The Aruba AP175 is a heavy outdoor version of the Aruba AP-105, with much higher-power radios, both of which are dual band.
The port is very nearly done due to the extent of the similarity with the AP-105. The device will need a U-boot replacement, but the SOIC16 is immediately available, clippable and flashable after opening the 4 corner screws and removing the lid.
[ ] nvmem-cells for ART partition firmware loading
[ ] Get RTC enumerated in the device tree
[ ] Temp sensor
[ ] Find the actual IC
[ ] Get sensor working, compatible-d, enumerated in device tree
[ ] Validate MAC address use
I think the MAC address is stored in the original u-boot-env, but I don't believe the replacement U-Boot shims the MAC address into the device tree. I can either fix that, or see if I can get the device-tree to consume the MAC address on its own.
I chose not to settle for a non-working ethernet under U-Boot: I want to ensure that rescuing the board via tftpboot works since we have an external console port.
I'm not having any success with setting the state of MII registers, either through code that automatically runs to set up the PHY, or through manual mii commands.
Theory: Maybe Chunkeey's u-boot-ap105 does not have a functioning mii command, as CONFIG_MII is unset in ap105.h.
Test: Add #define CONFIG_MII 1 to the ap105.h and re-test.
Result: No change of behavior.
Noticing the LEDs
I noticed just now that the LEDs change when I do an mii write 1 0:
Hit any key to stop autoboot: 0
ar7100> mii read 1 0 0
0000
ar7100> mii dump 1 0 0
0. (0000) -- PHY control register --
(8000:0000) 0.15 = 0 reset
(4000:0000) 0.14 = 0 loopback
(2040:0000) 0. 6,13 = b00 speed selection = 10 Mbps
(1000:0000) 0.12 = 0 A/N enable
(0800:0000) 0.11 = 0 power-down
(0400:0000) 0.10 = 0 isolate
(0200:0000) 0. 9 = 0 restart A/N
(0100:0000) 0. 8 = 0 duplex = half
(0080:0000) 0. 7 = 0 collision test enable
(003f:0000) 0. 5- 0 = 0 (reserved)
# ETH led is green and flickering (as though receiving data).
ar7100> mii write 1 0 1
# ETH LED goes dark for one second, then comes back as flickering orange
ar7100> mii dump 1 0 0
0. (0000) -- PHY control register --
(8000:0000) 0.15 = 0 reset
(4000:0000) 0.14 = 0 loopback
(2040:0000) 0. 6,13 = b00 speed selection = 10 Mbps
(1000:0000) 0.12 = 0 A/N enable
(0800:0000) 0.11 = 0 power-down
(0400:0000) 0.10 = 0 isolate
(0200:0000) 0. 9 = 0 restart A/N
(0100:0000) 0. 8 = 0 duplex = half
(0080:0000) 0. 7 = 0 collision test enable
(003f:0000) 0. 5- 0 = 0 (reserved)
So even though mii dump cannot see the register values, mii write must be resetting some of them.