Does anybody have info about BT Smart Hub (informally known as Home Hub 6) Type B? I read somewhere that Type B should be QCA (opposite to Home Hub 5, where Type A was Lantiq/Ath/QCA anf Type B was all Broadcom), though I can't seem to have any more info about it.
The wiki page lists only one variant of that Hub, and it appears to be of Type A. But Type B exists.
I just edited the original post. The wiki page lists only one variant of that Hub (Smart Hub AKA Home Hub 6), and it appears to be of Type A. But Type B exists.
Yes, the "official" name for the device is Smart Hub. It's just because it comes after Home Hub 5, some people informally call it Home Hub 6, but it's actual name is Smart Hub.
For BT to make it even more confusing, there are 2 variants of Type A; one for FTTC and one for FTTP (though, they might actually the same device, with small modification in FTTP to connect have one of the LAN ports used as WAN to connect to the modem instead of the dedicated RJ11 port that is used for broadband in the FTTC variant.
Type B is only FTTC.
Type A FTTC:
Type A FTTP:
Type B FTTC:
type A looks like the same hardware in both cases with one of the LAN ports re-assigned as WAN
This is the most I could find about the inside of it online
Video:
Photos:
Full album here https://www.flickr.com/photos/22008695@N03/40980968084/in/album-72157692954143122/
Sadly the blue thermal compound on the SOC makes it impossible to identify, the same goes for the WLAN chips with their cans still on.
From a logical point of view though, there is little reason to believe that they've moved away from Broadcom for their second h/w revision. Broadcom, Intel/ lantiq and, to a lesser extent, Mediatek offer xDSL/ FXS/ DECT solutions (aside from some tiny specialist manufacturers). The lantiq VRX2xx generation is a bit towards the end of its lifespan (the SOC is a bit slow and doesn't support profile 35), GRX 3xx and 5xx a bit new and not overly common (AVM is using them in their newer devices), another strategy seems to be combining lantiq modem hardware with QCA SOCs, which aren't supported (modem/ FXS/ DECT) by OpenWrt at the moment either.
Regardless of these theories, it's all guesswork until someone looks under the thermal compound and opens the cans over the WLAN cards.
I think they did. They have been doing that for previous models (except that for Home Hub 3, 4 and 5 there were putting Broadcom on Type A).
I'm not just guessing, I recall reading somewhere that Type B used Ath/QCA. The two types are actually made by different manufacturers.
I'm not in the UK now and it will be kind of difficult to get one where I'm, but I will look for the document that mentions Ath/QCA in case this makes it worth the shot for someone who can get their hands on one.
Extract form Page 13:
"The first variant is the BT Smart Hub (Type A) which features Broadcom Wi-Fi processors
and is manufactured by Sagemcom Broadband SAS. The second is the BT Smart Hub
(Type B) which has Qualcomm Wi-Fi processors and is manufactured by the Arcadyan
Technology Corporation."
These devices sell on ebay for about 15 to 20 pounds. So, presuming similar configuration to Type A (which I imagine BT would request), dual core 1 GHz CPU, 256 MB FLA and 256 MB RAM sounds good value for the money, I believe.
The problem just is, the chip with the blue thermal compound doesn't look like QCA (definately not QCA IPQ806x and the readable parts don't match the writing/ font for QCA IPQ40xx either), but there isn't enough to go by.
From rather unconventional source:
BT HomeHub 6b(xDSL IAD, Intel+QCA platform)
And there is also this
https://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=1101
It seems that someone got the details for that model (except the FLA size), and it's Lantiq + QCA.
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/BT_Smart_Hub_Type_B
With 800 MHz dual-core CPU, 256 MB RAM, and the FLA will likely be 256 MB as Type A, I think it sounds attractive and promising for a device that can be bought second hand for around £15 or so.
Any taker?
Interesting device, but if those specs are correct, it would be a lantiq GRX350 SOC - which isn't supported yet.
The SoC sure looks like a Lantiq. See this for example form a different device, different Lantiq SoC but looks very similar.
http://image.koolshare.cn/attachment/forum/201708/14/172222hxmjy3exe3eesdxl.jpg
If it's GRX350 , which has been around for a few years, and not yet supported then is it likely it will ever be?
There are some commonalities between VRX2xx and GRX350, which might make that possible - but I don't think anyone has succeeded (nor tried in anger) with getting it supported by OpenWrt.
My understanding is that the GRX350 doesn't include, but rather fits to, VRX3xx.
I have been struggling with the Intel support to get any drivers for the chip sets or even the confirmation that the picture I have (with thermal paste covering most of the text on the chip) is in fact of GRX350. Any idea how people earlier got the drivers for VRX2xx?
Probably the usual way, assembling multiple vendor GPL drops and scavenging them for useful information, additionally I think lantiq was a bit more forthcoming before the acquisition.
Updated hardware wiki link: http://en.techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com/wiki/BT_Smart_Hub_Type_B (I think this is now carrying the wikidevi content that was previously linked above).
It looks like Intel had a crack at adding mainline support a few years ago, but this didn't get finished by the look of it. e.g. see this patch series:
There is also apparently out-of-tree SoC support in this Lantiq git tree for an Asus router: https://github.com/MerlinRdev/K3C-merlin/tree/master/release/src-lantiq/proprietary/dts
