Comments on: Detailed specs for the Asus WL-520GU uber hacking platform

By: ossus

ossus — Sat, 05 Feb 2011 19:10:50 +0000

Hey

Could you be more specific? We all know it is the way, but we need part names , or such to choose a memory module for that. Have 2 gc and one gu so i want to solder something on the PCB already

And a cfe mod could be hard to do, at learst for me …. suppose need to make a new cutom build of a firmware :O

By: Koplimi

Koplimi — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 19:56:59 +0000

“modify CFE”
How do you do this exactly?

By: hinny

hinny — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 04:58:50 +0000

just replace ram chip with a 32MB chip and then modify CFE to show correct memory addressing.

By: BillGeo

BillGeo — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:59:28 +0000

More memory?
That will be nice.

But how are you going to do it (hardware-wise)?
Solder one more memory chip module? Is there provision for that on the PCB?
Replace the existing chip? Better get your soldering skills (and tool) honed up first!

But, as I said… it would be nice!

By: harmony

harmony — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:03:54 +0000

Anybody has successfully upgrade Asus WL520GU to 32MB or more?…
The BCM5354 should be able to support more than 16MB, rite?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 18:28:19 +0000

This is a USR5461. The OpenWrt wiki lists it as a work in progress (may be supported but probably still has some kinks) here: http://oldwiki.openwrt.org/USR5461.html. There is some info about patches requires to get it to boot, but it may work out of the box with the latest Kamikaze release or the dev trunk.

The biggest problem with that router is that 2MB flash isn’t really enough to do much with. You might be able to strip OpenWrt down to a bare minimum install and get mpd and it’s associated libraries to fit, but it will be really, really tight. You won’t be able to follow the tutorials here word for word but you can use them to get a feel for what is required. You’ll definitely need to compile your own firmware and deselect as many packages and modules as you can.

So in short, it might be possible, it will be considerably more work than the WL-520gU, and there’s no guarantee it will even work when you’re done. Have fun!

By: Matt D

Matt D — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 17:53:53 +0000

I would like to build a single site internet reciever using a US Robotics MAXg router. It has a Broadcom BCM5350KPB5 core with an amd AM29LV160DM 2mbyte flash and an EtronTech EM638325TS-6 8 mbyte memory plus wireless radio and usb port, reset switch and 4 plated through holes for the serial header.
Is there enough here to follow your excellent plans to build an iternet radio receiver? Any problems or suggestions?

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 19:34:15 +0000

You might want to read this

http://oldwiki.openwrt.org/OpenWrtDocs(2f)Hardware(2f)Asus(2f)WL520GU.html#head-c1714ddef85786025ab710153d3fe2c4b1312930

which says that USB 2.0 on the WL-520gU is unstable. I haven’t tried it myself.

By: Angel G.

Angel G. — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 09:02:40 +0000

I `ve got usb2.0 hi-speed to work on Wl-500gP V2, so it is possible one to do so on WL-520gU. What actually I came for is to try MightyOhm`s OpenWrt build, because I couldn`t get usb sound working.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 05:25:20 +0000

The Wl-500gP V2 is very similar to the WL-520gU, but with 2x the RAM and flash and 2 USB 2.0 ports.

I have no idea if anyone has ported Debian to the Broadcom5354. My impression is that Debain is too resource heavy, but it’s worth checking out. I’d start at http://www.debian.org.

By: uuuu

uuuu — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:02:47 +0000

Do you have any specs on the WL-500gP V2?
Do you think you would be able to install Debian on this (on internal flash, or usb drive, or both.)

thanks

By: Jeff

Jeff — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:13:20 +0000

Karl – I’m going to guess no, because the difference between the WL-520gU (with 1 external USB port), and the WL-500gP V2, which has 2 external USB ports, is that the WL-500 has a USB hub on the PCB. I could be wrong, but based on Asus using a hub on the 500, they must have had a reason not to bring out the second USB port on both products…

But I could be totally wrong. I haven’t looked specifically for it.

By: Cyk

Cyk — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 17:01:43 +0000

Hi.

Are the signals for the second USB port of the BCM5354 available
on the board?

cheers
karl

By: MightyOhm » Blog Archive » Building a Wifi Radio - Part 2, Choosing an Embedded Platform

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 00:08:50 +0000

[...] Update: I posted detailed specs for the WL-520GU and a couple more photos. [...]