FREE! New public Alchemy version Sveasoft firmware for Linksys WRT54G / WRT54GS wireless 802.11g router

[0roo0roo]

Not sure what you mean about qos bandwidth loss. If you mean the thing with windows QOS that is urban myth, it doesn't really lose you bandwidth. It reserves I belive 20% of your total bandwidth for QOS purposes, but if QOS doesn't take control of the windows machine bandwith, that 20% is released for other use. This QOS is for your network card in your windows machine and has nothing much to do with the QOS in the router.

The QOS in this router is not part of windows. Its internal to the router. I'm pretty sure it doesn't do anyhing to the clients on the network, much less thier network cards. In this case, QOS means that is gives priority to transmitting certain types of traffic upstream or downstream from the router. For instance, if you have VOIP, you'd want those packets to have priority regardless of what else you were doing on the internet so you wouldn't have dropped packets that would case quality issues with the phone call. If you do p2p you'd want to have those be low priority so you could still browse the web while doing p2p. Etc.
Now, you will lose a small amount of bandwidth making QOS work effectivly on the router, but you can experiemtn with how this works. What you do is specify your max upstream and downstream, and put in a number slightly less into the router QOS config. One of the reason is because for instance in many Async connections (like most DSL) if you transmit upstream at maximum it will slow your downstream to a crawl. So one object of this QOS is to slightly limit the upstream a little less than max so it wont hurt your downloads or web browsing. This is in addition to giving priorities to differant types of traffic. However this is totally up to you in how you config it, and you can experiment with various configs and limits, if you have Syncronous connection then feel free not to limit it at all.

so i guess just setting the upload at about 90% works? and the only reason to set downlink at 90% is so you don't get sluggish from the downlink being flooded too? but since thats less likely it can be set as 100%? i don't really want to limit my downlink..is that ok? oh, it seems everytime u change qos settings it resets your connection/ip if you are on dynamic ip.

and anyone know what qos settings work best for streaming media?

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo

so i guess just setting the upload at about 90% works? and the only reason to set downlink at 90% is so you don't get sluggish from the downlink being flooded too? but since thats less likely it can be set as 100%? i don't really want to limit my downlink..is that ok? oh, it seems everytime u change qos settings it resets your connection/ip if you are on dynamic ip.

and anyone know what qos settings work best for streaming media?

That should be fine as far as I know. As for streaming media, you find out what port it transmits on and give that priority. Generally you'd give port 80 priority as well since thats web traffic, and even if you are downloading a lot you still want to be able to browse the web. And p2p would be low priority, etc.

 

[0roo0roo]

ah. but there is no port priority that i can see. just a long drop down menu that lets you choose presets like html http pop3 p2p etc. theres mac priority and some other stuff.

well heres the list. i've only chosen html http pop3 counterstrike for priority so far. any others used for web browsing? and why http AND html? seem sort of the same right?
aim
applejuice
audiogalaxy
bearshare
bigg bittorrent
citrix
counterstrike
vcs
edonkey
dhcp
directconnect
dns
doom
fasttrack
flash
ftp
gif
gkrelm
gnucleuslan
gnutella
goboogy
h323
quake
hotline
html
http
https
ike
irc
imap
kerberos
ldap
lotusnotes
jabber
jpeg
live365
ms_sql
msn
mysql
netbios
nfs
nntp
ntp
ogg
oracle
packet8
pcany
pdf
perl
ping
pop3
postscript
quake
quake3
quicktime
radius
rpm
rtf
rtsp
sftp
sip
skype
smb
smtp
snmp
socks
spop
ssh
ssl
tar
telnet
termsrv
tftp
unreal
vnc
winmx
x11
yahoo
zebra

 

[Kaido]

Well, it's time for me to get new networking equipment. I got my parents the WRT54GS and we've really been enjoying it. I'm considering a WRT54GS for my own place, as well as the HGA7T antenna kit and Sveasoft firmware. Any comments on this setup? I already have the SpeedBooster cards, so it's not a big deal with the GS.

