in the way unless you wanted to do something like plug your 
net connection into the switch ports instead of the Internet port, 
etc.  The Buffalo units have a switch on modem (BRI/AUTO), but you 
can also set it in the software.  Also, the Buffalo setup is self 
contained and automatically launches as soon as you plug everything 
in and try to go to any web page.  I just think the presentation 
overall is a lot more user friendly.  Of course, for hacking I prefer 
them because I can just go buy it without ordering anything. :)

--Droo, K1XVM

At 01:16 AM 11/20/2007, Danny Messano wrote:
>If anyone wants the specs on the WRT54GL:
>
>200MHZ Broadcom Chipset, 4MB Flash, 16MB RAM
>
>This is identical to the WRT54G 4.0, which was the last "Wal-Mart Version"
>to support Linux.
>
>I'm not sure how they shot themselves in the foot, other than the Linux
>version being slightly harder to find.  I'd like to play with a Buffalo box
>but I've continued to find the WRT54GL is easier to get than Buffalo's.
>
>dm