[TriLUG] WRT54GL wireless bridge

[Greg Brown]

Well the openwrt units can do a lot more... a LOT more.  And there are many
people on the trilug list that know openwrt very well.  Still, if you just
need a simple bridge the WAP54G works well for the purpose.  Still, if you
were going to spend 60 or 70 dollars for a wrt vs a wap I'd spend the extra
for the wrt.  They can do more fun stuff (and if you never need
amplification they are the only way to go thanks to the 'wl' command).

Greg

On 10/6/06, Owen Berry <oberry at trilug.org> wrote:
>
> Thanks for mentioning that - I didn't realize the WAP's could act as
> clients as well. I might actually go with that option as I wouldn't have
> to add figuring out openwrt to all the things I'm learning with this
> project. The downside is that it looks to be slightly more expensive,
> and you only end up with 1 ethernet connection (although that's all I
> need right now).
>
> Owen
>
> On Fri, 2006-10-06 at 18:16 -0400, William Sutton wrote:
> > and just FWIW....
> >
> > I have a pair of WAP54G's (nothing special like your WRT54G) that handle
> > bridging to each other fine, so I can't imagine that the default Linksys
> > firmware wouldn't handle it in case you want to go the simple route.
> >
> > --
> > William Sutton
> >
> >
> > On Fri, 6 Oct 2006, Owen Berry wrote:
> >
> > > Great! And thanks for all the info!
> > >
> > > Owen
> > >
> > > On Fri, Oct 06, 2006 at 01:58:53PM -0400, Greg Brown wrote:
> > > > Yes this is possible and I have done the same in a number of ways
> using
> > > > OpenWRT.
> > > >
> > > > 1st and easiest way - bridge:
> > > >
> > > > AP #1 - primary AP, configured SSID and let's say WEP (depending on
> what
> > > > version of WhiteRussian you install WPA may or may not work in
> bridge mode.
> > > > I have had luck with Version5 of WhiteRussian and am using that
> version to
> > > > power all APs I use at the beach).
> > > >
> > > > Anyway on the second AP once you get OpenWRT installed:
> > > >
> > > > set wl0_ssid= to the same ssid that you have on your primary AP
> > > > set wl0_key1= to the same wep key you use on your primary AP
> > > > set wl0_wep=enabled
> > > > set wl0_mode=wet (wet for bridge, sta for routing, I use wet - it is
> easier)
> > > > set lan_ipaddr= to a unique ip address on your LAN
> > > > set lan_gateway= to your gateway address
> > > > set lan_dns to your DNS address
> > > >
> > > > After all that, run 'nvram commit' to reload everything and reboot
> > > >
> > > > Success will be a ping that returns from OpenWRT unit while it is
> not
> > > > plugged into anything else.
> > > >
> > > > If you have Macs this is a point-and-shoot affiar with Airport
> access points
> > > > but you'll end up with less ports and you'll spend quite a bit more
> money.
> > > >
> > > > You can also use WDS mode for your openwrt box.  Using WDS you'll
> end up
> > > > with a repeater that you can attach to just like your primary AP
> (you'll
> > > > also eat up more bandwidth this way, but who cares about that?) :)
> > >
>
> --
> TriLUG mailing list        : http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> TriLUG Organizational FAQ  : http://trilug.org/faq/
> TriLUG Member Services FAQ : http://members.trilug.org/services_faq/
>