Asus WL-500g Premium

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This is a placeholder page to collect some resources for the Asus WL-500g Premium wireless router which I intend to hack up a bit and put OpenWRT on.

Functional Requirements

  1. Enable routing to an upstream throught the WAN port with either IP over Ethernet (static, DHCP) or PPPoE, including basic firewalling and NAT
  2. Allow up to five OpenVPN connections in either bridged or routed mode, in either peer-to-peer or client-server mode
  3. Allow updating a (set of) DNS record(s) with the current external IP address, updated automatically on link-up
  4. Allow querying alternate roots for certain zones (rev. for private IP space)
  5. Allow access to USB-connected mass storage (USB key, hard drive), using Samba and netatalk
  6. Allow printing to USB-connected printers

Hardware Setup

Serial Console

Two serial ports are available via a 2 by 4 pin connector next to the power circuit. Both ports only have TxD and RxD available, no handshake signals, and use 3.3V signals. Using a cheap USB adapter for Siemens phones (which also use 3.3V signals), this can be used to gain access to the routers serial console.

I'll install a 2.5mm headphone-style jack in the router, because it's easy to mount (just drill a hole, no dremeling, no glueing) and wire it up to the first serial port.

The USB adapter cable will lose it's Siemens connector, which will be replaced with a matching plug.

Siemens USB cable pinout

Pin Signal
2  GND
3 TxD
4 RxD
5 CTS
6 RTS
7 DCD

Not sure which end of the connector is pin 1, and whether TxD and RxD are relative to the USB adapter or the phone, but I'm sure this can be measured once I have the cable. Probably will need to tie together CTS, RTS and DCD.

Additional Display

Depending on whether I can find a cheap model, consider adding a LCD to the router, either through the second internal serial port, or as a USB peripheral. Matrix Orbital and ChrystalFontz are the usual suspects, but their products appear to easily cost as much or even more than the router itself.

Links & Resources

Potential replacement for the aging Asus hardware: