I have recently purchased a Linksys WRTSL54GS router, and installed a third-party firmware called OpenWrt.

I am amazed as I actually got almost a fully-fledged linux running in a very small box (see for example the packages available for white russian distribution of OpenWrt). In fact, I was always thinking about having a linux server for my home network management, however, I wanted to avoid a big server (due to the power consumption, space and possibly noise). I have deliberately chosen WRTSL54GS as it is pretty powerful (comparing to other devices in the area): 8MB of flash and 32MB of RAM, it has a USB port and is only around 100USD. The only drawback is that Linksys does not sell this in Europe so I had to get one from eBay in the US. An alternative would be, for example, ASUS, FREECOM, Siemens, however, they are usually more expensive, less powerful or they include hard drive which I do not need. There is also a book Linksys WRT54G: Ultimate Hacking describing various linux distributions for various Linksys devices as well as hardware hacking tips and tricks. This is a must have too if you plan to do more than just clicking on router’s management web console.

So my hands are free to configure my SOHO network directly using iptables, cron, samba, and other great stuff which OpenWrt offers. With more devices in my network it will be even more fun to manage all…