On Wednesday, September 17, 2003, at 12:32 AM, Julian Bond wrote:I think it was discovered almost by accident that the Linksys WRT54G ran Linux. Is anyone digging around in the other 54G APs to see if they also run Linux?
anything with a BRCM470x can run linux or vxworks.
Ah, yes. But the question wasn't "can" it was "does". As in, do any of the other manufacturers run Linux under the hood. Not, can I completely take over their hardware and install Linux on it.
Without really thinking it all the way through, I suggested late last year that the hardware manufacturers really ought to get out of the software game and run Linux on their APs and Routers. At least then if an exploit is ever found in the system software, they can take advantage of the Open Source community solving it. Some time in the not too distant future I can imagine this becoming a real issue. Right now there's a significant number of WRT54G attached directly to an internet connection. In the past hackers have used similar numbers of internet connected Wingate as the basis for exploits. I don't want to cry wolf but given that some of the Linux versions in the WRT54G distro are fairly old, this is not an idle pipe dream.
There's a number of catches though with basing the operating software on Linux. They could really do with a simple update or auto-update system. And as we've seen there's real problems with releasing GPL drivers for the current crop of radios. Not insurmountable, but awkward.
I really hoped that the new Microsoft hardware was going to be re-badged Linksys again. The we could post articles to Slashdot about Microsoft selling Linux! But it was not to be and looks like being based on some MS PDA software.
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