Linksys WRT55ag v2 Hacking #1

Bought this wireless router for $50 used. Found that it is highly unstable when using P2P and Skype for voice chat.

With P2P such as eMule, it hang average about every 6 hr. With Skype voice chat, it hang every 30 min about 20% of the time.

Found that DD-WRT, and OpenWRT both are under development to replace the firmware, while Linksys does not provide any later version neither.

There are some information I gather to hack this router and replace it with OpenWRT:

1. Steps to compile Linux kernel
2. Serial cable configuration, which use JP1 socket inside WRT55ag board
3. Processor is 200 MHz Atheros AR50001AP
4. Firmware bootloader is VxWork for ar531x rev 0x00005742
5. Network interface name is /dev/ae0
6. Network loopback name is /dev/lo0
7. EEPROM size 4 MB, RAM 16 MB
8. Serial cable is the only approach to control the device
9. Serial protocol is 9600, N, 8-bit, 1 stop, no hardware handshake
10. Only found 1 homepage who installed it successfully http://legacy.not404.com/OpenWRT/Atheros/Linksys/WRT55AGv2

I will need to custom make a serial cable to connect to socket JP1 on the WRT55ag board. I also need to get a small screw driver to open the casing as well