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User:Kd4dcy/Sveasoft

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kf4hzu (talk | contribs) at 02:48, 3 August 2005 (→Controversies: Re-added FSF information with link to quoted e-mail). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Sveasoft is a Stockton, California based company that develops alternative firmware for consumer grade Wi-Fi routers. Owners of routers install the firmware onto their router instead of the manufacturer's official firmware. Sveasoft's firmware adds about three dozen features normally only found in more expensive routers. Currently, the firmware supports the Linksys WRT54G, and WRT54GS routers.

People

James Ewing of California is the founder of Sveasoft and the lead developer. He currently operates the company from equipment in Sweden.

Jesse Brown of Florida, posts on Sveasoft's forum under the pseudonym Wolf and is the 2nd lead developer.

Firmware

The most popular Sveasoft firmware upgrade is for the WRT54G and WRT54GS. The firmware adds quality of service (QoS) bandwidth management, a wireless repeater, a wireless client mode device, an SPI firewall, a virtual private network (VPN) server, the ability to increase the Wi-Fi power level by up to 900% (increasing the radio's power level may be illegal in some jurisdictions), and other features.

Software Licensing

The WRT54G router runs a version of Linux. The majority of the software packages in the firmware are licensed under the GNU General Public License (GPL), including the Linux kernel. Some of the software packages are under other licenses, and some of those parts are closed source.

Sveasoft allows users to download old, released versions of the firmware for free, but the company charges a US $20 yearly subscription fee for access to the latest beta version and the support forum. In April 2005, Sveasoft released the public Alchemy version of their firmware. The newest firmware, Talisman includes a form of product authorization, in order to control software distribution. The Talisman firmware is tied to the MAC address of a specific router (or routers), and will fail to work on other routers.

Controversies

Some users of Sveasoft firmware have criticized their business practices.

If a subscriber redistributes the firmware, their subscription is terminated and they lose access to future firmware. In threads on both Slashdot [1] and Broadbandreports [2], some people have accused Sveasoft of violating the GPL as well as other questionable business practices. However, Linux kernel developer Alan Cox expressed his view that Sveasoft does not violate the GPL license in a discussion thread in 2004 about the issue on the Linux Kernel Mailing List LKML [3][4]. Also, Peter Brown, the Free Software Foundation's compliance officer, stated that he did not see a problem with Sveasoft's subscription system and that it does not violate the GPL, so long as they distribute all pertinent source code [5].

The company sent a DMCA takedown letter to Google [6] in an effort to prevent a Russian download site offering cracked versions of their non-released firmware FreeWRT [7] from appearing in search results. Some Sveasoft customers have also found their subscriptions canceled after they publicly posted links to similar sites.

  • Sveasoft - official site.
  • Linksys - distributor of original WRT54G firmware and source code.
  • Wrt54g.com - official download site for public versions of Sveasoft firmware.
  • Linksysinfo.org - download site for public versions of Sveasoft firmware as well as other WRT54G-based firmware.
  • Flash/audio - shows how to configure a Linksys WRT54G with Sveasoft firmware to share your broadband connection as a free Hotspot.
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