Hello,

I recently got an Asus WL-500gP, and I'm less than happy with the current firmware. After some research, I found it is very limiting towards the actual hardware, and some of the problems I get with it are generalized. That's where OpenWrt gets in I'd like to know if this firmware works OK with the router, and what kind of limitations will I have. I'm far from being an expert on the subject, but I'm willing to learn. My knowledge of linux is borderline basic.

Currently, I'm looking to have these functions on my router:
- Share cable Internet through the network, Ethernet and wireless (WPA-PSK);
- Share files between the PCs in the network;
- Firewall;
- Connect an USB HDD (WD Elements 500Gb) and share the contents through the network, with restricted access on some folders;
- Something like "Download Master" (but one which actually works), giving me the chance of letting the router downloading directly to the USB disk with all PCs off. Mostly torrents;
- Eventually as a plus, the chance of connecting a VoIP phone to USB.

The network is made of 3-4 PCs, using mostly Vista/XP.

I'd get these from the official firmware.... if it worked. Can OpenWrt provide me with these functions? If so, what version should I go for, and what/where can I learn to get this to work?

Thanks in advance,
Gnitrops

i have the same device, and just yesterday installed openwrt/wr, so far i can tell you:

- Share cable Internet through the network, Ethernet and wireless (WPA-PSK);
easily

- Share files between the PCs in the network;
easily

- Firewall;
openwrt has a preconfigured firewall, its netfileter (iptables) based and easy to maintain if you have a clue about netfilter. there is also a webinterface for managing it, but i never tried it, and does not look too simple to me

- Connect an USB HDD (WD Elements 500Gb) and share the contents through the network, with restricted access on some folders;
should be easily possible, but i heared usb2.0 support is broken in Whiterussian. if you chose to use kamikaze you wont have the nice webinterface for configuring all the basic stuff

- Something like "Download Master" (but one which actually works), giving me the chance of letting the router downloading directly to the USB disk with all PCs off. Mostly torrents;
there is torrent clients available

- Eventually as a plus, the chance of connecting a VoIP phone to USB.
no idea, but with asterisk being available it should be possible

I just plugged in an external HD (USB 2.0, with USB 2.0 drivers only loaded) and it works... so i dont know about the state of the "usb 2.0 broken in WR"

I have White Russian RC 6 with USB 2.0 working fine.

In relation with Your requirements I have :

- separated LAN from WLAN and have both configured to access Internet,

- WPA2-AES configured for WLAN,

- Firewall, opening or closing ports is rather easy, but if You want to reconfigure IPTABLES (NAT etc.) then it requires more effort,

- I don't know if 500 GB would be recognizable, I have tested up to 120 GB and it worked fine, restrictions to the folders can be done by Samba,

- I have torrent running and it works pretty well (SCTCS)

- never tried VOIP before ...

Greetings,
_______________________________________________

OpenWRT RC6 on Asus WL-500g Premium

If I understand it correctly I believe it refers to webcams and thumbdrives not harddrives...

Rich

(Last edited by flowersrj on 21 Aug 2007, 19:27)

Thanks for all your input, and sorry for not replying sooner, I had some ISP problems and lost access.

edit: nvm, solved iptables problem

Question: My USB drive is formatted to NTFS (500Gb). How can I add support to it on openwrt? (I have found only fat/ext2/ext3 packages)

(Last edited by Gnitrops on 15 Sep 2007, 18:30)

NTFS isn't supported use ext2 or ext3!