Linksys W54G?

ken at flyingtoasters.net ken at flyingtoasters.net
Mon Jul 7 20:40:51 EDT 2003


> I just saw on /. that Linksys has released the GPLed code for the
> W54G router.  Since I'm about to order DSL, and I'm going to need
> something like this, I figure it would be nice to repay Linksys for
> using/contributing to Open Source (even though their original
> intentions were otherwise...)
>
> However, I'm also curious if others have used this yet and what the
> Linux support is like, and if the W54G spec (802.11G) is stable enough
> to commit to yet.

I'm leaving all of the above, well, above, because I can't segment my
thoughts out cleanly.  Here goes:
1) Linksys isn't, really, Linksys any more: this move was likely brought
upon by Cisco, which is (or at least was, when I worked there, two years
ago) pretty Linux friendly.  Which isn't to say that one shouldn't repay a
good deed, but...
2) I hate anecdotal evidence, but I'm beginning to have enough data points
that Linksys is heading for my s*** list.  For example: I had an 802.11b
Linksys hooked into my Adelphia cable modem, and it worked reasonably
well.  However, it appeared that Adelphia couldn't distinguish between
their arse and their elbow.  Based on pings I was sending out and what
not, I would frequently drop 5%+ of my packets, and at least once a week,
have to power-cycle everything to bring it back up again.  Then my Linksys
died -- doorstop dead, dead.  For the hell of it, I picked up an 802.11g
Netgear... and lo, all of my "Adelphia" problems vanished.  This is but
one data point -- but then two of my friends did the opposite (one went
from 802.11b Cisco to an 802.11g Linksys, the other went from direct cable
modem connection to Linksys), and both suddently "found" the same problems
with their cable modems, even though one of the two was AT&T!  Meanwhile,
my Netgear has not had a single glitch in the three months it's been
running.
3) The 802.11g spec appears to have been finalized
(http://www.commsdesign.com/story/OEG20030612S0039); I'm certainly buying
them, as virtually all vendors promise free firmware upgrades to the
finalized spec if it changes.

$.02,

-Ken



More information about the gnhlug-discuss mailing list