Hey guys, I live in a frat house in Montreal and their wireless network is really shitty so I offered to redo it but I need some help... First, what is the main difference between openwrt and ddwrt (I know I'm on openwrt forum and I'm not flaming)... Second of all if I put one router and then 3 others that connect to the first one is it possible for them to all be on the same ip range and be able to see for example itunes library and sharefolders? Is it possible to cap the connection for each person that connect (at least upload)? I was thinking of buying 4 wrt54gl for this should I consider something else? There should be at max 15 clients connecting but the problem is the house is huge...   

thanks in advance

Difference between openwrt en ddwrt.

Openwrt can be as small and big that you would like.

DDWRT is a complete package and it is what it is and nothing more.

Openwrt can be better but is sometimes harder but I would recommend X-WRT which gets openwrt to the same level as dd-wrt but you can still add packages.

You can set the main router in ap mode and the others in wds/client mode connecting to it, i recommend client + wpa/wpa2 no wep, for wpa u would want to go through client mode. forward dhcp from routers 2-4 to router1, in that case the qos scripts on the main router should let u limit for each one in part without being affected by the router its directly connected to. I suggest using kamikaze 7.09, i have tried out pretty much every firmware from sveasoft, ddwrt, tomatoe, to openwrt, and openwrt is the best in my opinion cuz u have so many possibilities and with the package system, you can always add/remove whatever options/applications u want without the need of knowing much about command line apps due to the web interface where u can manage everything at. if u get a usb mod going (you can mount usb flash drives for extra space) i suggest installing squid on the main router to lower your traffic a bit...

Ok so I've checked what WDS meant and I have a few questions :

1- This means router 2-4 don't need to be wired to 1 right?
2- Can any wired connection be made from router 2-4?
3- "wpa u would want to go through client mode"? What is client mode? Can i run the router as two mode?

Uh, is there a mod to add a usb to wrt54gl? If not do you mean SD mod? If not should I consider some other router that would already have a usb port? How much space to I need for squid to be efficient?

Also, any other suggestion of setup is welcomed.. I know the basics of networking but I haven't had a networking class yet .. actually don't think I'll have one (I'm a cs student)...

Uh squid with a wrt54gl on a mmc/sd card. i think this idea is not so good because a "normal" squid setup is related to a good disk performance.
And with MMC/SD performance is ok for additional packages but not for a big I/O on the card.
setting up a transparent proxy is imho the best you can do on a wrt.

ciao gerd