Ewrt README file
================

See the BUILDING file for instructions on building Ewrt
See the INSTALL file for instructions on installing the Ewrt firmware image

Ewrt is the Enhanced WRT linux distribution for the Linksys WRT-based
wireless routers. It was originally forked from the Linksys GPL codebase
by Irving Popovetsky and Brandon Psmythe of Portless Networks, a wireless
networking company in Portland, OR and is currently maintained by Troy Jaqua. 

The goal of the project is to create a stable and easy to use
hotspot-in-a-box for use in community wireless networking projects.

Ewrt differentiates itself from the other WRT54G distributions by providing 
a stable captive portal based on NoCatSplash, enhanced web (HTTPS) and shell based 
remote administration interfaces, a highly compressed read-only root filesystem basis
containing numerous applications to support the primary routing function,
and a writeable jffs2 filesystem for storing html content, installable applications and
configuration data.


What's new
==========

Ewrt-0.4 introduces our code changes onto an entirely new codebase from the linksys-GPL code center. 
With the integration of the WRT54GSv4 codebase, we are now able to build systems for all versions of 
the WRT which will run Linux. The only models not supported are the WRT54G/GS version 5 routers, 
which contain half the RAM and Flash, and are shipped running vxWorks OS. These devices can be identified 
with serial numbers starting with CDFB or CGN7. Please do not buy these models if you are a strong supporter 
of Open Source. Portless can put you in touch with a current distributor of the new WRT54GL devices if you 
have no other source of the older devices.

Ewrt-0.4 was also released with major fixes in the stability and security of our software.
We completely forked the unmaintained NoCatSplash CVS code, performed extensive analysis and
debugging to rewrite a stable authentication server.  These changes are slowly trickling
back to the upstream project, but as it is mostly unmaintained for now, we alone offer 
these significant improvements.

See the ChangeLog for all the details of the changes between releases.


What's old
==========

The goal of the 0.3 release was to bring our feature-set up to that of other 
WRT54G distributions by providing better hardware and QoS support, a writeable
jffs2 partition (for storing content) and newer versions of upstream code.

Ewrt 0.3 was a very direct fork from the Linksys codebase, we've dumped 
most of our Sveasoft code without sacrificing any features we thought 
worthwhile.