Hey Know-It-Alls

[G+_Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ]

Hey Know-It-Alls... I'm prepping a few segments on custom firmware for routers. -- We're going to start with a classic, the Linksys (pre-Cisco/Belkin) WRT54G, and DD-WRT (We'll talk about Tomato and OpenWRT, but I'll demo DD.). 

 

Question: I was going to hold off on showing the update process (because honestly, it REALLY easy) and instead start off with a VLAN segment.... Whatcha think? Do I need to do a step-by-step of updating to custom firmware?

[G+_Steve C]

As a challenge I'd like to see you do an update with DD-WRT (or any custom firmware) on the Linksys WRT110 since everyone says it's impossible.

[G+_Timothy Hamlett]

s/"it REALLY easy"/"it is REALLY easy"

The update process was covered waaaaay back in like, Know How episode #3 (yes, I watched back then).

Here's my idea (taking into consideration the fact that the show often goes a little longer than the 30 min mark):

Film the step-by-step, airing it live at the same time. Upload the video to YouTube and link to it in the show notes for people who can't seem to get it from watching Episode #3.

In the podcast stream, put the {video minus step-by-step upgrade}.

 

BTW, I still have one of those routers.... running DD-WRT!

[G+_Stephen Butler]

Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ?? as an owner of the Asus AC66U, I'd like to see you compare ddwrt to asuswrt, and maybe ways you can mod and what you can do with the Asus Routers. ?

[G+_Eddie Foy]

I wouldn't bother,  but would make a point to the 30-30-30 reset.

[G+_Adam EL-Idrissi]

Personally I say start with the vlan since I've updated a few routers and vlan is something I'm looking at doing. But considering know how seems to have a HUGE variety of people watching, step by step would probably be better.

[G+_Chris Bickhaus]

I think you can skip the installation procedure. Can you take some time to explain IP tables, including situations where you would make custom rules with it? Also, the VLAN segment sounds awesome.

[G+_Ben Reese]

I am most interested in the VLAN stuff and think the flashing process could be left to other tutorials since it isn't the same on all routers.

 

I'm also interested in setting up OpenVPN and knowing why PPTP is considered less secure. Because it's UN/PW based or something else? Maybe that's a better question just for the general discussion group.

[G+_Kia Y]

I like to see more on Vlan

[G+_T Nohands]

(Sorry for the length of this post but if you make it all the way through 

Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ There's a prize or reward at the end that you and many others might be intrigued by).... I think a quick overview especially if some undesirable or over complicated changes have occurred or at least look and see for yourself if there's anything that you find better over another. I myself am trying to  design, map, plan, and build a massive complex network for my property with massive bandwidth of around 20 to 30 gigabyte trunks using aggregation uplinks and LACP over a 1900' north/south trunk and using aggregating wifi bridging at both ends hopefully achieving 3 to 5 gigabit connections each end + south end has no power :( all on top of needing 2 west/east  trunks first about 20 gigabit second around 5 or 10 gigabit and a branching tree multilayer configuration. Why you may ask, well as TNohands I can't interact with my environment to even scream for help so I can be heard through closed doors. Since just about everything that would give me QOL (quality of life) with any independence or fit my needs exactly I have to invent and teach/talk people/friends through building exactly to my design all on a budget since SCI is the most expensive diagnosis in the world. I need the bandwidth so I can create (IFTTT) network function as close to the point of Enterprise D as I can, we are so close. I'm also trying to create a property with enough conditional awareness that if I get my chair stuck and yelling help can trigger a camera to aim at me assess by comparison most preprogrammed so if my wheels turn but chair doesn't move than by if this than that function will inform anyone closest to a speaker or some interface I need help. With deep water and a few high ledges I've had some close calls so if for example someone is lying on the  ground in distress in our shop not moving the network can issue an auditory then visual attempt to get a reaction and if no response then contact nearest person if no one else then text or message pic + vid asking should E911 be engaged + live video SUR., FTP, SNMP, reactive automation, voice commands, 3g 4g lte booster that won't us isp bandwidth a whole whopping 5mps down 1 up promising for 4 years  to upgrade isp equip to offer 10 d 5 up and 15 d 7.5 up. So constantly inventing and hacking merely for practicality and with thieves and people planting drug crops in our fields as well as cooking meth in some buildings without power security is a concern and all require buying or building tech, switches, routers, and  very unusual servers I hope to have a more productive and better quality of  life so if any help on any part of  my multi year project along with other projects would be a life saver and or improver. I would also be  grateful to any access to enterprise equipment refurbished or open box Cisco and so  on if anyone knows where I can get such items, and help sharing any progress inventions and setup config so others like me can benefit from  my explorations. So Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ is that enough custom networking topics for Know How to fill the rest of 2015 in between other subjects? If you or anyone read through this and got this far here is a reward for your patience and curiosity! YEAH if you would like to just really give your machine a shot of steroids and adrenalin so you can even run it faster than giving it an SSD upgrade so you can super/turbo charge your laptop pc just enough to run serious applications from time to time here's a link  to a program that temporarily creates a small partition on your ram to act as a hard drive think of swap file partition on your hard drive in reverse no add on junk ware even in the free version It's called RAMDisk by Dataram I'd just say you would be better off not running all the time unless you get business license and have at least 8 gig of Ram or you might not get the benefit from it   http://memory.dataram.com/products-and-services/software/ramdisk  Enjoy playing with this one! It's been stable for me so far!!!

