Q: Can you build a low budget media center and packet sniffer using a Linksys WT54G-TM in 20 minutes or less?
A: Yes!
Outside the hardware hacks, I'll show you what firmware and packages are needed and get everything operational in less than 20 minutes. It starts with laying the framework by flashing a stock WRT54G-TM and then loading OpenWRT. To finish, I then install and configure the correct packages to auto-mount a 16 Gig SDHC memory chip. We will also get that SDHC card shared on the network for remote access, so we can map a drive to the WRT file system. For even more storage, we will auto mount a network share on the WRT. The final addition will be darkstat installation and configuration for packet sniffing, logging and graphing the network traffic from all the interfaces on the WRT, yes even wireless!
John A. Colley's bio I have spent 25 years in the computer field. I started out working on DEC PDPs, VAXes, and Xerox Mainframes in the early 80's as a field engineer. My principal job was maintaining and repairing all processors and associated peripheral devices, to include multivendor networking gear, tape drives, disk drives, line printers, and a wide variety of terminal devices around the Washington, DC area. That was an era when we could actually replace the R/W heads on the disk drives, and the tape drives were the size of refrigerators. An oscilloscope was part of my field engineerís tool kit, along with alignment packs and mater skew tapes. The computer rooms were the size of football fields and I never had to worry about the hot humid days on the east coast. Over the past 25 years I've had the privilege of working at NIST, NRL, NASA, DTNSRDC, NSWC, NADC, all while supporting our country in ways I never dreamed of as a young HAM operator in the 70's. Amateur radio then was the Internet of today and communications is my true passion no matter what the medium happens to be. As business and government becomes increasingly reliant on the Internet, data and network security is becoming a major concern. To meet that demand for qualified security experts, I am currently enrolled in the Information Security program at the College of Southern Maryland. My projected graduation date is Fall of 2010. When I complete my formal education, I want to combine my solid experience with my new skills to meet the challenges of the 21st Century Information Society.