sveasoftlogo.jpg

WRT54G Firmware Documentation

Hardware

Net Diagram of the WRT54G

WRT54Gnetdiagram.jpg

WRT54Gnetdiagram.jpg

(Thanks to pribeiro @net.ipl.pt) Here is a comment on the above diagram by the author: http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/LinksysWrt54g#head-7eb5292f6d828986548ff4e8f574eae34d47cda6 "Here goes my view of the network architecture of the WRT54G (and other clones) A hardware switch with 5 ports, 4 are the external lan ports (1 to 4), the fifth is connected to the "router" module that has 3 ports (eth0, eth1 and eth2, in Linux terms), eth0 made the connection to the switch module, eth1 is the WAN port that connects to the outside world (ADSL, CABLE, etc.) and finally eth2 connect to the wireless module ... Have you missed something ??? I hope so, if you question is "eth2 and eth0 aren't in the same layer2 lan ?", that's the right point! eth2 and eth0 seem to be software bridged by the Linux kernel an act as a unique L3 interface as "br0". This is a nice thing, in the future we probably can split the wireless (eth2) and the switch (eth0) and do a better control of the traffic (iptables) between them. PS: Sorry for my bad English! -- pribeiro @net.ipl.pt "

Note #1: the default configuration for this device is to have a bridge between the wireless (WLAN)(eth2) and the switch (LAN)(eth0). This means the WLAN and LAN will be using the same IP subnet and DHCP server (unless you manually change from the linux command line).

Note #2: the WAN(Wide Area Networking)(eth1) port is labeled "Internet" on the v1 and v2 WRT54G's

Four versions of the router exist: version 1.0, version 1.1, version 2.0, and WRT54GS v2.0S. The firmware is binary compatable with the first three versions. The WRT54GS's firmware in its default configuration is too big to fit in the EEPROM inside the earlier three versions, although Sveasoft has managed to modify it to fit. More info and discussion: http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=742

WRT54G V1.0

WRT54G V1.1

WRT54G V2.0

WRT54GS V2.0S

Identifying the Router Model Number
There are a few ways to find your model number:
1.) look at the sticker on the bottom of the router. Be aware that the packaging box it came in may indicate a different version. You can identify the router version based on the serial number on the box. "http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9471112mode=flat and http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9463214mode=flat state that the version 2 would also come in a version 1.1 box." The version would be recognizable by the serial number:
CDF5XXXX is version 2
CDF4XXXX and lower are v1.1 or version 1"
CDF1XXXX is version 1

Reference:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WRT54G/message/1581
(I (hkazemi) personally bought a WRT54G v2.0 and it came in a box with packaging labeled v1.1. I also have a v1.0 and its serial number began with CDF1XXXX.)

or
2.) via the web interface. Point your browser to

http://your.WRT54G's.ip/SysInfo.htm   i.e. http://192.168.1.1/SysInfo.htm


You should then see something like this with hardware info at the bottom (version 1 and 1.1 may report as 1.x, while 2.0 reports as 2.0):

Vendor:LINKSYS
ModelName:WRT54G
Firmware Version:Satori-pre3-2 v2.02.2.7sv , Mar 21 2004
#:000
Boot Version:v1.5
CodePattern:W54G
Country:US

RF Status:enabled
RF Firmware Version:Satori-pre3-2 v2.02.2.7sv
RF Domain:US (channel 1~11)
RF Channel:1
RF SSID:() XXX

-----Dynamic Information
RF Mac Address:00:0C:41:E3:XX:XX
LAN Mac Address:00:0C:41:E3:XX:XX
WAN Mac Address:00:0C:41:E3:XX:XX
Hardware Version:1.x

or
3.) via the command line (shell) interface you can look at the results of the 'ifconfig' command. If you see a vlan0 and vlan1 interface then you have a v2, not a v1.0/v1.1.

or
4.) via the command line (shell) interface you can look at the results of the 'dmesg' command. You can look at the cpu speed and memory size information to identify whether you have a v1/v1.1, v2, or GS.

References:
http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=974 (Thanks to Trix who pointed out this method!)
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9664195mode=flat
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9325788mode=flat?hilite=WRT54G+version
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/ProductOpinions-WRT54G.php

Eth interface differences between the versions: v1.0/1.1 and v2.0 'et' distinction
http://sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=191

Power supply info references:
http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=967
http://www.sveasoft.com/modules/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=482

More detailed information is on the Seattle Wireless WRT54g page.

One page links to SV-WRT54GHardware: