Asus WL-500g Premium

[Justus Jonas]

Hello!

I wonder if it is possible to install Slimdevice Server on my Asus WL-500gP Router.

I have an external 250GB HD attached and would love to stream my music from this device, without being forced to have the Computer switched on 24/7.

I read that it somehow is possible to install it on NSLU2. And there are similiar Firmwares available for the Asus WL-500gP.

Did someone already tried that? Or does anyone know, how much memory it is needed to install it?

Thanks a lot!

Yours,
JJ

[slimmert]

Justus,
Finally a fellow WL-500g Premium owner asking the same question(s)!
I can't help you right now. I've been researching the matter for a while now (not extensively I must say) with zero solutions. It seems that no other WL500gP owner is asking these kind of questions.

I have saved enough money now to buy me a Squeezebox, I'm ready to go. But I don't want to buy one when there isn't the certainty that it will 100% work.

link I visit now and then:
http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=6293&highlight=slimserver
- I haven't read the last post by "fireflash", sounds good

[bpa]

It has a Mipsel processor and AFAICT only microperl has been ported to the standard Asus distribution. I don't think Slimserver will work with microperl.

I believe the 500GW and 700Ge are similar except the 700ge has builtin disk and the 500gw has external disks.

[slimmert]

You are right about the comparison, WL500gP is same as WL700gE expect for HD built-in/external.

When I look at the url http://ipkg.nslu2-linux.org/feeds/unslung/wl500g/ there's a lot of mipsels ready made, it's for WL-500g, not premium version but I don't think there's lots of difference between the two.

Who should be contacted if a port to mipsel is requested? Is that easy to do?


Edit:
There's a package with the following details. I guess this doesn't work with a Squeezebox, is it?

Package: mt-daapd
Version: 0.2.4-1
Depends: gdbm, libid3tag
Section: net
Architecture: mipsel
Maintainer: NSLU2 Linux <nslu2-linux@yahoogroups.com>
MD5Sum: 05bfa7606287b5d85282cad2646de6ae
Size: 163090
Filename: mt-daapd_0.2.4-1_mipsel.ipk
Source: http://easynews.dl.sf.net/sourceforge/mt-daapd/mt-daapd-0.2.4.tar.gz
Description: A multi-threaded DAAP server for Linux and other POSIX type systems. Allows a Linux box to share audio files with iTunes users on Windows or Mac.

[slimmert]

What kind of processor does the NSLU2 have? The info below shows that perl is possible to install on the machine (pre-built perl).

http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/Applications/SlimServer

If the same (both Linux), we are able to install on the WL-500gP, right?


Link below shows that there is a Debian Perl package for MIPSEL
http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=6824

After installing, should it be possible to install slimserver perl software on a WL-500gP?

[bpa]

The Asus WL use a Mipsel type processor. The NSLU2 uses an ARM processor.

The NSLU2 only has 32Mbyets of ram but it only shares files/disk and so most of memory is free for other things. The Asus products have 64Mbytes but are routers/servers and so a lot of memory can be used by the routing function,printer server, DHCP server etc.

mtdaap is a iTunes compatible server - it is not suitable for Slimserver.

On the unslung site I can only see a port of microperl for the Asus products. I am not sureof the differences but it has a smaller memory footprint. My guess is that if microperl could work for slimserver the NSLU2 users would be using it but they are not.



Who to contact to request a port ?

It is generally a case of when a user needs a particular package - they port and then share it. AFAIK There is no "porting service" per se - certainly not in the unslung ARM community although you should check the wl500g.info forums to see if they could help.

In summary I think to get slimserver working on your Asus router you would have to do the following:

1. Replace Asus firmware with Oleg or DDWRT on your Asus - check whether your required functionality is still present.
2. Build cross compile environment on your PC - test sample programs on Asus
3. Build Perl 5.8.x for MIPS
4. Install & Test Perl on Asus
5. Build Slimserver processor dependent modules (may already be part of step 2)
6. Test slimserver on Asus

The above will be for 6.3.1.

Slimserver 6.5.x will require in addition a port of MySql - I am not sure whether you will have enough memory on Asus to run 6.5.x and all the router functionality.

[slimmert]

Can I use a USB flash memory drive to extend this memory and use that to install all needed software (perl and mysql)?

Step 1 is already done, that's working fine.
Step 2 is where I exit. Don't know anything about (cross)compiling.... :( I guess I need someone to hold my hand..

[bpa]

The USB flash memory will not increase RAM available to run the programs - USB flash behaves like a disk drive so you could use it store the executables & libraries for loading - but you could that on the actual hard drive just as easily.

If you haven't compiled a program before in a Linux/Unix/OSX environment then you have a lot of learning. It will complicated by the fact that embedded systems such as Asus router will be minimal & finicky and builds may not proceed as smoothly as a full PC based Linux systems/

If you only have a Window system, you will first have to install Cygwin or MingW32 and then the development environment. Then you should practice on a few application for Windows built under Cygwin/Ming32. When your are confortable, you can download build the GPL toolchain (compile, linker, librarian and assembler) for the Asus system - found on the Asus site ( http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us)

Then you should test the toolchain on a small app before starting on the Slimserver stuff.

[slimmert]

Wowsers! a lot of work. Didn't know that.
Normally I would see that as a challenge, but since I already am loaded with other projects, I see little possibilities in doing it anywhere soon.

Maybe save some more money and just buy a slimserver pre-installed NAS system.

[bpa]

Sorry for painting such a bleak picture but I felt a more realistic definition was better so that you could decide on whether listening to music or compiling a system was better use of your time.

The problem with the Asus is that you are starting at such a low base - no perl and no native development env. The problem is made worse by being one of the first person to try in earnest - you will get minimal help for people as nobody has it working before.

For many NAS such as NSLU2, Linkstation, Syncology, Freecom etc. usually a lot of the base work has been done such as perl and even better they have a native development environment. In these cases it is usually a matter of loading up the generic Slimserver, let it determine its environment and then build its modules - possibly with a few hiccoughs.

The halfway house would be the pre-built packages - such as Slimdevices up to 6.3.1 for Linkstation, flipflip's for Syncology or my tar file for NSLU2/Freecom.

There are very few NASs which come with Slimserver pre-installed - such as Infrant and QNAP when sourced from Progressive.

The main benefit of going for a solution which others are using is the availability of support from other users.

In my opinion the cheapest solution would be to get a NSLU2 and move your disk on it and plug the NSLU2 into the ASUS router. This solution will provide 6.3.1 but I think the NSLU2 may be underpowered for 6.5 onwards.

[rweait]

I have SlimServer running on a WL-500g Premium. I've tested it with two Squeezeboxes and it works fine (at least with the little bit of testing I've done)

1. Install Oleg's software on the ASUS [1]
2. Install SlimServer on the ASUS [2]
3. Load some music on the SlimServer
4. Connect and configure the Squeezeboxes
5. Enjoy

[1] http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?p=60933
[2] http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=43593