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Well, it's time for me to get new networking equipment. I got my parents the WRT54GS and we've really been enjoying it. I'm considering a WRT54GS for my own place, as well as the HGA7T antenna kit and Sveasoft firmware. Any comments on this setup? I already have the SpeedBooster cards, so it's not a big deal with the GS.

Apparently the antenna kit is just a hawking antenna thats marked up and over priced, at least at the $70 list. Lots of people were saying it was worth $40 though if you can get it at that price. Here's a quote I found on it in sveasoft forums
"Hooked up two of these babies to my WRT54G running Alchemy 5.1 in mixed B & G mode today. Noticed a significant increase of signal and ability to reach previous deadzones (application used a townhome/condo area). Nothing awe inspiring, but a simple solution if you have $$$ to burn"

Several reccomended these: http://www.pawconnex.com/products/IN24-5RD.shtml
Apparently lower dbi, but better SNR (I think that means less noise and slightly less powerfull).

Also if you want it stronger in a specific direction you can make a homemade reflector pretty easy.
I found this link on helping to make the: http://www.freeantennas.com/

Another thing to keep in mind, increasing the transmitter power also greatly helps, thats configurable in sveasoft. As well, the best transmission/reception is in the same plane as the router. Worst is directly above and directly below. So if its in your basement and you are on top of it, thats a major cause of bad reception. (one reason why its cool that the antennas on the linksys are adjustable).
From what I understand the linksys add on antenna basically squeezes that down even more to a disc shape. So figure out your layout before doing anything with antennas.

 

[bluestrobe]

Is there any screen shots of the setup screens for Alchemy? I'm pretty good with the linksys firmware and wanted to know how much, if at all, difficult is Alchemy compared to the standard firmware.

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: bluestrobe
Is there any screen shots of the setup screens for Alchemy? I'm pretty good with the linksys firmware and wanted to know how much, if at all, difficult is Alchemy compared to the standard firmware.

There's a number of partial screenshots in the documentation links in the OP. Alchemy/Satori look almost identical actually, other than the added features. They stuck with the linksys web interface so they didn't have to re-write it.
But I think in the test versions of Talisman--the next firmware series--they re-wrote (or are planning to) the webcode since it was really clunky to use and add stuff in with.

 

[xyyz]

i've seen OSPF on these.. but no BGP. not that i'll ever need it, but how do you get the BGP option?

 

[DaRock42]

I just upgraded to this software...which antenna is the right n left ones?? When looking at the router from the front or from the back?

also, what does the afterburner option do when turned on??

I'm only getting 65% signal strength and trying anything to make it stonger, may even buy one of those bigger antennas that linksys is selling too.

btw, TX power is at 90.

 

[imported_gimper48]

SVeasoft blows. I signed up paid my money and they refused to support me. With their new talisman software they state it is limited to 5 mac addresses. It is still under GPL and they are not releasing the source even to their registered users? Hmmm

They also refused to reset my mac addresses. I had sent 4 messages to their administrators requesting they reset it. They only replied to the last one. In the last e-mail I said "maybe I will have to use the pirated versions that are out there". Expressing my obvious distain for the crappy service I had recieved. They then pulled my account. Instead of providing their service "as they said is all we are paying for". That is their claim to it being alllowed to charge for it. WEll turns out they didn't fulfil that obligation. interesting. Anyway. I hate Sveasoft and will blog this everywhere. I have a string I started on their forum that they removed buahahah. Nice.

So use the gpl sveasoft from all the sites out there with it. Have a blast. I would have been happy to pay for the "support" If I got any.

 

[kevman]

Originally posted by: gimper48
SVeasoft blows. I signed up paid my money and they refused to support me. With their new talisman software they state it is limited to 5 mac addresses. It is still under GPL and they are not releasing the source even to their registered users? Hmmm

They also refused to reset my mac addresses. I had sent 4 messages to their administrators requesting they reset it. They only replied to the last one. In the last e-mail I said "maybe I will have to use the pirated versions that are out there". Expressing my obvious distain for the crappy service I had recieved. They then pulled my account. Instead of providing their service "as they said is all we are paying for". That is their claim to it being alllowed to charge for it. WEll turns out they didn't fulfil that obligation. interesting. Anyway. I hate Sveasoft and will blog this everywhere. I have a string I started on their forum that they removed buahahah. Nice.

