ASUS WL520ug router = linux goodness for less

I wanted to a second router for the house, to act as a wireless bridge for the TV stuff (DirecTV HR20 DVR, my old Roku M500 we really just use as a clock, and maybe the Netflix player).

I also wanted it to run tomato, a free linux replacement firmware, similar to DD-WRT (I just like tomato better). My primary router is a Linksys WRT54gl (the “l” is for linux), which I love, but I didn’t want to pay $80 for another.

In looking online for other models that tomato runs on, I grabbed the ASUS WL-520UG from Newegg for $45, shipped.

The normal upgrade described on the Tomato site didn’t work, but the tftp method did. A few quick changes and its a wireless bridge, perfect!