Considering attempting build for Rock Pi 4 SE

For Developers
1

Hi, I'm new to the forum and really want to try OpenWrt on fast hardware compared to the super old router that I have it installed on now. Since it seems impossible to get a Raspberry Pi 4, I'm considering a SBC from Radxa, their ROCK Pi 4 series. From some other threads (Wifi on ROCK Pi 4) on this forum it seems the WiFi is an issue will need to be installed differently by manually building an OpenWrt image and using a patch. I've never built an OpenWrt image but am willing to try. I watched this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9uWM6QUnpM and it seems not too challenging, but at which point do I apply the patches referred to in this post? Is it done after configuration in the make menuconfig? Would I be using a git command?

I'm thinking of either the Rock 4 C+ or Rock 4 SE and from what I can tell it has an AzureWave AW-CM256SM module which has a CYW43455 chip in the block diagram. I believe that the patch described in the other thread uses Broadcom blobs that will work with the CYW43455.

I apologize if I should've bumped that thread instead of making a new one.

2

Don't expect miracles from the wifi of such boards. My opinion is to use it for routing and take advantage of the cryptographic acceleration and delegate the wifi role to a dedicated access point or an old wireless router.

2 Likes
3

Broadcom is a huge red flag when it comes to wireless. Follow @trendy's advice.

4

Okay, I'm thinking of getting the Netgear WAX202 for wireless and adding ports for ethernet when it goes on sale, apparently it's been as low as $30 USD. Not sure I can get that pricing where I live but I'd like to hold out for a good sale.

I found this post about building where you download the patches and then use git apply with the commit hash before make menuconfig. Would those instructions work for me if I did want to try installing the broadcom drivers on the ROCK 4 anyway?