ASUS WL-500b

This device is NOT RECOMMENDED for future use with OpenWrt due to low flash/ram.
DO NOT BUY DEVICES WITH 4MB FLASH / 32MB RAM if you intend to flash an up-to-date and secure OpenWrt version (18.06 or later) onto it! See 4/32 warning for details.

1) This device does not have sufficient resources (flash and/or RAM) to provide secure and reliable operation.
This means that even setting a password or changing simple network settings might not be possible any more, rendering the device effectively useless. See OpenWrt on 4/32 devices what you can do now.

2) OpenWrt support for this device will end after 2019.
19.07 will be the last official build for 4/32 devices. After 19.07, no further OpenWrt images will be built for 4/32 devices. See OpenWrt on 4/32 devices what you can do now.

This is an 802.11b version of Asus WL-500g. It has got the same board inside, only miniPCI wireless card is different.

Version/Model	S/N	OpenWrt Version Supported	Model Specific Notes
v?	46IGE16103	Kamikaze 8.09.2 , Backfire 10.03.1
v1	upto 48IGE17770 (?)	Whiterussian 0.9	WiFi miniPCI Broadcom WL-120b (BCM4301)
v2	48IGE17771 and above	?	WiFi miniPCI Ralink WL-127 (Ralink RT2400)

Wireless interface worked only in White Russian 0.9 and older for me (and only in AP mode or client mode with WEP encryption). If you want to use this device in client mode with WPA encryption, you may replace your wireless card with something better (WL-120g, Atheros CM9, etc.).

Working versions:

Kamikaze 8.09.2 (r18961) - brcm2.4
Backfire 10.03.1 - brcm2.4, brcm47xx(not recommended, see below)

Small bits:

SSH is refused for 60 seconds after ping is available. You have to be patient.
USB soundcard works on all versions.

Everything is slower. Reply to ping after power-on is 63 seconds (for brcm2.4 it is 30 seconds). SSH connection takes 5-6 seconds instead of 1-3 seconds.
Installing packages hangs sometimes.

Reason for having root on external drive is that you want to install more packages than fit into 1.5mb of internal memory.

For Backfire's 10.03+ : use the extroot ability as it is easy to setup
For rest use the “Changing mini_fo's storage directory (/jffs on external media)” [howto] Changing mini_fo's storage directory (/jffs)

To check if root is mounted from external disk, check it for space: df -h /overlay or df -h /jffs. Do not install some of important usb packages like 'kmod-usb-core' when root is on external usb. That will probably disconnect the usb with root. So reboot without usb, install packages on internal root and copy updated root to usb root afterwards.

ASUS WL-500b

Available versions

Installation

Experience with 46IGE16103

Backfire 10.03.1 brcm47xx issues

Root on external USB storage