Sveasoft

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Sveasoft is a Stockton, California based software company that develops modified distributions of 802.11a/b/g WiFi router firmware for the Linksys WRT54G and other supported routers that run Linux. The firmware is "flashed", or uploaded via TFTP, to the router, thereby replacing the manufacturer's official firmware and giving the router a different set of options.

New firmware releases occur monthly, with the last release of Talisman V1.2.6 on March 18, 2007.[1] With the March 2007 release new router models from ASUS, Buffalo Technology, Linksys, and Netgear were added bringing the total supported to 35 router models from 5 different manufacturers.[2]

Recently, the company's development team has been reduced to the sole owner, James Huston Ewing. The company is managed by Sweden native Åsa Birgitta Erlandsson, who acts as Board Deputy for the company. As of September 8, 2006, the company has reported losses of 159,000 Swedish krona, or US$21,449. For financial reasons, nearly all assets in the United States have been liquidated. [3]

Contents

Features

Sveasoft firmware is typically advertised as being able to increase the router's radio transmission power from 28 milliwatts to 251 milliwatts, as well as being able to use 14 channels for 802.11b transmissions instead of the 11 normally permitted in the U.S. or 13 permitted elsewhere. Modifications to power and frequency may interfere with other electronics, and are illegal in some jurisdictions. The maximum power permitted by the U.S. FCC for WiFi with a 5 dBi or less antenna is 1000 mW [1], the maximum power permitted by the European ETSI is 100 mW, both EIRP, i.e. including antenna gain. Using channels 12, 13 or 14 in the U.S. is illegal. In nearly all non-U.S. locations channels 1-13 are permitted. Channels 1-14 are legal in Japan and unregulated areas.

Other features include QoS support, Wireless Distribution System support, wireless bridging, client mode support (CPE), a PPTP VPN server and client, downloadable packages and IPv6 support.

The latest version of the Talisman firmware supports up to 16 Ethernet VLANs, up to 15 virtual wireless VLANs each with their own WEP, WPA, or WPA2 encryption and SSID, and bandwidth management and firewall features.

Sveasoft has announced several new Talisman firmware versions are in development including Talisman/Hotspot, Talisman/VPN (with IPSec support), Talisman/Mesh (automatic mesh networking), and Talisman/VoIP.

Firmware versions

Satori

Satori, along with many other minor releases, is one of the earliest Sveasoft firmware development projects. Nearly all the projects have been halted to develop the Alchemy revisions. It is not recommended to use these earlier firmware releases.

Alchemy

This is the current "public" release, which Sveasoft distributes to both subscribers and non-subscribers. Development has ceased for Alchemy in favor of further development of Talisman, though unofficial development continues to this day. As one of the most mature Sveasoft firmware releases, most people use Alchemy.

Talisman

This is the latest Sveasoft firmware release, which Sveasoft distributes solely to developers and subscribers. Other versions of Talisman specializing in VoIP routing, VPN services, and automatic mesh routing are currently under development.

Software licensing

The WRT54G router runs a version of Linux. Many of the software packages in the firmware are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), including the Linux kernel.

Sveasoft provides firmware under an annual subscription for US$20, which also gives access to the support forum. Talisman requires that the MAC addresses of each router are registered on Sveasoft's web site. The web site software writes each authorized MAC address to the firmware before it is downloaded, so the firmware will run only on those devices. Sveasoft allows users to download old, released versions of the firmware for free once you register a forum account on their site.

Controversies

There are several controversies surrounding Sveasoft, involving the distribution of the software, the personalities involved and GPL-related issues. One of these issues is that Sveasoft charges a fee to download the latest binary of their firmware without releasing or providing free access to the firmware, which many believe is a violation of the GPL license.[4][5][6]

On March 11, 2006, the OpenWrt developers publicly announced that Sveasoft had violated its GPL license terms, and that Sveasoft's continuing distribution of OpenWrt was prohibited.[7] In return, Sveasoft claimed that OpenWrt was illegally redistributing software copyrighted by Sveasoft and Broadcom and placing them under the GPL without being authorized to do so by the copyright holders.[5] Both groups deny the other's allegations.

See also

List of other Third-Party Firmware Projects.

References

  1. ^ Talisman/Basic 1.2.6 Released. LinksysInfo.org (2007-03-11). Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  2. ^ What hardware do you support?. Sveasoft (2006-03-20). Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  3. ^ "Sveasoft Utveckling AB" 2006, Dun & Bradstreet, pp. 1-2. Retrieved January 7, 2007, from SkyMinder database.
  4. ^ Is Sveasoft Violating the GPL?. Slashdot (2004-07-22). Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  5. ^ a b Sveasoft and the GPL. LWN.net (2006-04-05). Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  6. ^ Cringley, Robert X. (2004-07-22). Open and Shut: Does Sveasoft (Or Anyone Else) Have the Right to Make a Living From Open Source Software?. PBS. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
  7. ^ What is OpenWrt?. OpenWrt. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.

External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../s/v/e/Sveasoft.html"