So use the gpl sveasoft from all the sites out there with it. Have a blast. I would have been happy to pay for the "support" If I got any.

WOW...what a rip off....I can't beleive they treat a paying customer like that. I guess I know where NOT to spend my money.

 

[amheck]

Huy guys, I'm sort new to all of this hacked firmware stuff.

I have CallVantage VoIP running thru my WRT54GS router. All of my house is wired, expect when I occassionally use my laptop on the back porch (wireless B card) and my PPc around the house.

Is there any reason I should look into flashing the firmware? Everything seems to be ok. Signal strength is ok, and there are no deadspots that I've really found. Should I just leave well enough alone?

 

[imported_WBStrip]

I have looked at all the posts, and looked at the Firmware and it shows that it goes to V 2.2 My Version is v3. Will this firmware work with it

Lanny

 

[Devistater]

Note: Some non pertinent quote stuff was cut from some comments

Originally posted by: amheck
Huy guys, I'm sort new to all of this hacked firmware stuff.

I have CallVantage VoIP running thru my WRT54GS router.
Is there any reason I should look into flashing the firmware?
Everything seems to be ok.
Should I just leave well enough alone?

Yeah. If you have no probs, leave it well enough alone The 3rd party modded firmware adds tons of features, but if you dont need those there's no reason to upgrade. And it also adds QoS which can help reduce dropped packets from VOIP, but I think that the latest official Linksys has some primitive QoS added in anyway if that was a concern.

Originally posted by: WBStrip
I have looked at all the posts, and looked at the Firmware and it shows that it goes to V 2.2 My Version is v3. Will this firmware work with it

Are you sure? You didn't mention what router you had, is it WRT54G? If so, the OP right near the top says:
NOTE!!! Alchemy public 1.0 firmware only officially supports (WRT54G V1.0, V1.1, V2.0, V2.2) & (WRT54GS V1.0, V1.1).
However tests and info from sveasoft developers indicate it should work fine on others.
Regarding wrt54g
The main thing was version 2.2 changing to a new type of switch chip (and a few other changes) so if it works with 2.2 it should work with 3.0
As well there have been posts of a number of people who got it working fine with 3.0 on the http://www.linksysinfo.org forums and the sveasoft forums, as well as some of the main developers saying they tested it on 3.0 and it worked fine. And previous releases such as the pre 5.4 and pre7 releases worked fine on 3.0, so what happened I think is just that an old description got accidently put into the 1.0 release of what ones it supported and they never updated it.
If you want to research it yourself (I always advise checking the stuff anyone says, dont automatically trust stuff that people say), there's a number of threads about it in the publically accessible http://www.linksysinfo.org forums about it.

Originally posted by: gimper48
With their new talisman software they state it is limited to 5 mac addresses. It is still under GPL and they are not releasing the source even to their registered users? Hmmm

They also refused to reset my mac addresses. I had sent 4 messages to their administrators requesting they reset it. They only replied to the last one. In the last e-mail I said "maybe I will have to use the pirated versions that are out there". Expressing my obvious distain for the crappy service I had recieved. They then pulled my account.

Anyway. I hate Sveasoft and will blog this everywhere. I have a string I started on their forum that they removed buahahah. Nice.

I haven't logged onto sveasoft forums for a couple months since my stuff is working fine. But I went ahead and logged on to check some stuff for you.

A quick check shows that they have "Talisman V1.0.5 GPL packages and kernel source release" as of 15th of July, 44 megs of source code. As the last talisman update was released on 7th of July and version V1.05, I think that I can safely say they have the GPL source code for talisman availible to d/l. At the moment they only have version 1.05 of talisman posted, and GPL source for that, no other versions. As I said I have not been there in months, so its possible that some previous versions didn't have the GPL source code propertly posted.
As for MAC addresses, how long did you wait after asking to reset? A quick check of the front page topics of just one forum about talisman shows that a guy asking to have a mac address deleted got a response within 1 day with the admin saying that he deleted (i.e. reset) the MAC as requsted. And both the guy and admin posted a public post, not a pm.

