Parsec
October 1, 2021, 10:42am
1
It seems like newer hardware tends to be less open to have OpenWrt installed with sufficient access to make a good OpenWrt system would it not be an interesting option to raise enough money through Crowdfunding to have a company create a wireless add-on that can be connected via USB3 port or UART to something like a Raspberry Pi to give it the modern wireless capabilities of WiFi6 routers, but giving OpenWrt full control of everything (agree with the vendor to supply open source drivers).
Would there be enough interest for such a device in this community? I would back such a development
1 Like
tmomas
October 1, 2021, 10:50am
2
Someone had that idea already. If you search the #hardware-questions-and-recommendations section you will find the respective topic.
The new (next ?) GlobalScale Technologies look very promising !
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/874883570/mochabin-5g
Robert Marko from Sartura already PR the support in Mainline Linux and also into OpenWrt :
openwrt:master
← sartura:mochabin
opened 11:26AM - 23 Sep 21 UTC
Globalscale MOCHAbin is a Armada 7040 based development board.
Specifications… :
* Armada 7040 Quad core ARMv8 Cortex A-72 @ 1.4GHz
* 2 / 4 / 8 GB of DDR4 DRAM
* 16 GB eMMC
* 4MB SPI-NOR (Bootloader)
* 1x M.2-2280 B-key socket (for SSD expansion, SATA3 only)
* 1x M.2-2250 B-key socket (for modems, USB2.0 and I2C only)
* 1x Mini-PCIe 3.0 (x1, USB2.0 and I2C)
* 1x SATA 7+15 socket (SATA3)
* 1x 16-pin (2×8) MikroBus Connector
* 1x SIM card slot (Connected to the mini-PCIe and both M.2 slots)
* 2x USB3.0 Type-A ports via SMSC USB5434B hub
* Cortex 2x5 JTAG
* microUSB port for UART (PL2303GL/PL2303SA onboard)
* 1x 10G SFP+
* 1x 1G SFP (Connected to 88E1512 PHY)
* 1x 1G RJ45 with PoE PD (Connected to 88E1512 PHY)
* 4x 1G RJ45 ports via Topaz 88E6141 switch
* RTC with battery holder (SoC provided, requires CR2032 battery)
* 1x 12V DC IN
* 1x Power switch
* 1x 12V fan header (3-pin, power only)
* 1x mini-PCIe LED header (2x0.1" pins)
* 1x M.2-2280 LED header (2x0.1" pins)
* 6x Bootstrap jumpers
* 1x Power LED (Green)
* 3x Tri-color RGB LEDs (Controllable)
* 1x Microchip ATECC608B secure element
Note that 1G SFP and 1G WAN cannot be used at the same time as they are in
parallel connected to the same PHY.
Installation:
Copy dtb from build_dir to bin/ and run tftpserver there:
```
$ cp ./build_dir/target-aarch64_cortex-a72_musl/linux-mvebu_cortexa72/image-armada-7040-mochabin.dtb bin/targets/mvebu/cortexa72/
$ in.tftpd -L -s bin/targets/mvebu/cortexa72/
```
Connect to the device UART via microUSB port and power on the device.
Power on the device and hit any key to stop the autoboot.
Set serverip (host IP) and ipaddr (any free IP address on the same subnet), e.g:
```
$ setenv serverip 192.168.1.10 # Host
$ setenv ipaddr 192.168.1.15 # Device
```
Set the ethernet device (Example for the 1G WAN):
`$ setenv ethact mvpp2-2`
Ping server to confirm network is working:
```
$ ping $serverip
Using mvpp2-2 device
host 192.168.1.15 is alive
```
Tftpboot the firmware:
```
$ tftpboot $kernel_addr_r openwrt-mvebu-cortexa72-globalscale_mochabin-initramfs-kernel.bin
$ tftpboot $fdt_addr_r image-armada-7040-mochabin.dtb
```
Boot the image:
`$ booti $kernel_addr_r - $fdt_addr_r`
Once the initramfs is booted, transfer `openwrt-mvebu-cortexa72-globalscale_mochabin-squashfs-sdcard.img.gz`
to /tmp dir on the device.
Gunzip and dd the image:
```
$ gunzip /tmp/openwrt-mvebu-cortexa72-globalscale_mochabin-squashfs-sdcard.img.gz
$ dd if=/tmp/openwrt-mvebu-cortexa72-globalscale_mochabin-squashfs-sdcard.img of=/dev/mmcblk0 && sync
```
Reboot the device.
Hit any key to stop the autoboot.
Reset U-boot env and set the bootcmd:
```
$ env default -a
$ setenv bootcmd 'load mmc 0 ${loadaddr} boot.scr && source ${loadaddr}'
```
Optionally I would advise to edit the console env variable to remove earlycon as that
causes the kernel to never use the driver for the serial console.
Earlycon should be used only for debugging before the kernel can configure the console
and will otherwise cause various issues with the console.
`$ setenv console 'console=ttyS0,115200'`
Save and reset
```
$ saveenv
$ reset
```
OpenWrt should boot from eMMC now.
Signed-off-by: Robert Marko <robert.marko@sartura.hr>
2 Likes
Not sure it will happen easily...
Mobile and Wireless devices are mostly to not say all closed source !
Parsec
October 1, 2021, 12:58pm
5
Indeed, but if you give them enough money they might just go for it. Then it should be a very successful campaign
Parsec
October 1, 2021, 4:25pm
6
That looks very promising. I just pledged for the OpenWrt version.
What benefit does the WiFi6 MiniPCIe card version have over the other WiFi6 one?
1 Like
I don't understand ?
What do you mean ?
There is only one version proposed for WiFi6, it is a miniPCIe.
Parsec
October 1, 2021, 5:30pm
8
It could just be different wording for the same thing, but one is mentioning a Wi-Fi6 AP, the other a Wi-Fi 6 Module and the last is a Wi-Fi6 MiniPCIe card.
Yes, I think there is a lot of wording mistake !
1 Like
About the MochaBin, May be continued here ...