Archive for the ‘firmware’ tag
Netgear DG834G and NAT loopback
Yesterday I made the decision (read: mistake) to update my Netgear DG834G router (hardware v4, firmware v5.01.09) to firmware v5.01.14 – and, as is the way with these things, it brought trouble. After the upgrade I couldn’t reach www.nikrivers.com from the LAN side of the router.
The problem is caused by the way the router handles traffic coming from an internal IP address and destined for the WAN (i.e. external) IP address. In this situation it requires that the router first transfers the traffic from the internal network to the external network, and then immediately passes it back whilst applying any firewall or routing rules that are relevant to incoming external traffic.
Never simple
At the weekend I decided to make a major update to the photo gallery, since a large number of photos weren’t up yet. Although a bit clunky, the gallery software I was using (Gallery2) did the job nicely – and it even has an accompanying desktop app which lets you upload photos en masse.
Linksys NSLU2
Linksys NSLU2
About the NSLU2
The Linksys NSLU2 is a lovely little NAS storage server with 2 USB ports and an Ethernet LAN port. You can attach two USB hard drives to it and connect it to your network, and use it as a file server.
Or you can download alternative firmware, run a customised version of Linux on it, and use it as a mail server, a torrent server, a print server, a web server, and more.
It supports NTFS, USB hubs, and flash drives. It’s silent, draws no more than 10W of power, runs at 266MHz, and is the size of two Weetabix.
And it’s known as a Slug.
Full details, including the data sheet, user guide and firmware, can be found over at the Linksys website, and some information is available at Wikipedia.
The NSLU2 is now discontinued, but don’t let that put you off – this will only really affect you if you need to return your Slug for replacement under warranty. Flashing your firmware voids the warranty (as does making hardware modifications, which a lot of users seem to do), so its discontinuation seems hardly relevant.
Opinion seems to be divided on this issue, with a few differing viewpoints given on Paul Hutchinson’s blog. Regardless, I predict the NSLU2 will maintain a cult following of users and developers for quite some time.
Where to buy
These things aren’t particularly easy to get hold of in the UK at a decent price, but LambdaTek has them available at around £70, although at dwindling stock levels.
Or, if you’re in the market for a second-hand Slug, I have a spare for which I cannot find a use; I’m more than happy to consider offers on it. It’s the 266MHz version (as opposed to the 133MHz version) and has a UK power supply. For use outside the UK, a travel adapter should be fine since the power supply is auto-switching, or a generic 5V-2A power supply would do the trick.
I’m pleased to say my spare Slug has found a new home.
Finding more help
The NSLU2 community is at www.nslu2-linux.org, where there’s a LOT of information. However, it’s a community built on voluntary user contribution, so the information is sometimes incomplete, outdated, or otherwise inaccurate. There’s also a lot of information about the available packages out there on the Internet, but it doesn’t necessarily relate to the NSLU2 and often assumes you will be using packages that simply aren’t available to you.
The Unslung firmware is the first custom firmware that most users try. The binary download, which also contains all the information you need to get started, can be found at www.slug-firmware.net.
Getting the Unslung firmware up and running on my Slug was relatively easy. However, finding the information I needed to configure certain software packages proved more difficult, even though the actual installation of each package was quite simple.
In order to document my Slug’s configuration and to provide a reference point to others, I have created step-by-step NSLU2 instructions for the following tasks:
