What to do with a router or two?

Hey there! I've been trying to think of possible applications for a router/gateway, and I'd like to see if you have any ideas.

First of all, by "router" I simply mean the hardware and the Linux platform - not the actual router code that's in place. Basically, I find myself with common router hardware (you know, WLAN AP/DSL GW/things like that) and I'm trying to find cool things I could use it for. I mean, they are essentially small Linux machines, so the possibilities are, if not endless, at least pretty big.

Summary of what's typically present, hardware-wise:
* 4-port 100 Mbit Ethernet switch
* One DSL WAN port
* One Ethernet WAN port
* CPU of around 200-300 MHz
* 802.11 b/g WLAN interface
* USB port(s)
* 32 MB RAM
* 4-8 MB Flash

Software-wise, we're talking 2.6.x Linux kernel and busybox, and the possibility to add basically any Linux app. That's where the fun part comes in. Given the hardware, what kind of apps could I put on it - or write myself? It could be used as a server in my LAN, or placed on the Internet to give access to strange things in my home. Maybe there are cool USB devices one could use in combination with it? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

I've looked at the OpenWRT project, but that seems to be very focused on only using the router as a...plain router. I'm trying to think of new uses for the hardware. :)

What kind of hardware is it? Is it x86 based and does the mothercard have support for anything.. like disks & video output for example?

I reckon the linux kernel is embedded in firmware and designed for a given task (ie to control switches and provide a mini webserver for admin) but you can always try :)

Nope, no IDE or SATA connectors. :/ Hm... Maybe there exist USB-to-IDE or SATA connectors though.... Hm....

I have some different hardware, but I was thinking firstly of using a Broadcom 96358 board. It's a MIPS architecture, but I can cross-compile stuff to it. Basically, it's an embedded system whose motherboard doesn't support many peripherals - it has an integrated USB host and mini-PCI (for the WLAN card).

[Edit]
Ohh, now that you mention disks... Maybe there are PCI-to-mini-PCI adapters... Then I could plug in a SATA PCI card...

I can think of one possible use (if you can somehow replace its little firmware "website"), a mini webserver!, although i dont know how much space you would get lol.

Well, I could always plug in a USB disk to use as storage space for the website... Thanks for a neat suggestion! :)

Flog them on eBay, then squander the proceeds on moonpies.