[mistertrotsky]

You're probably not going to have a good time trying to use a USB WLAN dongle as an access point. Even if you manage to track down a) if the driver supports AP mode, and b) put together a whole hostapd configration, you're still limited by the transmit power of the little thing, which I guarantee isn't a lot. Another thing is that acting as an AP is a lot more taxing on a piece of hardware than just acting as a client; there's a chance that the USB WLAN thing will be extra flaky and maybe even overheat.

Instead... just get something that will run OpenWRT. Check out this list: http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start. Running and configuring it at the command line is way more pleasant than you'd expect, and the (optional) web GUI is functional if inconsistent.

[hengheng]

I've worked with OpenWRT in the past (it's running at my parents' home, and I've done some embedded development), but frankly I'd like to reduce the amount of devices around me. If I can make my seldom-used linux pc my NAS and my Access Point, I'm fine. Transmit power shouldn't be a problem where I live, it's just the software hassle that's keeping me from doing it.