So, yeah. I just got a GS108T v3, one of those Realtek switches OpenWrt recently gained support for. And following the instructions in the git commit, I wrote the
Commit:
I've done this:
Grab a ramdisk image (from the 21.02 snapshot builds). Granted, I didn't check whether they were LZMA compressed, but since it's GS108T v3 specific one would assume it is.
Flash that onto partition 0 (Netgear calls them image1 vs. image2)
According to the overly complicated Netgear web UI, you then need to set the active partition somewhere else in the UI (which I did, although it was already using image1). I then rebooted (which is yet another submenu ).
And then the lights (literally) went out. All I see now is that amber power LED looking at me accusingly. The Netgear reset procedure (hold reset button pressed for more than 10s) isn't doing anything, nor is yanking the power - I was kind of hoping that would trigger a failover mechanism that would make the bootloader switch to the second image.
Anyone got any tips that don't involve soldering (since serial headers pin holes are present but filled with solder).
Try to get serial console access, even without soldering and just pressing the cables at the right places (second set of steady hands would be beneficial), that gives you the best idea what might have happened.
I managed to connect to OpenWrt through the serial console. Turns out it is working as intended, except for that dreaded default management VLAN (VID 100). I kept trying without of course.
All good now! Except for the Ethernet LEDs, they don't work at all. But might be my multi-image realtek target build.
Ouch. I believe that VLAN default should be removed ASAP, while we still can without confusing those who have been accustomed to it.
IMHO the management config for this target should be the same as any other OpenWrt device. Treating it as special is just confusing. If you want management on a VLAN (and I do), then you can easily configure that yourself after upgrading to OpenWrt. The role of the default config is only to make the initial installation as smooth as possible. We should make this guide apply to realtek too: https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-quick-start/walkthrough_login
I wonder if maybe we should have 3 alternative addresses for the default management interface?
well known OpenWrt default 192.168.1.1/24
dhcp
stock management VLAN+IP read from stock config in the JFFS2_CFG partition
This would make it much easier to do a "blind" OpenWrt installation from the stock UI.
Thanks @frollic and @Borromini you helped me to understand the situation better.
The device page in the wiki simply referred me only to the daily snapshot download, and https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/21.02-SNAPSHOT/ seems still hidden when only browsing the site and directories (without a direct link).
Yes, it's not officially released yet, so the wiki points to snapshots until then, I'm running 21.02 builds on all my GS108T v3 and GS1900-10HP & GS1900-8HP, no complaints.