Adding A DisplayLink Monitor To A Linux Router

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Routers aren’t just for routing network traffic any more. With the help of alternative operating systems such as DD-WRT, Tomato, and OpenWrt, routers are now extremely customizable and can be utilized to suit a number of needs. The main issue with projects built around routers is the need to telnet or SSH into them to get to a console. [Sven Killig] came up with a useful solution that utilizes the USB ports available on an Asus router to display video on a DisplayLink device, allowing a user to sit down and use the device as though it were a physical terminal. This would be a good DIY alternative to commercially available routers that display network graphs, system information, incoming email, and other data.

14 thoughts on “Adding A DisplayLink Monitor To A Linux Router

  1. So many routers today are very crippled, but this router has 8mb flash/32mb ram, and usb!?

    pretty soon you’ll see someone playing super mario world on a router….while torrenting to a NAS setup.

  2. @private: If your router comes with a Linux based OS, it probably supports web hosting even without firmware modifications (although they are probably helpful). For example, my MI424WR has lighttp in /bin, and therefore can be configured to host from any directory out of the box. I’m sure it would be easy to upload Apache as well.

  3. I used a Parallax Propeller chip to make an ASCII terminal. Used a PS/2 keyboard and composite video display on an otherwise broken portable DVD player. Stuck a MAX232 RS-232 level shifter in my Linksys WRT54GL for a serial console port. Connected the ASCII terminal to the console serial port. Done. You can buy dead portable DVD players with working screens on ebaY dirt cheap. Now I need to remember where I got the propeller software from. Probably on the Parallax Object Exchange. Hmmm…

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