DD-WRT

I'm moving to a new place and was shopping for a new wireless router. I had heard about the reliability of the Linksys WRT54GL before but I didn't know the full details of how it could be customized. What I found out, to put it mildly, was very exciting. After looking at the product on newegg.com (my favorite online store) I found out that the firmware could be upgraded to something called DD-WRT. Now, firmware is a bit of a misnomer because you would think that it meant it couldn't be messed around with; but, lo and behold, changing the firmware is as easy as hooking up a laptop directly to the router and transferring some files. For those of you not in the know, DD-WRT is basically a mini linux operating system that turns a home-consumer wireless router into something that would excite any aspiring hacker / network engineer. I wouldn't even begin to list all the capabilities... you can find them here.

Now, the real reason why I'm excited is that I'll finally have WOL (wake-on-lan) capability for my home computers. Right now, I leave my PC at home on all the time. It's a good thing my electricity is flat-rate included in my rent. But my new place will be different; plus, I actually do care about wasting electricity, I gotta fight global warming somehow. Anyway, mucho props to the linux geeks at the DD-WRT org. As someone wiser than me once said, "It's not what you sell, it's what you make".