I'm so confused about how to download the firmware for R5S

The sysupgrade seems to be for if you already have openWRT running with LuCI installed.
Great.
How do I get openWRT running?

It's a seriously bad intro to the world of OpenWRT because you go google "NanoPI R5S"
and the first hit is https://openwrt.org/toh/friendlyarm/nanopi_r5s - the wiki, fantastic
Then the wiki walks you through the steps of installing the firmware
Under intallation on the nanopi R5s page, step one:
"Download an image..."
So you follow the download link to the firmware selector
And that's the first image in my post. There's no obvious download link other than the two for upgrading your OS based on the file system you have.
Clicking on the folder icon gives you a bunch more options for different versions, but they are all sysupgrade
The second icon takes you to a search engine of some sort
The third one takes you back to the same page
The "Customised installed packages..." option does nothing of interest
"Build successful", thanks but can I have a download of said build?

What am I missing?

Edit:

If you have the same issue as me:

On Windows or Linux
Go to Download
and select the version you want from the box that says "snapshot".
Then click on the arrow before the "Customize installed packages and/or first boot script" then click on request build. This will give you a build which has some essential packages. After the text under STDOUT stops changing download one of the sysupgrade images, both the download links now link to your "custom build" with the essential packages. When it is finished downloading write it to a microSD card using balena etcher, it's pretty simple to use just don't pick the wrong drive to write to.
Don't extract the download, balena does that automatically.
EXT4 and SQUASSHFS are file systems, I can't tell you which one is best for your use case, but I picked EXT4 because I know it.

Some feedback for the website/wiki:

I'm not sure if this is only true for the NanoPIs, or because it's only a snapshot that is available, but it should be clear that you can use the sysupgrade image.

The download page UI needs some work.
Changing

<h3 class="tr-downloads">Download an image</h3>

to

<h3 class="tr-custom-downloads">Custom Downloads</h3>

Is not clear enough that anything has happened, especially when the bottom of the page jumps when the custom build starts building. I didn't see it until LilRedDog pointed it out with a screenshot. Maybe a new pair of buttons for the custom images and some kind of clearer notification.

Often, but not always.

https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=commit;h=c06a71f0b3fae00dbd402840ea6e3b532c35b0da, I'm guessing.

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Instructions from wiki

Download an image, decompress, then write it to a microSD using your PC. Insert the SD into the R5S, plug in power, and it'll boot OpenWrt. You may continue to run it from the SD or copy to the eMMC using dd.

It sure does, for example you can create an image that includes LuCI as snapshots do not include it by default.

I literally tried to download an image but got stuck on that step because the only images available, on the download page you linked, claim to be for devices already running OpenWRT
So I would argue I followed the instructions exactly as written, first on the wiki, then on the download page.

As I mentioned in my post, it's not clear where to download this custom build

Thank you, that is actually helpful
I did actually try that. It failed to extract on a linux device, but I shall try again now that I know this is the right path.

The uncompression tool you use might complain about garbage at the end of the archive, it's normal.

Wait for the construction to complete than click on the link below. The same that was previously displayed. I can see that the image with LuCI is in cache, so you have already built it.

I have no idea why the mint default extractor fails but using balena etcher did the trick.

Look, I'm not an idiot, I've installed many an OS, including on RPis and such. I've installed arch ffs. The instructions really aren't clear here.


Actually, they are clear they are just wrong, at least in this case.

I don't want to come off as unappreciative. It's important that instructions don't lead new comers astray but I think it's amazing that I can run an open source firmware on my router or my R5S, I really appreciate the effort and the help.

Right after it finishes the build you will see this:
Custom builds

Everything after it has been customized with your customizations.

Haven't seen anyone call you that, but we can make an exception, if it'll make you feel better :wink:

I agree, but the sysupgrade text is generic, yet incorrect, in this case.

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