HYPERWRT Mission Statement is “HyperWRT is a power boost firmware for the Linksys WRT54G and WRT54GS router. The goal of this project is to add a limited set of features to the last Linksys firmware, extending its possibilities but staying close to the official firmware.”
HYPER-WRT – Installing this distribution is really a breeze with no head aches. Cool features for this distribution are:

With my old linksys firmware I was unable to VPN into my network. After I installed HYPER-WRT I had no problem. Also, I usually work off my laptop in the same area of my house and with the linksys firmware I had a “Good” signal according to windows. After I installed HYPER-WRT my windows signal jumped to excellent every time.

Installing HYPER-WRT was very easy, I reset my router to factory defaults, downloaded the latest HYPER-WRT firmware, connected to my router‘s web interface administration tab and pressed firmware upgrade. Then I browsed to the firmware bin files and pressed upgrade.

HYPERWRT turned out to be exactly what its authors intended, an easy to install, power boosting firmware. I would highly recommend using this firmware for any home or business network.

EWRT

EWRT is distributed by Portless Networks. This WRT54G firmware is packed with features meant for creating open wireless hotspots for business or neighborhoods. EWRT has many cool features: Drop bear SSH server (This provides secure access), a writeable jffs2 partition to store your content, great QOS (Quality of service), and NOCAT splash.

NoCat Splash is a captive portal which lets users connected to the wireless network receiving a dynamic IP address but all traffic is redirected to an internal web page. The webpage for EWRT just explains that this router is a wireless hotspot meant for public use and don’t abuse it, users must accept the agreement or they won’t have access to anything. You’re not stuck using Portless Networks web page because you can modify it for your liking.

QOS for a wireless hotspot is very important for managing how much bandwidth certain services are using. If a few users are hogging bandwidth then others will not have access to the internet thus ruining the hotspot.

Portless Networks intention was to create this router as a “Hotspot” in a box and they achieved this with flying colors. I was able to install EWRT through the web interface with no problems. I was able to VPN into my home network and used SSH to my Linux box. EWRT has all the latest security features such as WPA and WPA radius. I was able to use TINYPEAP as my radius server.. When I started NOCAT splash and connected to the internet I did receive an error “NO DATA ON THIS PAGE” once in a while but that could be my fault some how.

If you want to start a hotspot for your business or create free public nodes in your neighborhood EWRT is for you.

DD-WRT

DD-WRT turns your WRT54G from a cheap $60 router into a $200 dollar wireless router. It has more features then you can count so I will just go over the many highlights.
Right now I am using VER. 22, VER 23 is out but I have not installed it yet. VER. 23 is a BETA release. VER 23 has a whole new web interface with many more options that I have listed below. DD-WRT also has options for VOIP.

Setup Tab – Everything is pretty much the same here with the exceptions of VLANS. VLANs can divide your physical LAN into logical LANS. You will want to use this to separate network resources or prevent access to resources.

Security Tab – One of the best features of DD-WRT is that the VPN option actually works.

Access Restriction TAB – All the other firmwares have this option but I am using DD-wrt currently so I will cover them here. If you like to share your wireless connection with others but don’t want it abused you will need to set up access policies. You can block file sharing from exact applications like edonkey, you can set times to share your wireless signal, limit certain days and block websites.

Application and Gamming Tab- First you have over 30 slots to configure port forwarding…that’s a lot of different services. Next on this tab is the QOS (Quality of Service), here you can give priority of bandwidth to certain ports and MAC address.

Administration Tab – If you go all the way to the bottom you will find the option for enabling WDS/connection watch dog. This service will send out ICMP messages / ping commands to your given Access points every few minutes. If the access point you specify can’t be reached the router will reboot

In my next article I will be reviewing TINYPEAP, BATBOX and openwrt wrt54g linux firmware distros.

By: Eric Meyer

Computer certifications in general

Acquiring certification indicates that you have completed the steps and have the knowledge required to perform at a specified level as an IT professional. Certification also proves to your employer and clients that your expertise is confirmed by a recognized industry organization and can increase your salary, enhance your skills and make your job more satisfying. If nothing else, it can keep your resume from being rejected by the resume-scanning programs now used by every Human Resources department these days.

Why a Linux certification?

The number of job ads calling for some knowledge of Linux has risen by nearly 100% over the last year. On the other hand the number of applicants choosing Linux certification hasn’t risen proportionally. Part of the reason for this anomaly is that employers generally haven’t put much faith in Linux certifications and therefore there has been little demand for them. Also, many of the Linux jobs advertised are for more senior and technical roles such as programmers and developers – skills that far outweigh the level that are tested on some Linux certification tracks. All that appears to be changing however, with Linux becoming ever more mainstream and people with Linux skills becoming more in demand.