[G+_David Clark]

I think you could skip the installation as there are plenty of videos on YouTube for that already and instead show us how to use the extra features that custom firmware gives us.

[G+_Ben Reese]

T Nohands?, jokes on you. I dumped the cereal box and went straight to the prize at the bottom.

I've been interested in the RAM disk concept for a while... Is it a viable option again?

[G+_Walter J. Kreis]

Anything without a foundation is nothing.

[G+_Andrew Grafe]

Vlans and how about pfsense? Also maybe how to choose multi Ethernet port cards? Jetway had daughter boards for multiple Ethernet ports.

[G+_Ben Reese]

T Nohands?, I did go back and read through your comment. If I understand correctly, you want Internet access all over your property for video cameras, E911/VoIP calling, and intrusion detection. How much land are you trying to cover? And did I understand correctly that you were wanting 10 Gbps?

 

Also, it sounds like you don't have power readily available every place you would want service. It seems like a mesh network night and you might be able to run a few off solar panels.

[G+_Rud Dog]

The knowledge hole is infinitely deep fill it, please.

[G+_Jason Perry]

I think a quick reference to episode 3 should be good enough and maybe a note if anything has changed. There is no sense covering things twice.

 

Looking forward to the episode Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ

[G+_William Buck]

At least put step by step instructions in the show notes,we were all noobs once and first time flashing is scarry.Actually until the first time you unbrick a "bricked" router its pretty scarry.

[G+_Craig Strutt]

I just used DD-WRT on a $20 TP-Link router to create a VLAN that boosted a condo's wifi so that it reached every room in the condo, and did it so that it matched the SSID and WPA2 settings of my home network.  All my devices didn't know they left home.

[G+_Joel G. J]

Fr. Robert Ballecer, SJ I think start from the basics and knowing if there is a ROM that is safe. Do not know if my Netgear WNR3500L has a stable firmware available.

 

Separate issue: Every time I try updating the firmware with the update file I downloaded from the manufacturer, there's an upload error. What could be causing this. Is my router corrupted?

[G+_Ben Reese]

Joel J?, I looks like your router is supported... Maybe. Check out the DD-WRT Router Database (http://www.dd-wrt.com/site/support/router-database) for more information. There appears to be 2 versions of your hardware and v1 is supported but v2 is a work in progress.

 

The 2 version thing could be the issue with your firmware as well. The other issue could be a corrupt download, but I suspect you've already tried re-downloading. I checked to see if they had a MD5 for that download but it doesn't look like it. It's always recommended that you update the firmware from a PC hardwired to the router, but I've had success on wifi too.

[G+_Ed Bellerose]

I think quickly covering how to do the firmware upgrade would be good for some of the viewers and link to the show notes the steps, then dive into the VLAN stuff. Looking forward to it.

[G+_T Nohands]

Ben Reese been running it for a few days onn and off only issue U I found is it does not play well with readyboost and no point in readyboost anyway right just try iy out free version has no ads or junkware butt tthe performance boost was amazing with  only 4 gig which is what the free versioon allows and just use some common sense and don't think of the software as run and forget I imagine it's perfect for a session  usee like photoshop but keep in mind your giving up ram to do this  so no point in using on a machine with 8 gig or less 16 or higher would be better and remember it's writing and reading on a partition of ram so you use it too much memory/Ram will offset it's gradule run  down unevenly. I imagine it's installing some vm ware on that partition like Hyper-v. Their business license might b worth getting if your usinging it on a work machinne. And to answer your question yes sandisk has the new ultradim raam with 200g and 400g ssd's mouunted on memory/ram fastest benchmark as ffar as I know.

[G+_T Nohands]

Ben Reese Yes I need to cover a 20 acre farm and be able to have as much independence at home as I can so I'm not such a burden needing someone around to help if I want to go outside and come back in and use voice commands to turn on the fan and adjust the thermostat without making someone follow me. when I came up with a way to use my pc and phone with a mouth stylus ment I could take classes and send private messages without someone else typing or reading those messages it's a major life changer

[G+_Ben Reese]

T Nohands?, Sounds like you're doing good with technology given your situation. That's pretty awesome! With 20 acres in Texas (?) I'd expect the land to be pretty flat. If so, you should be able to cover the grounds with a few well-placed access points.

 

Do you have cell service everywhere? If so, I'm not sure why that wouldn't be just as good of an option... At least every HTC phone I've owned there was an option to have an always-on VPN. I haven't tried it yet, but it sounds like it would automatically reconnect to a VPN (like your home network) if the connection is lost.