And I still see the thread you started about it in a quick search of the forums there. So I dont know why you think they deleted it? You also mentioned in that thread a quote from a reply you recived that they offered to refund your money and were sorry for the delay you experianced.
The post from the admin before he locked the thread stated that he locked your account for other violations of the TOS, implying that it was not nessasarily just because of talking about using a copied version. He also then invited anyone to PM him with gripes or complaints or spleen venting. I'm pretty sure that your PM about using copying was a big reason even though unmentioned, but he does mention some other stuff.

I'm not saying that they are all high and mighty and correct, just that there's another side to the story here. Sveasoft has been in the wrong with regards to GPL before, and I've written some extensive posts in this thread previously on what I discovered in researching some of the past GPL issues. But as far as I can tell, they always have eventually complied with GPL, and at least as of today, I belive they are in compliance with it.

 

[TechFarmer]

Originally posted by: Devistater
I haven't logged onto sveasoft forums for a couple months since my stuff is working fine. But I went ahead and logged on to check some stuff for you.

A quick check shows that they have "Talisman V1.0.5 GPL packages and kernel source release" as of 15th of July, 44 megs of source code. As the last talisman update was released on 7th of July and version V1.05, I think that I can safely say they have the GPL source code for talisman availible to d/l. At the moment they only have version 1.05 of talisman posted, and GPL source for that, no other versions. As I said I have not been there in months, so its possible that some previous versions didn't have the GPL source code propertly posted.

Devistater: Thanks for checking into this and for posting the info. I, for one, appriciate all the info you've shared throughout this thread.

Originally posted by: Devistater
Sveasoft has been in the wrong with regards to GPL before, and I've written some extensive posts in this thread previously on what I discovered in researching some of the past GPL issues. But as far as I can tell, they always have eventually complied with GPL, and at least as of today, I belive they are in compliance with it.

It's good to know that they are eventually releasing everything as they promised. I think they could win many more paying subscribers if they simply treated customers well. Since they are eventually complying with GPL; I'll just be patient for the public releases.

 

[kevman]

anoyne know how to revert back to linksys firmware ?

this firmware is not working too well for me.

 

[state 08]

Originally posted by: CiSmAXz
Does anyone know of a good site that explains some of the settings on the Sveasoft firmware?

 

[banditt414]

Any word on when the Belkin Pre-n will be supported?

 

[kt]

Originally posted by: state 08

Originally posted by: CiSmAXz
Does anyone know of a good site that explains some of the settings on the Sveasoft firmware?

You won't find that at the Sveasoft forum for sure.

I switched from Sveasoft's Alchemy firmware to another more stable, supported, and best of all free firmware. Just go to this site to check it out. This guy also wrote a small app that allows you to monitor live network traffic going through the router.

 

[kevman]

Originally posted by: kt

Originally posted by: state 08

Originally posted by: CiSmAXz
Does anyone know of a good site that explains some of the settings on the Sveasoft firmware?

You won't find that at the Sveasoft forum for sure.

I switched from Sveasoft's Alchemy firmware to another more stable, supported, and best of all free firmware. Just go to this site to check it out. This guy also wrote a small app that allows you to monitor live network traffic going through the router.

Thanks,

how easy/hard is it to swtich off of alchemy ? Do I have to revert back to OeM first? How do I do that ? Thanks

 

[KeyserSoze]

Originally posted by: state 08

Originally posted by: CiSmAXz
Does anyone know of a good site that explains some of the settings on the Sveasoft firmware?

This is a good resource.

On a side note: I'm scared to flash my WRT54G anymore. I've killed TWO routers by flashing. I checked version numbers against firmware's, made sure I had the right file for my router. Grrr......scared now, with a V3.




