Linksys posts source for WRT54G as required by license: After Slashdot readers pointed out that the Linksys WRT54G contained code that under the General Public License (GPL) had to be released back to the world, Linksys did so, quietly.
This may have something to do with Cisco's acquisition of Linksys and due diligence. During the process, almost certainly a savvy Cisco lawyer saw the posts about the GPL license and the WRT54G codebase, and said to Linksys that it had to be resolved. Thus it was.
I'm not a Linux-y enough guy to know whether you could take the variety of code provided by Linksys and build a generic Broadcom-based box, or modify the software further to create more capable and interesting firmware. I'm sure BAWUG will have input. [via Slashdot]