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Since the ASUS WL-300, WL-500b, WL-500b/v2, WL-500g, WL-500gx (deluxe) and ASUS-WLHDD are all using firmware that are based on Linux, ASUS has (in order to stay in compliance to the GPL) released the Source Codes for the devices.
Access to the sources has given the community a unique posibility to add new features to the device.
So far the only really widely used alternative firmware (or custom firmware) is done by oleg ( http://oleg.wl500g.info ).
Oleg names his releases as <_Official_ASUS_Version_> - CRX (CRX = Custom Release version X), the latest version at time of writing (June 18th 2005) beeing 1.97.5-CR6.
Not only does the Custom Firmware add a lot of features by itself, it also opens the possibility to "install" software packages of your own choice (called Slugware or Optware).
Essentially Oleg has improved the official firmware, and provided ways to turn the ASUS WL Devices into full blown linux-boxes that are able to run virtually any linux service or software of the users choice.
Page Index 1. FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
2. Added Features - Features added directly in Olegs firmware
3. Functionality for running Optware (Extra added software packages)
FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
Will the custom firmware change the basic router funtions?
Short answer: No.
Longer answer: It depends on what you mean.
If you mean if it changes the basic routing functionality, then no. It will not change nor ruin that.
It WILL however add a lot of extra functionality, described further down this page.
Will it damage my hardware?
In general no!
There is no reason, why this firmware should harm your hardware, but firmware updates CAN make your router useless. This is always the case, no matter if you use official or unofficial versions of the firmware.
Neither me (the author of this site) nor Oleg can be held responsible for any kind of damage inferred by failed firmware upgrades, or by use of the Custom Release firmwares.
Does it work with my WL-330g?
No. The 330g is based on a Marvel chipset and not the Broadcom one like the other devices.
Added Features - Features added directly in Olegs firmware
The list of added features and bugfixes in Olegs Custom Firmware compared to the original Asus one is way to big to post here. Instead the following list, is the list of the most significant additions in my opinion. If you know of any difference that I have not included, but you feel should be on the list, dont hesitate to
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.
| Feature | Comment |
| Telnet Server |
Enabled by default (from LAN), and allows you to log on to your router in console mode. |
| Dropbear SSH Server |
Disabled by default, but can pretty easily be enabled. SSH is basically the same as Telnet, just with the big difference that all communication between client and server is encrypted. For using console mode from the WAN (Internet), it is highly recommended to use SSH instead of Telnet, in order to secure your username + password to be snooped by someone on the Internet. |
| RAW Printing. |
Enabled by default. Oleg replaced the ASUS printing daemon with the p910nd daemon. The p910nd daemon is sometimes called HP JetDirect and is faster and more stable than the standard ASUS daemon. Oleg has written a great howto on Printing with the Custom Firmware . |
| Samba |
Disabled by default and unsupported at present time. SAMBA is the linux implementation of Windows Networking. Using SAMBA you can share your files and folders on the ASUS WL routers, just like when sharing a folder on a windows machine. The SAMBA implementation is Beta and unsupported. |
| QoS (Traffic Shaping) |
Oleg has enabled QoS in the kernel, and included Wondershaper as a "front end tool" for configuring QoS. This should allow you to mark certain traffic as low prioity. A good idea would be to mark P2P traffic as low prioity, so that you can still browse the web at normal speeds, and even use VOIP applications (or IP Phones) with no drop-outs. |
| ipkg package system |
One of the most important new features of Olegs firmware compared to the Asus Stock one, is the inclusion of support for the ipkg package system (Itsy Package Management System) for installing Optware. This is kindda like yum, apt-get or rpm but created for embedded systems and their special needs. |
Functionality for running Optware (Extra added software packages)
This section is about the functionality that Oleg has put in the router, in order to make it possible to run 3rd Party Packages. The focus is not the ipkg system which in part is explained in my IPKG Package System Tutorial . The focus here is the flash part of the firmware and the usage of startup and shutdown scripts.
The flash filesystem (flashfs) is placed in /usr/local
The scripts in the table below, should all be placed in /usr/local/sbin (except for .files - this is in /usr/local)
The following scripts are run at the specified events if they exist :
| Script filename | Runtime | Comments / Example of usage |
| pre-boot |
Just after the Kernel load. Before any init begins. |
This is the most "dangerous" one to play with, since not even the telnet server is loaded before this one. If you make a big mistake in this script, chances are that you are not able to connect to your router in any easy way.
I dont really know which services it would be a good idea to run here. If you have any input regarding this, write me a
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. |
| post-boot |
After all the standard services are loaded. |
This is where you would place most user-installed services startup commands. Take a look at virtually any of my guides to see examples. |
| post-firewall |
After the web-configured firewall (iptables) scripts are loaded. |
Some people finds it nice to do some firewall settings directly with iptables commands. Theese can be stored here. One huge advantage of putting them here, is that they do not get erased, even if you "reset to defaults". Take a look at my guides for inspiration on usage.
post-firewall is ran by the firmware with a few command-line parameters, which can be treated as constants in the scripts. The Constants are :
$1 = WAN interface
$2 = WAN IP
$3 = LAN interface
$4 = LAN IP
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| post-mount |
Just after the ASUS auto-mount has completed. |
This would be a nice place to start stuff like the webserver, an alternative ftp server or anything else that requires the USB storage media to be mounted. I dont use this in my guides, since I actuately do manual mounting of the drives in the post-boot script. |
| pre-shutdown |
When sending the 'halt' or 'reboot' commands, this is loaded just before the command is actuately executed. |
I havent actuately used this myselves yet. It could however be used to shutting services down before the router reboots, if you have some services that are sensitive to hard-shutdowns. This could be stuff like P2P clients and so on (giFt, amule and so on). Also it could be used to expand the system to beeing a multi-user system, instead of a single user one. |
| .files |
Not a script like the rest. |
This file is special compared to the others. The usage of this file, is to define which files, besides the ones residing in /usr/local, should be stored in the flashfs filesystem. An example could be :
#hosts file
/etc/hosts
#samba conf
/etc/smb.conf
#users
/etc/passwd
Lines starting with # are comments. |
Just creating the above files isnt enough. In order for them to survive a reboot, you need to save them to the onboard flash chip.
This is done by :
flashfs save < enter >
flashfs commit < enter >
Now the files will be persistant to a reboot. Everytime you have changed any of the files, you will need to use the two above commands to save the changes to the flash.
Not even saving the files is enough though. In order to make the router execute the files at startup you need to :
flashfs enable < enter >
A firmware upgrade will NOT delete the files, but it WILL disable it. After a firmware upgrade, or a reset-to-defaults of the router (from the admin web pages), you need to use the enable command, to make the scripts run at their designated events again.
I home this page has made the differences between the stock Asus firmware and Olegs Alternative Firmware somewhat clear.
I would like to thank Oleg for helping me with some information regarding his firmware !
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