It could be tempting to consider a Wi-Fi router as a glorified community change, simply with radio waves as an alternative of cables. However they’re much more advanced than that and have had a shocking degree of functionality for a few years now. Some are basically computer systems in their very own proper and energetic hacking communities use that to their benefit. The OpenWRT open supply mission, for instance, can unlock the complete potential of many alternative router fashions. However KittenLabs took issues to a complete different degree when they acquired Grand Theft Auto: Vice Metropolis operating on a decade-old Wi-Fi router.
The router in query is a TP-LINK TL-WDR4900 v1, which hit the market in 2013. Most routers like this use ARM processors, just like what we see throughout the embedded expertise business. However the TL-WDR4900 v1 is considerably distinctive in that it has a PowerPC e500v2 processor. In case you’ve heard of PowerPC in any respect, it was most likely within the context of Apple computer systems. Earlier than they transitioned to Intel starting in 2006, Apple famously used PowerPC processors of their Macintosh computer systems. The PowerPC e500v2 is said to these, however distinct in that it’s an SPE (Singal Processing Engine) mannequin.
This distinctive processor introduces some challenges, but it surely was comparatively highly effective for its time and presents PCIe compatibility. That meant that, in idea, KittenLabs might join a PCIe graphics card and achieve the facility to run a online game. Grand Theft Auto: Vice Metropolis was the right alternative of recreation to check that concept.
Step one was to attach a graphics card. The processor can interface with a PCIe card, however the router’s PCB didn’t have the mandatory slot. So KittenLabs added a miniPCIe slot wired into contacts and traces on the board. That permit them connect a graphics card. First they tried a contemporary AMD Radeon RX570, however that wouldn’t work on any 32-bit system. So that they resorted to an AMD Radeon HD 7470, which did work with a port of Debian Linux constructed for PowerPCSPE processors.
The largest problem was getting a port of Vice Metropolis to run on the {hardware} and that took months. KittenLabs began with reVC, which is a reverse-engineered open supply port of Vice Metropolis that may be compiled for a lot of completely different techniques. They did a large quantity of labor to patching that to work with this {hardware}, however nonetheless skilled glitches associated to character mannequin rendering that appeared unsolvable. They even tried modifying a Wii U port, with comparable outcomes.
KittenLabs by no means discovered the issue, but it surely disappeared after they up to date all the software program stack and all of its dependencies. After that, they have been in a position to play Vice Metropolis on the router and it appears to run fairly properly.