Subject: Re: Running NetBSD on Netgear appliances
To: None <tech-ports@NetBSD.org>
From: Matthias Scheler <tron@zhadum.de>
List: tech-ports
Date: 08/25/2005 11:35:24
In article <20050824161429.GA16768@beezdi.altran.net>,
	"Joel CARNAT" <jcarnat@altran.net> writes:
> I read the thread about running NetBSD on DG834G.

That thread would be my fault. :-)

> Any news on this subject (or any other NetGear AP) ?

I've not investigated the subject further because:

1.) The Linux on the DG834G does its job which is only forwarding packets
    between the LAN to the firewall and the DSL line reliably.

   [I'm less convinced about the ability of Netgear applicances to provide
    reliable NAT. We had some problems when using two different Netgears
    routers for testing IPSec NAT-T. But I don't need that at home
    fortunately.]

2.) The sources which Netgear provides to be GPL compliant are completely
    undocumented. I couldn't even figure out how you are supposed to
    compile them to get a firmware image.

    One would therefore have to scan the Linux sources for changes to find
    out what needs to be done to make NetBSD work on that platform.

3.) I'm not sure how well the hardware is suited for a platform bringup.
    You usually start with an evaluation board which e.g. has a serial
    port for debug output. I wouldn't be surprised it the units sold by
    Netgear don't have such things to reduce costs.

4.) Like a lot of people I lack the time to work on a lot of the things
    which I would like to contribute to NetBSD.

	Kind regards

-- 
Matthias Scheler                                  http://scheler.de/~matthias/