> I am starting to see why there's not a lot of material about this topic. It seems that these basic, typical Netgear / Linksys routers you find in the common electronics store are very propitiatory and it seems that they are very difficult to duplicate in an open-source capacity. It's not that hard, it's definitely doable. I set up the router+AP of CCCZH's hackerspace (Atheros AR928X, they're quite good, but n, not ac) and am also running one of the four APs in my flat on a Thinkpad T410 (intel 6205, 5GHz does not work at all, 2.4GHz only at 802.11g) with debian. > Basically I am interested in just using an older computer I have laying around (I'll likely use an older Compaq Deskpro Pentium III) and build it into a wired / wireless router. That'll be quite expensive on the electric bill, but will work. However, I think there are no newer Wifi-Chips with PCI, so you'd be stuck with 802.11a/g, however if you use that old hardware as router, this might not be such a problem for you. > I feel like the typical consumer level, plastic, routers found in Walmart are crap. yeah, for most of them, definitely. crap firmware, age old kernel, no updates. > Plus I just want the project and challenge of building one. I've built an IPCop Firewall router and that was tons of fun. I used that setup for about three years. The new interest will phase the IPCop machine out. Do it! And while you do, do write a tutorial, it's always nice to enable others.
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