DD-WRT Router Upgrade

I found a Linksys WRT54Gv8.0 at the Goodwill Computer Store today and, at $25, the price was right for my long-overdue switch to the world of aftermarket router firmware. Before I go any further, let me say that the most comprehensive guide for this procedure - the one I used - is over at the dd-wrt site. Once you have the router in hand, it's really quite simple to get the most out your little embedded linux device for the very least (dd-wrt firmware is gratis). I've flashed my share of firmware before but I have to say that this was among the simplest upgrades I've ever attempted. Kudos to the wiki maintainers at dd-wrt! Before you start the flashing process, make sure to grab the vxworkskiller and the current micro_firmware from the dd-wrt site. The process is pretty simple:

• Modify the network settings on the computer you'll be using to perform the flashes. Connect the router to the computer via ethernet and set the computer to use manual network configuration. You'll want your ip to be 192.168.1.100, with a 255.255.255.0 subnet, using 192.168.1.1 as the gateway.
• Perform a HARD BOOT of the Linksys router to reset the box and wipe all the NVRAM. A HARD BOOT is achieved by holding the reset button for 30 seconds with the router plugged in; then, while still holding the reset button, unplug the router for 30 seconds. Finally, plug the router back in - all the while holding in the reset button - and continue holding the reset button for another 30 seconds. In my case, I had to power cycle the router after this in order to get it to respond again.
• Log into the router at 192.168.1.1 via the web interface. FireFox, sadly, is not your best choice here. The dd-wrt UI appears to respond better in IE - so, I guess it's good for something after all. Go to your Linksys firmware upgrade page and load the vxworkskiller firmware. You'll want to wait about five minutes for the vxworkskiller to do its thing. After that, you will need to power cycle the router. It should now respond to pings to 192.168.1.1 (with a ttl=64ms).
• Now flash the current micro_firmware from dd-wrt. This step could vary depending on your tftp client; I'm using the tftp client from the ubuntu repos. For me, this means opening a tftp session thusly:
  
  
  user@box:~$ tftp 192.168.1.1
  tftp> mode binary
  tftp> rexmt 1
  tftp> timeout 60
  tftp> put the_micro_generic_firmware
  


• Here again, you'll want to give the firmware a good 5 minutes to initialize before you do anything else. You should see the router reboot and the power and LAN lights should come back to always lit. Now you need to do one final HARD BOOT and let the dd-wrt firmware take over.
• Wait about one minute and you should be able to login to the dd-wrt router with the username root and the password admin. Obviously, you'll want to change that immediately.

And that's that. You now have a working open source, linux-based, fully featured router for all of your network admin-y type needs! I'll update again in a couple of days with some discussion of the various features I've enabled and my experiences with the dd-wrt interface.