Will Linux certification really help?

While actual work experience with Linux or any computer technology will always count for so much more than any piece of paper, gaining Linux certification certainly won’t do your credentials any harm. The demand for credentials in every field, computer-related or not, is increasing and one has to keep up with the pack. Having that certification ticket punched may not make your resume stand out in a positive way, but not having it might make it stand out in a negative one. Large bureaucratic IT organizations take them more seriously than groovy startups if that’s the environment you’re looking to work for. There are several specific situations where I’ve found computer certification in general to be of benefit. First, certification courses offer better knowledge retention than the typical corporate training course since you do have to study to pass an exam, even if only a multiple-choice one. Another one is where you have related experience and are moving (or were moved) into a new environment. In my case I was re-orged from a Unix-centric to a Windows-centric IT environment. Getting a Microsoft System Administrator certainly helped come review time. Finally, if you have a discrimination issue, such as the common one that as an older tech worker you’re skills aren’t up to date. If push comes to legal shove human relations people, lawyers, and judges do take evidence of continuing education very seriously.

Which Linux certification?

There are several options to choose from and, given the amount of time and money that you’ll need to invest into gaining your Linux certification, you’ll want to be sure that you make the right certification track choice to begin with. For those new to Linux then the entry-level, vendor-neutral certifications offered by CompTIA and LPI an appropriate choice. However, these involve only multiple-choice tests and as a result have rather less credibility with technical managers. If you are already working with Linux then one of the proprietary, more difficult, and more expensive Linux certifications (Red Hat, Novell) would be better suited. Like the respected Cisco certifications these certs involve rigorous hands-on practical exercises under severe time constraints and have much more credibility with technical managers. The cost is significant, especially if you have to retake the test, as almost 50% of Red Hat wannabes fail the first time around. Given that there are numerous distributions of Linux available one problem of Linux certifications is that there is no central organization that can set the certification standards and ensure that the candidates meet those standards. What this means is that you have quite a degree of freedom to choose which certification track is right for you, but you equally need to be sure that the one you choose will meet your end needs. As with any other certification track that you take, Linux certifications can be taken by way of instructor led courses or you can undertake a regime of self-study on your own. Don’t get too bogged down on deciding which distribution is better or is more likely to result in a job at the end of the day. While there are obvious differences between the various Linux distributions a degree of competency in one flavour will set you up to transition to the others if need be at a later stage.

By: J Reece

There is a Linux web site that “tracks” the progress of Linux distributions called Distrowatch.

And although the statistics shown at Distrowatch may be “questionable” (as even the webmaster of the web site has said), it’s worth having a look at the popularity of the “major” distributions over the last several years.

Linux Commands Training Tips: Understanding the changing “world” of distributions will help you to realize that it’s much better to focus on leaning the Linux commands that are common to ALL distributions is much better than learning anything that is specific to just a single version – such as learn the GUI utility programs that work in just a single version.

Distrowatch Statistics for Some of the Major Linux Distributions the Last Several Years:

According to Distrowatch, Mandriva Linux (formerly Mandrake) was #1 for 2002, 2003 and 2004. And Ubuntu was # 1 for 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008!

In addition to this, Mandrake Linux (recently renamed to “Mandriva”), was # 1 for 2002, 2003, 2004 and #2 (as Mandriva) in 2005, but hasn’t been in the top three since!

Notice how easily and quickly Linux distributions – even extremely popular distributions – fall out of popularity!

Red Hat Linux was # 2 for 2002 and 2003, but hasn’t appeared in the top three since 2003!

Again, it’s important to note that even one of the most popular Linux distros, Red Hat Linux, has gone down dramatically in popularity!

And Gentoo was # 3 in 2002, but hasn’t appeared in the top three since.

Here are the other Linux distribution names that have been # 2 or # 3 since 2002: Gentoo, Knoppix, Fedora, SUSE and openSUSE.

So, as you can see – Linux distributions come – and many soon go!

Linux Commands Training Tips: Mandrake (a minor Linux distribution) was quite popular for a while and was derived from Red Hat Linux (a major distribution) and is extremely similar to Red Hat.

Knoppix Linux (a minor Linux distribution) is a “live” distribution that was derived from Debian (a major distribution) and is similar to this version.

Ubuntu Linux is free (in all senses of the word) and has become extremely popular as both a desktop system and server system.

By: Clyde E. Boom