GreNME
06-24-2006, 11:46 PM
Not everyone wants to be the kind of person who "hacks" stuff. However, there are often many people who want to tinker and try some kind of hack, even if just to test the metaphorical waters. The problem these latter people have, in many cases, is no sort of "starter" project to use as an introduction into the wonderful world of hacking.
Not any more.
The world of hacking is no longer relegated to somewhat antisocial and nerdy guys who spend every waking hour that isn't devoted to work, school, or food (and only sometimes bathing) either actively hacking or researching something new to hack. To be honest, there is a growing commercial market for hacking, as some like O'Reilly Press (http://www.oreilly.com/) and even Linksys (makers of broadband and wifi routers) are actively taking advantage of. Aside from their many "Hacking <insertnameofsoftwarehere>" books, O'Reilly has their relatively new Make Magazine (http://www.makezine.com/). I do have to admit that I haven't had the resources to get the print versions of the magazine yet, but browsing the site has yielded me some cool project ideas or given me ideas for projects I already have planned. Linksys has their WRT54G (http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1133202177241&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitor Wrapper) line of wireless routers, which until the very latest revision (v. 5) ran on an open-source firmware based on Linux. They still offer the Linux-firmware routers, though they now end in "GL" instead of "G" or "GS" (WRT54GL), which they really didn't have to do, but is really cool of them. They know they have a good thing, too, because they're unfortunately charging an extra $10-20 for the GL model. Lucky for me I have two older-revision models.
The wireless router firmware is why I started this thread. For someone who wants to try something out and isn't sure of whether to invest all the time and energy into something that might ultimately be a passing desire for them, this wireless firmware hack is perfect. For example: I used the DD-WRT (http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php) firmware on my routers, and it couldn't have been easier. The cool factor is that you pretty much add more than three times the functionality to your (compatible) wireless router with a simple firmware update.
What kinds of functionality? Well, I plan on using the following: the ability to tell what computers are connected to the LAN, either in total or just through the wireless; the ability to tell the signal strength of each separate computer connected through wireless; ability to set wireless sensitivity (on the router); ability to mount a shared directory; ability to create a site-to-site VPN; ability to send syslog and snmp traps. For those of you who do it, it has the ability to set special access rules for your XBox or computer games (like WOW). Hell, for those who have a storefront or some other situation where you want to offer WiFi Hotspot capabilities, you can use the DD-WRT firmware to work as a Sputnik Agent (http://www.sputnik.com/products/ddwrt.html), or you can use the "AP Isolation" and Access Restriction settings to limit when and what users can connect to.
There are tons of things that can be done, and I really can't go into them all in one post (hence there being a whole instructional wiki (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page)). There is a heckuva lot of support for this firmware, and it covers more than just the Linksys line. The others it supports can be found on the DD-WRT site here (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation#Supported_Devices). For best results, I would suggest using the Linksys models, but then again I only say that because I have exclusively used the Linksys models. For all I know, these others could work as well or better than the Linksys models.
So, for those of you who have wireless and are aching for some kind of hack project, this is an easy one to accomplish that offers some cool rewards. I managed to install the firmware in under five minutes, had it configured in less than ten minutes, and replacing the old router was seamless. For under an hour of actual 'work', I have to say this hack has probably given me the highest percentage of reward to date. The only one that comes close is the hosts file hack (details for that here (http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm)), but the WRT hack easily comes out on top.
And to go along with that Make Magazine link I mentioned eariler, you who are interested might want to also look a SmartHome.com (http://www.smarthome.com/), which even has a little area to get you better acquainted (http://www.smarthome.com/starters.html) to what they mean by "smart home." I've already ordered from them and am quite satisfied.
Has anyone else seen or heard of some really accessible hacks or hack-like projects that can allow a beginner to introduce themselves to the world of hacking? Go ahead and post them here.
Not any more.
The world of hacking is no longer relegated to somewhat antisocial and nerdy guys who spend every waking hour that isn't devoted to work, school, or food (and only sometimes bathing) either actively hacking or researching something new to hack. To be honest, there is a growing commercial market for hacking, as some like O'Reilly Press (http://www.oreilly.com/) and even Linksys (makers of broadband and wifi routers) are actively taking advantage of. Aside from their many "Hacking <insertnameofsoftwarehere>" books, O'Reilly has their relatively new Make Magazine (http://www.makezine.com/). I do have to admit that I haven't had the resources to get the print versions of the magazine yet, but browsing the site has yielded me some cool project ideas or given me ideas for projects I already have planned. Linksys has their WRT54G (http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C2&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1133202177241&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitor Wrapper) line of wireless routers, which until the very latest revision (v. 5) ran on an open-source firmware based on Linux. They still offer the Linux-firmware routers, though they now end in "GL" instead of "G" or "GS" (WRT54GL), which they really didn't have to do, but is really cool of them. They know they have a good thing, too, because they're unfortunately charging an extra $10-20 for the GL model. Lucky for me I have two older-revision models.
The wireless router firmware is why I started this thread. For someone who wants to try something out and isn't sure of whether to invest all the time and energy into something that might ultimately be a passing desire for them, this wireless firmware hack is perfect. For example: I used the DD-WRT (http://www.dd-wrt.com/dd-wrtv2/index.php) firmware on my routers, and it couldn't have been easier. The cool factor is that you pretty much add more than three times the functionality to your (compatible) wireless router with a simple firmware update.
What kinds of functionality? Well, I plan on using the following: the ability to tell what computers are connected to the LAN, either in total or just through the wireless; the ability to tell the signal strength of each separate computer connected through wireless; ability to set wireless sensitivity (on the router); ability to mount a shared directory; ability to create a site-to-site VPN; ability to send syslog and snmp traps. For those of you who do it, it has the ability to set special access rules for your XBox or computer games (like WOW). Hell, for those who have a storefront or some other situation where you want to offer WiFi Hotspot capabilities, you can use the DD-WRT firmware to work as a Sputnik Agent (http://www.sputnik.com/products/ddwrt.html), or you can use the "AP Isolation" and Access Restriction settings to limit when and what users can connect to.
There are tons of things that can be done, and I really can't go into them all in one post (hence there being a whole instructional wiki (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page)). There is a heckuva lot of support for this firmware, and it covers more than just the Linksys line. The others it supports can be found on the DD-WRT site here (http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Installation#Supported_Devices). For best results, I would suggest using the Linksys models, but then again I only say that because I have exclusively used the Linksys models. For all I know, these others could work as well or better than the Linksys models.
So, for those of you who have wireless and are aching for some kind of hack project, this is an easy one to accomplish that offers some cool rewards. I managed to install the firmware in under five minutes, had it configured in less than ten minutes, and replacing the old router was seamless. For under an hour of actual 'work', I have to say this hack has probably given me the highest percentage of reward to date. The only one that comes close is the hosts file hack (details for that here (http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm)), but the WRT hack easily comes out on top.
And to go along with that Make Magazine link I mentioned eariler, you who are interested might want to also look a SmartHome.com (http://www.smarthome.com/), which even has a little area to get you better acquainted (http://www.smarthome.com/starters.html) to what they mean by "smart home." I've already ordered from them and am quite satisfied.
Has anyone else seen or heard of some really accessible hacks or hack-like projects that can allow a beginner to introduce themselves to the world of hacking? Go ahead and post them here.