Thanks Guys - Yes the MX65 is not wireless however the SOC does have support for wireless capabilities and more than likely is used for the MX65W wireless variant.
I don't require wireless was just looking to use the 10 Ports and the 2 POE for some wireless APs
Once my USB-TTL arrives i will have a play and see what i can get from the device
My USB -TTL arrived and i have managed to access the serial port during boot.
Dump posted here - [https://pastebin.com/rfnFYQm4](Meraki MX65 boot output)
Most relevant parts ( i think)
U-Boot 2012.10-00101-g93bc206
Linux version 3.4.111 (jdizzle@x) (gcc version 4.8.3 (GCC) ) #6 Wed May 4 11:23:30 PDT 2016
Linux version 3.4.109 (tpassaro@tpassaro-imac) (gcc version 4.8.3 (GCC) ) #15 SMP Sun Jan 10 21:10:58 PST 2016
BusyBox v1.20.2 (2015-12-18 17:37:54 PST)
It also seems like this is very similar (if not identical to the MX64 / MX64W hardware systems)
Meraki Z1 seem similar as well so i am going to read up on how they work with Openwrt and take it from there.
I have never worked on the hardware /flashing level before so any tips / guides would be appreciated.
Most timely hint would be to get the GPL sources and build chain. You’ll need to port to a current kernel, but that should have lots of info around chip and pin configuration.
So i have managed to back up each of the mtd partitions via SCP.
The question i now have. Will the initramfs images for the z1 work with the MX65? I don't know much about images for OpenWrt so hopefully someone with knowledge can advise?
The 2nd image for sysupgrade points to the following:
When I search for the switch part QCA8337-AL3C
I get an OpenWrt page for [https://openwrt.org/toh/engenius/esr1750] (OpenWrt engenius)
This leads to the same ar71xx target
Not sure how i work out of the BCM58625 is supported?
-edit so looking through the supported hardware table there is one entry for a BCM58XX device it uses target brcm47xx
Still not sure how to proceed from here. Any advice appreciated.
I have an MX64 and I can confirm this looks almost identical, even to the point where u-boot appears the same.
I have been given the sources from Meraki (didn't charge me $15 either). I can confirm:
They have taken U-Boot directly from a Broadcom dev kit and tweaked slightly to their requirements. There is however a lot of issues when attempting to build a more fully featured U-Boot so you can boot from tftp/xy modem or even USB. I know the Meraki CLI will allow you to flash from TFTP but this is pretty much a one-way deal. Rebuilding U-Boot allows a temporary initramfs so we can play on the platform and confirm 100% before flashing a sysupgrade.
Z1 and MX64/65 are not the same. Z1 is an Atheros based MIPS SoC whereas MX64/65 are Broadcom-iProc ARMv7. Don't flash as it simply won't work.
Everything else is already in kernel to with some basic work, you shouldn't have too much issues supporting this as a device. It really comes down to cracking u-boot to allow the flexibility needed.
Apart from this, they're quite a nice little router to play with. Dual core ARM 1.2ghz and passive cooling. Don't expect the performance figures Meraki quote under OpenWRT but should otherwise work fine, could do a iptables based firewall with a few extras like SNORT maybe.
I ran out of inspiration for using mine since I acquired an off the shelf firewall, but still happy to help.
riptidewave93 (Chris) has done a great effort porting a lot of stuff over with the help of others. I reached out to him to host some of the sources below.
That page is a good guide on what's different between the meraki u-boot and a standard one.
Instructions for those wanting to play with the above sources:
First tarball:
cd meraki-firmware/openwrt
cp config-arm-3.4 .config
make oldconfig
make -j1 BOARD=arm-3.4 OPENWRT_EXTRA_BOARD_SUFFIX=_3.4
To build Linux-3.4 kernel:
cd meraki-firmware/linux-3.4
cp ../openwrt/target/linux/wired-arm-nsp-3.4/config .config
make CROSS_COMPILE=../openwrt/staging_dir_arm_nofpu_3.4/bin/arm-unknown-linux-uclibcgnueabi- ARCH=arm oldconfig
make CROSS_COMPILE=../openwrt/staging_dir_arm_nofpu_3.4/bin/arm-unknown-linux-uclibcgnueabi- ARCH=arm prepare
touch rootlist
make CROSS_COMPILE=../openwrt/staging_dir_arm_nofpu_3.4/bin/arm-unknown-linux-uclibcgnueabi- ARCH=arm vmlinux
second tarball (u-boot):
export CROSS_COMPILE=/path/to/arm32-cross-toolchain
cd U-boot.MX64
make kingpin_nand_config
make u-boot.bin
Thats great @arcstar7 have you gained root access yet? I used the Z1 guide (link in previous post) without issue but my MX65 has not been connected to the internet for updates in over 2 years so not sure if it will work on a more recent build.
I am currently trying to wrap my head around U-boot and how to build from the Meraki source before starting to make changes.
Hello fellow OWRT users,
any progress on this topic? I just recently bought a used MX65W for 160 Bucks. I still have an active Cloud Account with remaining 2 years license, but I would prefer flashing all my meraki devices with openwrt.
Where do you guys stuck? Maybe I can help.
Thats a good progress you've made @CM65!
I wait for my delivery (USB & MX65W) and try the same steps. The only thing I have found in the short time I was watching over your make-log, is a similar issue that has been fixed some years ago, but I don't know if that helps in any way.
This Log looks similar to yours: https://dev.archive.openwrt.org/ticket/8447.html
This was the fix: https://dev.archive.openwrt.org/changeset/24516.html
It almost seems like there is a path missing. If I will find time today, I will respond later for further analysis.
I have never compiled myself, but looking over your log, I ask myself, why do you choose #14 -> UNSUPPORTED little-endian arm platform?
Do you know if its possible to upload a new Buildroot Config for BCM58? (Broadcom) I mean uploading the driver to the program.
Or did you try meraki elemental?