Netgear WGT634U

Introduction

A Linux router with a 200MHz MIPS32-like core with Atheros wireless and USB host supported by MIT's Roofnet project.

Links

• http://wgt634u.nomis52.net/ - WGT634U Wiki

• MitRoofnet:wgt634u - MIT's WGT634U Roofnet Installation

• http://www.personaltelco.net/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=NetgearWGT634U WGT634U Photos

• http://sarwiki.informatik.hu-berlin.de/Hacking_the_Netgear_wgt634u - Another wiki with lots of content.

• http://openwgt.informatik.hu-berlin.de/ - OpenWGT documentation and firmware images.

Where to buy

• $39.95 Justdeals.com - free shipping, no rebates, however units are refurbished.

  • 01-05-06 - In stock.

• $64.89 rageelectronics.com - $61.90 + $2.99 shipping.

• $75.04 amazon.com (as of 9/17/2005) - netgear rebate currently not in effect (as of 2005-10-01), free shipping.

• $74.99 zipzoomfly.com (as of 9/17/2005) - free 2nd-day shipping. Currently (9/17/2005) in-stock.

• from $63.74 pricegrabber.

• Various ebay.com - the winds of fate determine price

Source

Netgear has the source available here:
http://kbserver.netgear.com/kb_web_files/n101238.asp
ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/GPL/

• boa
• bpalogin-2.0.2
• bridge-utils-0.9.6.orig
• broadcom-src
• busybox-0.60.5
• check-4.2
• debianutils-2.6.1
• dhcpcd
• dnsmasq-1.18.orig
• e2fsprogs-1.27
• ez-ipupdate-3.0.11b8
• ifupdown-0.6.4
• iproute2
• iptables-1.2.7a
• linux-2.4.x
  • Kernel 2.4.20 is used.
• linuxigd
• mawk-1.3.3
• mtd
• net-tools-1.60
• nfqueue
• pptp
• procmail-3.22
• proftpd-1.2.5
• quagga-0.96.5
• rp-pppoe-3.3
• samba-1.9.16
• sed-2.05
• smtpclient-1.0.0
• snarf
• sysklogd-1.4.1
• sysvinit-2.84.orig
• tinylogin-1.2
• uClibc
• upnpsdk
• wireless_tools.25

For this source code release, two toolchains are required:

1. A MIPS little-endian toolchain. For example, hndtools-mipsel-linux-3.0

• from Broadcom Corporation. This toolchain is used to compile uClibc and Linux kernel.

2. A MIPS little-endian toolchain compiled with C++ and uClibc support.

• This toolchain is used to compile linuxigd. CPP_STAGING_DIR in Makefile must be modified to indicate the exact path of this toolchain.

Then, a "make" should suffice to build all GPL components of WGT634U.

Roofnet

MIT's WGT634U Roofnet project is still alive. While they are still updating their original images with fixes and new features, it still sits on top of Netgear's stock firmware which isn't very stable. However, the developers have added watchdog scripts and the devices are rebooted at 4 AM to combat memory issues.

• 2006/04/04 - Roofnet 2.0 beta has been released. This is an image based on OpenWrt, which eliminates all the bugs and hassles of working with the older Roofnet versions.

buildroot / OpenWGT

gpsd

gpsd.mk:

#############################################################
#
# gpsd
#
#############################################################
GPSD_SOURCE:=gpsd-2.9.tar.gz
GPSD_SITE:=http://download.berlios.de/gpsd
GPSD_DIR:=$(BUILD_DIR)/gpsd-2.9
GPSD_CAT:=zcat
GPSD_BINARY:=gpsd
GPSD_TARGET_BINARY:=bin/gpsd

$(DL_DIR)/$(GPSD_SOURCE):
         $(WGET) -P $(DL_DIR) $(GPSD_SITE)/$(GPSD_SOURCE)

gpsd-source: $(DL_DIR)/$(GPSD_SOURCE)

$(GPSD_DIR)/configure: $(DL_DIR)/$(GPSD_SOURCE)
        $(GPSD_CAT) $(DL_DIR)/$(GPSD_SOURCE) | tar -C $(BUILD_DIR) -xf -
        $(SOURCE_DIR)/patch-kernel.sh $(GPSD_DIR) $(SOURCE_DIR) gpsd-*.patch

$(GPSD_DIR)/Makefile: $(GPSD_DIR)/configure
        (cd $(GPSD_DIR); rm -rf config.cache; \
                $(TARGET_CONFIGURE_OPTS) \
                CFLAGS="$(TARGET_CFLAGS)" \
                LDFLAGS="-lm" \
                ./configure \
                --target=$(GNU_TARGET_NAME) \
                --host=$(GNU_TARGET_NAME) \
                --build=$(GNU_HOST_NAME) \
                --prefix=/usr \
                --exec-prefix=/usr \
                --bindir=/usr/bin \
                --sbindir=/usr/sbin \
                --libexecdir=/usr/lib \
                --sysconfdir=/etc \
                --datadir=/usr/share \
                --localstatedir=/var \
                --mandir=/usr/man \
                --infodir=/usr/info \
                --disable-fv18 \
                --disable-tripmate \
                --disable-earthmate \
                --disable-shared \
                --enable-static \
                --without-x \
                $(DISABLE_NLS) \
        );

$(GPSD_DIR)/$(GPSD_BINARY): $(GPSD_DIR)/Makefile
        $(MAKE) CC=$(TARGET_CC) -C $(GPSD_DIR)

$(TARGET_DIR)/$(GPSD_TARGET_BINARY): $(GPSD_DIR)/$(GPSD_BINARY)
        $(MAKE) DESTDIR=$(TARGET_DIR) CC=$(TARGET_CC) -C $(GPSD_DIR) install
        rm -rf $(TARGET_DIR)/share/locale $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/info \
                $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/man $(TARGET_DIR)/usr/share/doc

gpsd: uclibc $(TARGET_DIR)/$(GPSD_TARGET_BINARY)

gpsd-clean:
        $(MAKE) DESTDIR=$(TARGET_DIR) CC=$(TARGET_CC) -C $(GPSD_DIR) uninstall
        -$(MAKE) -C $(GPSD_DIR) clean

gpsd-dirclean:
        rm -rf $(GPSD_DIR)

USB

This device has a USB2.0 port.

CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS=y
CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD=m
CONFIG_USB_OHCI=m
CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=m

By default, it wants to mount a usb mass_storage device (/dev/sda) on /share/partition1

As you know, this allows one to add an external HDD/USB keychain, etc. GPS, BlueTooth, USB audio and connections to my cellphone to make GPRS connections have all been tested and work.

Serial

There are actually 2 serial headers on the board. For more information on adding a port, see http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/HowTo/AddASerialPort

CONFIG_CMDLINE="root=/dev/ram console=ttyS1,115200"

I simply added a serial cable to the outer-most header and booted the device. The bootlog (firmware 1.0.0.11?) can be found here. Another log from the latest version which has a number of fixes, including the addition of Atheros XR and AR(Addaptive Radio) is located here.

Battery Power

Measured battery usage: 0.38Amps @12VDC
Input 12VDC. I've been testing a 12V 4 amp-hour sealed lead-calcium (leadacid) battery. After 20 hours of charging with a 12v 200mAmp charger, the wgt634u was connected to the battery.--DonPark

Other Notes

• NodeMashTun has been running exclusively on a Wgt634u

[CategoryDocumentation]