I have two computers at home connected to my WRT54GL (a variant of WRT54G) through cables. Using SSH i can easily shut down my computer, and using Wake On Lan, I can wake them up again when I need them. Here are some of my notes after setting up the wake on LAN:
- You need to activate wake on LAN feature in the BIOS.
- You need to set your network card to wake on LAN using ethtool. This command needs to be inserted to your startup/network script, because in each restart you will need to set it again.
- Some network card will wake using the program wol, but some must use etherwake.
- Wake on LAN only works in cable/wired connection (wireless connection will not work).
Any geek having the LinkSys WRT54GL will definitely install Linux on it. I bought this device on September 2007, and a week after using it, I started to hack it. First it was just installing DD-WRT, then I tried to add an SD card to it. The DD-WRT mmc driver has the limitation of only supporting SD card up to 1 GB (My 2GB kingston can not be detected), so I reflash using OpenWRT.
DD-WRT is very easy to use. The web interface is great, but as a former Linux administrator, I’d rather handle things trough command line. If you are a command line lover like me, then OpenWRT is better. With OpenWRT driver, I can use my 2GB SD card with higher speed. Now I can use my router for downloading some stuff that takes a long time to download (such as things that are in the Torrent with few seeders).
I connect this router to 2 of my PCs. One of the PC is used for my everyday task, and the other one is my media center. I can wake one or both of my computer through this router (very useful and convenient for me).