Month: March 2008

Wake On LAN

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:

  1. You need to activate wake on LAN feature in the BIOS.
  2. 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.
  3. Some network card will wake using the program wol, but some must use etherwake.
  4. Wake on LAN only works in cable/wired connection (wireless connection will not work).

LINKSYS WRT54GL

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).