OpenWRT on a Linksys WRT600N v1.1

Note: At first blush, it does not appear that OpenWRT supports the 5GHz radio. This is fine for my application, as I have another wireless router.

I've been running OpenBSD as my firewall, but have often had performance problems on the old hardware on which I run it. While searching for an alternative, I decided to revisit possibilities for the Linksys WRT600N wireless router I've had in storage since I replaced it with something with better 5GHz and 802.11n performance. I had been running DD-WRT on it, but maintenance of that release fell by the wayside several years ago.

OpenWRT, on which DD-WRT is reported to be based, appears to have a more active development community. I discovered that version 1.1 of the WRT600N, with serial numbers starting with "MNR0", has been supported since version 14.07 of OpenWRT.

I still had a copy of the original firmware, downloaded from Linksys when they made it easy to find, so I loaded that, replacing the DD-WRT image. I set the load to switch to factory defaults.

The latest version of OpenWRT is distributed in the TRX format, so requires conversion for the stock Linksys firmware to be able to process an update, which must be in BIN format. The OpenWRT ticketing system has a case concerning this and here is a direct link to the conversion tool in base64 format. This tool is a 32-bit x86 Linux executable, so I had to install 32-bit glibc.

The resulting file installed smoothly from the Linksys firmware's update page.

A subsequent post will discuss configuration of features of interest to me.

Watching SG-1: Thirteen years in the execution

Thirteen years ago a friend introduced me to Stargate SG-1 after I'd said I'd liked the original movie. It took me a while to get started on the show, then I slowed down, then I picked up speed again after finding it offered by one of the streaming providers. Last night I watched the proper finale for SG-1. I have the remainder of Stargate Atlantis to watch, then the not-as-well-received follow-on show Stargate Universe. For the moment, I'll likely skip the animated spinoff Stargate Infinity, as I tried to sit through the first episode and couldn't stick with it.

It's been difficult to do research on the shows while avoiding spoilers and that avoidance hasn't been entirely successful. I don't like spoilers.

Maybe I'll finish them all before year-end. It's been a fun ride.

Borrowed from a comment on Slashdot

If your religion requires others in public to change their behavior, your religion is broken.

Nearly one year

It's nearly a year since I started this blog. And it's still small.

The day job is stressful and it saps creativity. I would like to find more mental quiet time to offset that.

For a good blog, see http://www.cringely.com/.

Cutting the cord, one month later

It's been a month since we ditched cable. Some channels are spotty, but that's okay. Not having the frustration of abysmal customer service and ever-rising prices make their own reward.

Cutting the cord part 5

Most of the time, recordings are completing successfully. It's better than it was with cable, though, because I control it, end to end.

I'll still be watching that cable company, to see how they manage to survive, alienating customers like that.

Cutting the cord part 4

I have an antenna and I've canceled cable TV. Reception isn't perfect and we're still working on that, but the deed is done. Cable TV rejected me by trying to force me down a path I didn't want to follow.

Cutting the cord part 3

Found an installer. Hoping for the best.

Cutting the cord part 2

I've tested with my old, tree-damaged antenna and have discovered that I can indeed receive all the channels I want to receive. But. There's always a but.

I'm having a devil of a time finding an installer to do what I want.

Pretty soon I'm going to have to start making phone calls. I don't like making phone calls to people I don't know.

Unbreakable

I've become drawn into Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. I really like Tina Fey's writing.

Cutting the cord

It's time to leave cable television behind, for my cable company is now in a headlong rush to drop all analog service and to encrypt all digital channels, even those on the tier that every customer pays to receive. In my opinion, this is a bait-and-switch to make equipment rental mandatory when it need not be.

Perhaps, eventually, I'll watch less television.

In the meantime, I'm on the search for a reputable antenna installer so we can receive at least all the PBS stations.

On learning language

For as long as I can remember, I've been interested in languages other than my mother tongue. I've studied formally German, Russian, Latin, ASL, Spanish. I've dabbled with others. Still no fluency in anything but English. I wish to step up my game.

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality

I am not much of a reader of fan fiction, because so much of it is hard to read. Some time ago, though, I started reading Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality. The final chapter was just posted. While it is properly called "fan fiction", it's by far the best work of this type I have read. It is more accurately described as an alternate timeline for the same characters.

I don't want to give anything away, so there's not much more to add, but if you are at all interested in reading how Harry might have handled things if he were a rational, scientifically-minded person, check out at least the first chapter.

Pie Day

It's Pi Day. And Pie Day. Breakfast, lunch and supper will include something pie-like.

And hopefully the end of a PRL update adventure.

My phone is on Ting, which is partly a CDMA MVNO (virtual network provider) who resells their access to one of the big carrier's networks. CDMA mobile networks have a Preferred Roaming List (PRL), which is basically a condensed list of towers that are on the provider's network and those that are available for roaming. (GSM networks don't have to do this kind of update.) Normally this is just a menu option away, but I run alternate OS on my phone, specifically Cyanogenmod, which doesn't include PRL update functionality.

Performing a PRL update thus requires flashing a stock OS image, executing the update, then restoring the normal OS. I did this two days ago, but didn't test calling and texting afterward. It turns out my phone no longer believed it was active on the mobile network. And my SD card wasn't behaving correctly.

I've backed up the card via a desktop, reformatted it, restored it, and also redone the PRL update. Now everything is working again.

On keyboards

Years ago I learned the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard. It's been a long time since I used it and relabeling a physical keyboard is no longer desirable. Fortunately, an on-screen keyboard viewer is much easier to have now than in the text-only days.

Yes, this is a typing practice session using the DSK again, after a long hiatus. I think I will wait a while before I try to use the DSK while performing system administration.

Writing and procrastination

After seeing an article on perfectionism, I thought to do a search on perfectionism versus creativity and found this article: http://goinswriter.com/perfectionist-writer/. It's a short read and a good kick in the pants.

Write. Write every day.