Hi all,
I am considering to buy an Asus WL500g Premium to install Debian on a
hard drive connected via USB. I have found a few resources on this
subject[1] and I think it should be no problem getting the device to
work.
What I am interested in is answers to a few practical questions:
- As far as I understand, the wireless chipset is a "Broadcom BCM4318"
which you can only get to work using non-free firmware (just like the
Intel stuff and many other wifi devices). However, the discussion page
of first URL I referenced contains a warning that wifi doesn't work
with the given 2.6.19.2 kernel, followed by an explanation of how to
enable wifi on the Premium. Does that mean that wifi doesn't work on
the "Deluxe" version but it does on the "Premium"?
Wifi is a must for my intended usage so I would be glad about a
definitive answer. Comparisons of signal strength and coverage against
my old WRT54g would be nice, too.
- Can I change nvram settings when running Debian? I have some
experience with OpenWrt on a Linksys WRT54g where nvram manipulation
is necessary for most configuration tasks. I understand that Debian
will (by default) not use any of these settings, but nevertheless the
device will use them for clock speed, amount of RAM etc. Does that
mean I have to install OpenWrt first, change nvram settings and then
flash the new kernel to boot from USB or is it possible to
cross-compile OpenWrt's 'nvram' program for Debian?
- Does anybody have numbers on the performance of OpenVPN on this
device? With my WRT54G I could achieve 200-300kB/s throughput which
is unfortunately a lot less than what my ISP provides. That's why I
currently have OpenVPN running on another computer. I'd be happy to
have one reason less to have another PC running 24/7 (and to simplfy
my network topology as well).
- Does the small amount of RAM limit ordinary administration tasks? I
love vim, but I hate vi. :) I could also imagine that apt(-get|itude)
might be a bit too heavy for 32MB. Any hints on lowering memory
consumption are appreciated.
TIA
Jochen.
[1] http://wpkg.org/index.php/Running_Debian_on_ASUS_WL-500G_deluxe
http://wl500g.info/archive/index.php/t-2221.html
http://wiki.debian.org/DebianWRT and a few others
--
After the millenium I will shoot to kill.
[Agree] [Disagree]
<http://www.slowlydownward.com/NODATA/data_enter2.html>
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature