Disklavier

As of two weeks ago, I'm a new Mark IV owner (I used to own a DC5 
Mark II, and now I have a DC7 Mark IV). I'm a long-time hacker, so 
the online-capable elements of the Mark IV intrigue me.

Like many of you, I have a wireless LAN broadcasting throughout my 
house, and decided that today would be the day that I finally get my 
piano connected to it... and the Internet. I thought the easiest way 
would be to simply get a Linksys game adapter (WGA54G) and connect it 
that way. WRONG!

The store (Fry's Electronics) only had the WGA54G Version 1, which 
(as I found out once I got home) doesn't support WPA encryption, 
which is what I use on my home network. Version 2 of Linksys' game 
adapter (which does support WPA) would have worked nicely, but the 
store didn't have any in stock. So, I took the old one back, and 
browsed around for something that would work. The idea occured to me 
to simply build my own Ethernet client bridge, using a Linksys WRT54G 
wireless router (which can be found for around $50 retail, sometimes 
less). I brought the unit home and re-flashed the stock firmware with 
DD-WRT (www.dd-wrt.com), a free open-source replacement firmware for 
Linksys (and other Broadcom-based) routers. One of the additional 
modes enabled by this firmware is "Client Bridge," which allows the 
router to have its own IP address on the wireless LAN (so I can 
configure and monitor it wirelessly from any web browser on my 
network) and also connect up to four additional Ethernet devices - 
each of which get their own IP address from any DHCP server on the 
network (including the Client Bridge, if I so choose).

Believe it or not, everything worked on the first try! So I zip-tied 
the router to the underside of my piano, where it sits happily out of 
sight. And, as an added bonus, I get three additional ethernet ports 
near my piano, just in case I ever need to plug anything else in.

I'm new to this Yahoo group, so I apologize if this method has been 
previously addressed (I searched through the archives and could only 
find mention of game adapters and dedicated ethernet bridges). This 
might be a good alternative for anyone who has an old Linksys 
wireless router lying around, or who wants to use a device that could 
be re-purposed later if you upgrade to something else. :)

Please feel free to post any questions about this method. It really 
was quite simple, only cost me $50, and took less than 15 minutes to 
get up and running.

Regards,

Steve

Steve,

Welcome!  And, nice post.  This method hasn't been described before.  I'm sure someone will benefit from it...

I have a computer next to the piano which also required a network connection...Since I only wired the room with a single gigabit port, I needed a switch.  I found a very nice shelf under my piano right above the rear-most leg.  My tiny 4 port switch sits in there quite nicely...no zip-ties required.  :-)

-Kevin

----- Original Message ----
From: Steve Jenkins <yahoo@...>
To: disklavier@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 5:15:05 AM
Subject: [disklavier] Another method to connect the Mark IV to your LAN wirelessly


As of two weeks ago, I'm a new Mark IV owner (I used to own a DC5 
Mark II, and now I have a DC7 Mark IV). I'm a long-time hacker, so 
the online-capable elements of the Mark IV intrigue me.

Like many of you, I have a wireless LAN broadcasting throughout my 
house, and decided that today would be the day that I finally get my 
piano connected to it... and the Internet. I thought the easiest way 
would be to simply get a Linksys game adapter (WGA54G) and connect it 
that way. WRONG!

The store (Fry's Electronics) only had the WGA54G Version 1, which 
(as I found out once I got home) doesn't support WPA encryption, 
which is what I use on my home network. Version 2 of Linksys' game 
adapter (which does support WPA) would have worked nicely, but the 
store didn't have any in stock. So, I took the old one back, and 
browsed around for something that would work. The idea occured to me 
to simply build my own Ethernet client bridge, using a Linksys WRT54G 
wireless router (which can be found for around $50 retail, sometimes 
less). I brought the unit home and re-flashed the stock firmware with 
DD-WRT (www.dd-wrt. com), a free open-source replacement firmware for 
Linksys (and other Broadcom-based) routers. One of the additional 
modes enabled by this firmware is "Client Bridge," which allows the 
router to have its own IP address on the wireless LAN (so I can 
configure and monitor it wirelessly from any web browser on my 
network) and also connect up to four additional Ethernet devices - 
each of which get their own IP address from any DHCP server on the 
network (including the Client Bridge, if I so choose).

Believe it or not, everything worked on the first try! So I zip-tied 
the router to the underside of my piano, where it sits happily out of 
sight. And, as an added bonus, I get three additional ethernet ports 
near my piano, just in case I ever need to plug anything else in.

I'm new to this Yahoo group, so I apologize if this method has been 
previously addressed (I searched through the archives and could only 
find mention of game adapters and dedicated ethernet bridges). This 
might be a good alternative for anyone who has an old Linksys 
wireless router lying around, or who wants to use a device that could 
be re-purposed later if you upgrade to something else. :)

Please feel free to post any questions about this method. It really 
was quite simple, only cost me $50, and took less than 15 minutes to 
get up and running.

Regards,

Steve