USB-SMB Server for PlayStation 2 Using the GL-AR150 Mini Router.

I have been using Free McBoot USB and Network SMB to for PlayStation 2 games.
SMB is ok from my phone or computer but I wanted it more portable like a USB drive without the speed or USB file system limitations. Dealing with FAT32 and its inevitable file corruption or making sure my computer is on, my phone ready and on the local network is a pain.

I found this mini network router GL-AR150 with a USB2.0 Samba server that supports many file systems including NTFS.

Pro: Adds smooth FMV and large file system sanity. Portable. Works on LAN.
Con: Router takes about a minute to boot.

The GL-AR150 runs openwrt
and this means the device could be over-clocked or customized in many ways.
The WAN interface is still available and works on the LAN.

And
Special thanks to the REDDIT community.
Those known and unknown who have traveled this path before me.

PlayStation 2 Slim or Fat

Free McBoot memory card or FreeDVDBoot with Open PS2 Loader.

GL-AR150 or GL-AR300M mini router

6" CAT5 Cable

USB Flash drive

or an External Hard Drive

and two additional 1. power 2. cables

Optional:

For best FMV performance:

Computer or Laptop with wireless adapter.

Software: Putty and or WinSCP

I use this PNG art package and OPL manager to generate proper names for the art.

The drive and art display does slow down with the more games added.

1. Connect the ethernet cord to the LAN ports of both the PS2 and Router.
2. Use the switch on the side of the GL-AR150 to put the device into router mode.
3. Create the OPL folder structure at the root of the USB drive and plug it into the router.
4. Put the Free McBoot memory card into the PS2 and turn the system on.

Use the information on the bottom of the router and connect to its wireless management port.
Once logged in scroll to the bottom and under Applications, find File Sharing.

This is important.
Add the path to the USB drive.
In the Current Directory field:
The path name for the USB drive is: /mnt/NAME <<< the name of the USB or Hard Drive drive goes here.
The name of my USB drive is: PS2

To reach the SMB shares from Windows enable SMB1

1. Using Free Mcboot start Open PS2 Loader
2. Under network settings set the PS2 to DHCP
3. Change the SMB server to IP
4. Change the routers address to: 192.168.8.1

Leave everything else blank.
It should connect immediately.
Remember to Save settings before starting a game.

For best FMV performance this next step requires the use of WinSCP for Windows to edit files on the router.

Both files are located here: "/etc/samba/"
Use WinSCP to connect to the router. 192.168.8.1
Editing the" smb.conf.template" file using WinSCP is all that should be needed.
Editing the "smb.conf" file should not be required if the settings are correctly set in the GUI.

1. First make backups of both "smb.conf" and "smb.conf.template"
In Windows use WinSCP drag and drop both file to a safe location on the computer.

2. Using WinSCP double click on the file to edit "smb.conf.template" and add these two line at the end.
getwd cache = yes
write cache size = 262144

3. Next edit "smb.conf"
[GL-Samba]
path = /mnt/PS2
read only = no
guest ok = yes

4. Reboot the router when done

Note: The path name for the USB drive is /mnt/NAME <<< the name of your usb drive.

The name of my USB drive is: PS2
Then make sure the OPL file structure is at the root of the drive.

Mbps to MB/s Converter
https://www.gbmb.org/mbps-to-mbs

PlayStation 2
Optical disc drive:
Maximum 5.28 MB/s
24x speed CD-ROM [3.6 MB/s],
4x speed DVD-ROM [5.28 MB/s]

USB 1.1 read rate:
12 Mbps = 1200 kB/s
12 Mbps = 1.5 MB/s

USB 2.0 read rate:
480 Mbps = 60000 kB/s
480 Mbps = 60 MB/s

GL.iNet GL-AR150
Both Ethernet ports are: 100Mb/s
100 Mbps = 12.5 MB/s

Upgrading to the GL-AR300M.
This router is roughly ten dollars more and about 30% faster than the GL-AR150.

The Gigabit ethernet GL-AR750S-Ext offers Gigabit ethernet, 5G wireless and so much more.
At this price a device like this is probably overkill for a PS2 Slim hard drive.

The PS2 Slim gets very hot so does the router.
I used a small strip of Velcro at the very front to hold the device in place.
It also lifts the router off the surface of the PS2 Slim.

Adding a hard drive or almost any external USB based storage should work.
To swap between a usb flash and ssd drive keep the drive and OPL folder names the same.
Do not use nested folders.
Copy OPL folders to the root of the drive.
In this example PS2 is the name of the USB and or SSD. It is not a folder on the device.
/mnt/PS2/

Example: OPL folders to the root of the device.
/mnt/PS2/DVD
/mnt/PS2/ART
/mnt/PS2/VMC
/mnt/PS2/CFG

and so on...

POPS_IOX.PAK
You will have to find a copy of POPS_IOX.PAK on your own.
It's not hard to find one using Google.
Once you have it, copy it to your POPS folder.

POPS and POPSTARTER
1. Download these preconfigured popstarter_gl.net files.
2. Copy the POPS folder to the root of the PS2 hard drive.
3. Copy the POPSTARTER folder to the root of memory card, MC0 or MC1.
-Using FreeMcBoot, start ulaunchelf.
-Then copy and paste the POPSTARTER folder to your memory card

4. Setup Open PS2 Loader with a static IP address.
IP: 192.168.8.8
Subnet: 255.225.225.0
Gateway: 192.168.8.1
DNS: 192.168.8.1

5. Reconnect and Save Settings.
---If you get an error save settings anyway because the next step should fix the problem.

*Required: Please continue to step 9 and setup a static IP address*

PSX NAS

1. On the PS2 use the Browser and press the triangle button to find your PS2 MAC address.
2. Log into the router.
3. Scroll to Clients on the left side and find the the MAC address of the PS2, verify and copy it.
4. Then scroll down to More Settings and enter the MAC and Static IP address of the PS2.
5. Add your PS2's MAC address and the ip address 192.168.8.8 and then click on the Add button.
6. Reboot the router.

7. Optional: Move the setup to home router.
If you've got two USB ports on your router then move the setup.
Now the PS2 is free from the clutter.