Would it be possible to build a custom 24.10 image for this router with 64MB ram mod?
To my understanding, ram limitation is the only thing keeping this router from running newer versions.
Thank you!
Since it was once converted to ath79 architecture it should be quite straightforward, at least no config needed to recognize 64MB
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Here is version 24.10 without LUCI, no flash mode, flash 8M.
That's if you wanted to try before building your own image. In my opinion it runs too slow and takes up too much RAM
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This seems like a great base to build on!
So with 64MB ram mod, i can install luci and be like any other later hw 1043nd, albeit with slower cpu.
Remember that you only have 8MB of flash. This is a big limitation.
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Yep, i noticed that. Unfortunally eko builds do not have enough squashfs to install luci after the fact.
Guess i’ll have to build my own image. A stock 24.10 build with luci should be possible, since V2 and V3 of these routers still have 8MB of flash, but available official images with luci.
V1 uses a lot of space for “system” partitions compared to normal routers geting around with 3-4 64kB eraseblocks
Not really, the tl-wr1043nd v1 only reserves 192 KB - 64+64 KB u-boot/ u-bootenv, 64 KB ART at the end of the flash, leaving everything else to OpenWrt.
But the hardware is way past its best-by date. Apart from the 8/32 elephant in the room, this is the earliest ath79/ draft-n ath9k hardware possible, meaning it's slow and the wireless side has always been 'temperamental' (and no h/w offloading for WPA3, so very slow with that). Despite all this, it was a very common and popular device for OpenWrt in the past, and while I understand some sentimental value, it's really time for an upgrade. 'Just works', plenty of flash/ RAM, >>100 MBit/s routing throughput and much more reliable 802.11ac/ ax dual-band wireless just trumps the sentimental concerns at some point (probably half a decade ago already).
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I had it building zram-swap for few versions after 8/32 RIP announce. THen I got faster internet connection…. I am pretty sure no-wifi parts of such scale could still be operable without excess tweaks.
Yes i fully understand that it’s a vintage device now. But mine is upgraded to 64MB of ram, so at least in the ram side, it should be enough. i got plenty of V2 and V3 running (which are also 64/8MB) with the latest official openwrt. And of course a couple of wifi-ax filogic unit as well.
So this is really just a case of supporting a vintage device with the latest openwrt release with a slight HW mod. I was hoping that some prebuilt image exists, but apperently eko build is the only one lurking around and even that can’t support luci due to very small squasfs partition.
So basically i’ll have to build my own image.