Advice on Meraki MR45 firmware

Hardware Questions and Recommendations
1

So i am new to OpenWrt as i have only used the merlin version on my Asus router,

now I picked up some Meraki MR45 access points for dirt cheap and as i don't want to pay for licensing I am looking into alternative firmware options, I know that there are some firmware for the MR42 and some other versions but i was wondering how much difficulty would it be to adapt the current build of that firmware to work on the MR45 as I am assuming this is a firmware issue and it is not an OS issue,

I have majority of my experience in web dev and have setup my own debian VPS so im not a complete beginner but i am assuming the firmware is likely C based language and i only know basic arduino coding for C++,

would this be a fairly arduous task that would take way to many hours to complete and to just turn these AP's into doorstops (harvest for components for soc projects) or would this be a simple task that would be attainable within a reasonable amount of time ?

Just trying to avoid a rabbit hole project that will consume the next year of my personal life

2

If you want to add support yourself, the first step would be to collect as much information as possible about it.

So one of those is a must:
https://openwrt.org/docs/techref/hardware/port.serial.cables#usb_serial_adapters

The chipset seems already supported (ipq8074)
https://wikidevi.wi-cat.ru/Cisco_Meraki_MR45
https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/UDX-60079010/4121869.pdf

Developer background definitely helps. Knowing git, github etc.
Read the guides, ask for help.

https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-developer/add.new.device
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-developer/adding_new_device

You'd need to set up a build system:
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-developer/start

Check, how support was added for similar devices:
https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=commit;h=7801161c4bb2413817b3dfd01695050e2da27bf3
https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=commit;h=26c095cb4d27428acedf1b738507a585f1585fe4

Another option would be, donate one of them to a developer, if someone would be interested.

3

The good part, it seems to be ipq807x based.
But it's still open if we're talking about ipq8074 or ipq8074a (the FCC images aren't clear enough), only the later would be supportable - and how much flash/ RAM is involved.

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4

Flash seems to be 256MiB NAND:
https://www.winbond.com/hq/product/code-storage-flash-memory/slc-nand-flash/?__locale=en&partNo=W29N02GZ

Just for reference:

EDIT:
I dug a little deeper, and it does not look good:
The Meraki MR45 is not WiFi 6 certified exactly because of missing features like UL-OFDMA:
https://documentation.meraki.com/MR/Wi-Fi_Basics_and_Best_Practices/Wi-Fi_6_(802.11ax)_Technical_Guide

So it looks like the older v1 version of the ipq8074 was used.

5

Thanks for the links dnd, so with it using ipq8074 does that mean that openwrt doesn't work with the MR45 since the linux firmware doesn't support it ?

6

The wifi driver doesn't support it:
https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/ath11k
It specifically only lists the IPQ8074 hw2.0 (= IPQ8074A) as supported.

You could try and confirm my theory by opening up one of them.
It's up to you to decide, if it's worth it.

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7

so i shucked it apart and it turns out it is an ipq8076

MR45 ipq8076 chip
MR45 ipq8076 chip1920×1144 277 KB

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8

I can't find the documentation that speaks to the IPQ8076 being supported by the linux firmware but i don't entirely know what to look for, is this just no supported as the chip is too new or is it just not listed as it will likely not be supported in the future as only the IPQ8074 hw2.0 is supported

9

If I understand it correctly, the ipq8076 (and ipq8078) is a enterprise grade variant of the ipq8074.

It seems yours is the old, unsupported version.

Compare the markings here: https://www.snbforums.com/threads/what-is-the-relationship-between-ipq8074-ipq8078-ipq8074_002-ipq8074a-and-ipq8078a.60352/

10

Non-A (as in IPQ8076 instead of IPQ8076A) means game over, ath11k doesn't support it (and if history (QCA9880-AR1A) is anything to go by, never will).

11

Well that sucks but at least i want to say thanks for saving me countless hours of research to find out it would be a waste

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