WRT54GL config

I think I've gotten my Linksys WRT54GL wireless router to bridge to my first generation Apple Airport. After many failed attempts. I'm going to write down what the config looks like before I screw something up.

Wireless mode: client bridge
network: B-only
ssid: ahub
operating mode: gateway

I have a laptop connected to the linksys by wire. The laptop has a static IP config on the same subnet as the linksys. I can now ping through the linksys, through the airport, to other machines on the local network. Now, I need to see if I can get a DHCP connection to work.

It appears that connections will seemlessly migrate between the two routers depending upon wireless signal strength. But DHCP is not working. I can see the laptop sending the dhcp request. I can see the server getting the request. I can see the server sending the response, but the laptop either does not get the request or ignores it.

Maybe there is some hidden firewall in osx that I haven't found yet.

Switched to tomato

After much delay, I tried flashing my router into a Tomato router and tried to get it to bridge to the Airport. I think I got it working by setting it in Wireless Bridge mode, and setting the channel and SSID to match the Airport. But then I realized that I didn't get any range boost out of that configuration, I just got a place to plug in wired network devices besides the computer room. That's good to know, but not exactly helpful. I tried Wireless Distribution System mode, but that requires the two routers to be able to agree on protocols which is hard when you are talking to an aging Airport that doesn't even know what 802.11g is. So I just ripped out the old Airport and replaced it with the Tomato router in this configuration:

Mode	Access point
Channel	1
Protocol	Mixed B+G
Wan port	disabled
Lan port	static config
Lan DHCP server	disabled

I haven't looked at the QoS tools yet, but I don't run any skype over wireless, so it probably won't matter to me.

The graphs are pretty, but they are dynamically and ajaxily generated, so I can't just cut and paste them in to this wiki, since they aren't jpgs or pngs. I guess I have to do a screen shot if I want to share them. I'm tempted to have Tomato send its logs to the server so I can see just what sort of firewall violations it gets. Oh, and I decided to start broadcasting the ssid since I only talk to mac addresses on my white list. Maybe it will be easier for friends to connect if they don't have to ask what my ssid is again.

Now we'll be all ready for the new laptop to arrive and start talking 802.11g. Huh, I wonder if it talks 802.11n... maybe I need to get a new router again.