Installation & Basic Setup
Both the ASUS WL-530g and the Linksys WRT54GC are simple to install. It's basically just a matter of plugging everything in and pointing your browser at the correct IP address. Each product includes a simple Windows-based setup and installation utility for finding the respective device on the network and gaining access to the web interface. As long as you know the default LAN IP address though (both are 192.168.1.1), then you don't really need to install anything.
Upon connecting to the Linksys WRT54GC, you'll first get prompted for the username and password. Enter the the defaults and here's the page you'll see:
Figure 10: WRT54GC Basic Setup
(click image to enlarge)
As you can see, it's all pretty straightforward. Linksys has chosen sensible defaults, so for many people, your new router should work right out of the box. At any rate, getting your connection up and running should only take a few minutes.
Upon connecting to the ASUS WL-530g with the default username and password, here's what you'll see:
Figure 11: WL-530g Home page
(click image to enlarge)
ASUS does things a bit differently from Linksys. While Linksys' configuration interface is a sort of tabbed affair, the ASUS interface is more of a tree view, with a somewhat guided system for some pages. For instance, clicking the "Next" button on the "Home" page takes you to the "Quick Setup" page seen here:
Figure 12: WL-530g Quick Setup
(click image to enlarge)
As you can probably see, "Quick Setup" is actually just one long page. You enter your details in one section, click "Next" and it jumps you down to the next section. You don't have to use the "Quick Setup" method, since the same settings can be adjusted elsewhere within the configuration interface, but it does work as a sort of setup wizard. ASUS also uses sensible defaults, so getting your connection up and working is pretty simple and painless.