DDWRT
Jun/090
I have a sudden desire to write something a bit ITish. Often, I find that when I’m looking for some sort of technical information it’s actually a blog that provides the most enlightening resource. It’s a handy step in between a forum and a serious reference site – less of the forum noise, more context than the reference. It adds a tangible, human element. “There is someone, somewhere on the other side of the Internet, who tried to do the same thing as me.”
Oh, and then I decided that I really couldn’t be arsed to write a proper guide. This is more of a highlights reel. In fact, it’s a rant with a link to a proper guide.
So, you want to bridge a wireless network? Perhaps you would like to connect an Xbox to an existing wireless network without paying the exorbitant fee that most outlets charge for the wireless adapter.
I’ve done this twice now. Each time has involved pain, penury and strife. In actuality, the successful steps of the process took about 20 minutes all up. The hours I spent on the project can be explained by one simple thing: Windows Vista.
Seriously, give up on this idea unless you have access to a computer with Windows XP. It just doesn’t work on Vista – you need to use a linksys tftp program (normal tftp doesn’t support sending passwords). Got a mac? Forget it. Moot point anyway, since if you’re a Mac user you don’t want to connect an Xbox lest Steve Jobs takes you off his Christmas List. Besides, the Mac Gamer is a rare beast.
Honestly, I spent hours trawling the Internet trying to work out why the very clear steps which I was following precisely were not working. Eventually, Vista proved to be the culprit. I moved over to a laptop with XP, and I was on Xbox live in about half an hour. Whether it’s the security settings or just plain application incompatibility, Vista is incapable.
The second time around (~4-5 months later; i.e. now) I knew what to do. Except that the XP laptop has become even worse, and the Ethernet port now doesn’t work at all. I tried all sorts of workarounds, and got it past the first step. This was not actually ideal – it no longer functioned as a router, and responded to ping until I tried to access the admin settings. I thought that I’d bricked it. I eventually did the smart thing, spent 30 minutes with Steve’s laptop and got everything shipshape.
I’ve now got two Linksys WRT54G2 routers working with a Netgear WPN824 to bridge a wireless network. One WRT is connected to the Xbox, the other is essentially allowing two printers to be shared over the network. (They were already shared but they were in my room, loud and frequently used late at night. This was annoying.)
As a nice bonus, they also boost reception.
Considering that specific model is about three times cheaper than the Xbox adapter, it’s worth the effort.
http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Linksys_WRT54G2 – instructions for the specific router
http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=68 – how to set up client bridge mode, which allows the wireless network to be shared and for all devices to be on the same subnet
Summary?
DD WRT is cool
DON’T USE VISTA to flash firmware
I’m resisting the urge to make a tortured analogy between this technical stuff and anything else in my life right now. Down, psyche!