[TriLUG] more fun with the wrt54g

[Jason Tower]

i've found a way to get wireless "bridging" working with my wrt54g v3
that does not involve the openwrt firmware.  the main reason i didn't
use openwrt is that it is not supported yet on the v3 models.  the
sveasoft alchemy firmware more or less retains the stock web interface
but adds some nice features like shell access, client mode, adjustable
power, extra channels, etc.

on my setup, the main router (cerient2 in my example) has a public ip 
address on the wan port and is assigned 10.0.0.2/24 on the lan side.  my 
dhcp range starts at 10.0.0.100 so i've made the client wrt (cerient3) 
ip address 10.0.0.3.

get the sveasoft alchemy firmware here and upload to your wrt:

http://www.linksysinfo.org/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=getit&lid=53
http://www.trilug.org/~jason/Alchemy_V1.0.zip

it says that v3 is not supported but it works just fine on both of my 
units.  use at your own risk.

on the client wrt, start by going to wireless > basic settings, choose 
client mode, and set the ssid to match the main router:

http://www.trilug.org/~jason/client_wifi_basic.png

then go to wireless > security and set the wep key to match the main 
router (if necessary):

http://www.trilug.org/~jason/client_wifi_wep.png

finally, go to setup > basic setup and set the internet connection ip 
info as if were a client on the main router.  then set the router ip to 
be on a *different* subnet (this is key).  see my setup as an example:

http://www.trilug.org/~jason/client_net_basic.png

you don't have to enable the dhcp server on the client wrt but i have 
tried it and it works fine.  that's it for the client device, there's 
one more critical step that has to be done on the main router (which on 
my network just happens to also be a wrt54g with the alchemy firmware, 
but any wifi router should work fine).  you must set up a static route 
to the router ip subnet set on the client wrt in the previous step:

http://www.trilug.org/~jason/ap_routing_adv.png

and that's it.  strictly speaking this does not make the wrt a bridge, 
it is actually routing but is works just fine for what i needed.  plug 
hosts into the lan ports on the client wrt, set them as dhcp clients, 
the rest is automatic.  in my case i put the client wrt in my garage 
where i have a test bench set up for working on desktops and servers, 
now i have full net access there without having to run a cat5 cable 
across the entire house.

hope this helps!

jason