KS

 

[510kut]

thanks op

 

[Devistater]

Originally posted by: kevman
anoyne know how to revert back to linksys firmware ?
this firmware is not working too well for me.

www.linksys.com
D/L the appropriate firmware file for your router from thier website and use the router web interface to upload it and update it.

Originally posted by: kt

Originally posted by: CiSmAXz
Does anyone know of a good site that explains some of the settings on the Sveasoft firmware?

You won't find that at the Sveasoft forum for sure.

I switched from Sveasoft's Alchemy firmware to another more stable, supported, and best of all free firmware. Just go to this site to check it out. This guy also wrote a small app that allows you to monitor live network traffic going through the router.

Yeah I have a number of links in OP about documentation. I found out about them on the sveasoft forums actually. There are some devs who have done documentation things before. There's also apps you can d/l to monitor traffic the linksys, I think there's at least one link in the OP to one that supports sveasoft.
I haven't tried out that dd-wrt firmware, so I dont know about stability or support of it. A quick visit to the homepage shows it being activly developed so thats a good sign. But my router has been stable so I'm happy with sveasoft. I'll go ahead and add that link you mentioned to the OP under the alternative firmware part since I think its a fairly popular one.

Originally posted by: banditt414
Any word on when the Belkin Pre-n will be supported?

Not sure exactly what you mean by the question. Do you mean you want linksys to become compatible with a differant manufacture's pre-n prodcuts? Or do you mean you want a separate version of sveasoft for belkin pre-n routers?
Pre-N stuff is a very iffy thing. Most manufacture's with Pre-N products make no promises that they can even be upgradable to the real thing when its finalized. So I would hesitate to invest in any Pre-N equipment.

Originally posted by: TechFarmer
I think they could win many more paying subscribers if they simply treated customers well.

I agree, with the payment supposedly going to getting you customer service, they could do a better job than they have in the past. I think part of it is that they are busy working on new versions and customer support takes 2nd priority to that. Its unfortunate that there's no dedicated support people, but they would practically have to be a developer themselves to help with all the arcane issues that arise.

I've been able to get my tech help questions answered there, but yeah sometimes it takes a little while. Being as most companies you are lucky to get even an email response back, I like how there's forums for support.

A good example of a customer support experianced occured to me yesterday. I was at my grandparents house trying to setup port forwarding so Remote Assistance would work for SBC DSL through a 2wire router. I called up SBC because the normal password that they use didn't work for the router so I thought it might be setup for a default router. Well I talked to the rep and he told me how to get the 2wire router to show the password hint, and I told him thanks, I'll see if that will help and I can call back if it doesn't. The guy actually ASKED me to just put him on hold and go see if they could remember the password with the hint they had put in during setup. I've never had someone decline the offer to finish up a call like that before. It impressed me. So I went and talked to my grandparents and they were able to figure out the password and I finished up the call. I feel bad for giving the guy a fake email since he said there would be a survey about how good his service was. I didn't want SBC to have my real email and I didn't know how good his service was going to be at the time I gave him my email. I shoulda given him at least one of my throwaway ones that I could at least check. Oh well.

Anyway that was an outstanding support experiance. Sveasoft has been average or even a bit above average at times (I like forums for support) but to me anyway hasn't hit the outstanding mark like that. But at least he's there and I've had my questions answered. So while I may not praise his tech support as being outstanding, at least I've had my questions answered which is better than many of my experiances with say microsoft. They make it so freaking hard to find solutions in their knowledge base. And getting in touch with an actual knowledgable person who works there? HAAHHAAHAHAHAH, surely you joke.

 

[kevman]

Originally posted by: Devistater

Originally posted by: kevman
anoyne know how to revert back to linksys firmware ?
this firmware is not working too well for me.

www.linksys.com
D/L the appropriate firmware file for your router from thier website and use the router web interface to upload it and update it.

Thanks Dev,
The Sveasoft firmware update utility on the router interface specifically says dont use firmware that is not from Sveasoft. Is it ok to use the OEM firmware with the Alchemy modded interface to update? just want to triple check b4 I go back.

Thanks again.

Kevman

 

[0roo0roo]

more...