Been working (as in work-related working) on something rather odd today – replacing the Linux software that comes pre-installed on the Linksys WRT54G home gateway box with VxWorks for a reference platform to send out. Normally when I’m hacking these commercial systems for use as reference platforms and/or eval systems it is either the other way around (replacing VxWorks with Linux), or just replacing the Linux system that is already there.

There’s a lot of information about hacking this platform available on the web, but perhaps the most useful pages were the Seattle Wireless group’s WRT54G page and the WRT54G Single-port Serial Modification page. My small collection of version 2 WRT54G units now have front panel mounted 9-pin D-type connectors.

One odd thing about all of this is that all of the version 2 units came in boxes labelled version 1.1. Don’t know how these guys keep track of the different versions! Comparing the box to a real version 1.1, there is a subtle difference: the real version 1.1 does not have the Wi-Fi 802.11g certification box checked.