Talk:Running Debian on ASUS WL-500G deluxe

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NOTE! CURRENTLY, WITH 2.6.19.2 KERNEL WIRELESS DOESN'T WORK for BOARDS WITH BROADCOM DEVICES (that is, it doesn't work on WL-500g Deluxe and Premium)! (it should work with 2.6.25.x kernels though).

If you have any questions, please subscribe to the mailing list on http://lists.wpkg.org/mailman/listinfo/debian-non-standard


Enabling wireless on boards where it works:

1. You need to install the wireless-tools package on the router.

2. Then, put the following modules in /etc/modules:

ieee80211_crypt_wep bcm43xx

I was using wep, so I needed the first module and it wasn't loading automatically.

3. The bcm43xx driver requires firmware. You can get it from here: http://boredklink.googlepages.com/wl_apsta.o .

4. Once you download it, you need to extract the firmware with the bcm43xx-fwcutter tool. There is a debian package here: http://packages.debian.org/unstable/utils/bcm43xx-fwcutter. You extract the firmware like this:

bcm43xx-fwcutter -w outputdir wl_apsta.o

where outputdir can be any directory that you want the firmware to be extracted into.

5. Next create the directory /lib/firmware on the router. Then copy over all the firmware in outputdir to /lib/firmware on the router like this:

scp outputdir/* root@router:/lib/firmware

6. Next, install hotplug on the router. udev should work also, but I couldn't get it to work right.

7. You need to set your wireless configuration in /etc/network/interfaces, the interface is eth2, for example, something like this: 

auto eth2
iface eth2 inet static
    address 192.168.x.x
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    gateway 192.168.x.x
    wireless-essid networkname
    wireless-key 00000000000000000

8. You should be able to load the modules bcm43xx and ieee80211_crypt_wep manually, then bring up the interface by:

ifup eth2

If that doesn't work, rebooting should.


Can this method be used to install Debian on the WL-HDD?


Of getting wireless to work, or Debian? Broadcom wireless doesn't currently work, but Debian should.

I am a little confused, so sorry for bringing this up again: wireless doesn't work on the Deluxe version but on the premium? I ask because both of them have Broadcom wireless.

Another question: when using Debian, do I have access to nvram (and if not: do I need it to enable full RAM etc.)?


No, wireless doesn't work on deluxe and premium.

You have access to nvram partition, but 2.6 kernel doesn't use it - so you don't have to care.

This is pretty confusing - at top it says wireless doesn't work on the wl-500g premium followed by instructions labeled as how to get wireless working on the wl-500g premium. So which is it?

It DOESN'T work. The instructions there are generic for configuring wireless under Linux, in case someone has another board. I updated the paragraph to be more precise.

Did anybody have a look at http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43 ? (I will, when I get around to it, if nobody tells me that it did not help ;))

See this thread: http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=15443 - some claim that wireless works, some that it doesn't... You may check for yourself and report back to the mailing list.

Please, see http://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=70510#p70510 and patch - http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.comp.embedded.openwrt.devel/1598/focus=1665 . It works fine with wi-fi on 500gp v1

Download Site broken?

The server www1.wpkg.org is not reachable. Is there an alternative site to download the trx's and images from?

Thanks, should be fixed now.
The "server" is really ASUS WL-500gP router running Debian. It has a dynamic IP address and uses DynDNS to update its domain name <-> IP matching. Every couple of months it fails though - please email me in such case: tch -at- wpkg org.
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