I just installed image lede-17.01.2-sunxi-sun7i-a20-lamobo-r1-ext4-sdcard.img (downloaded from hhttps://downloads.lede-project.org/releases/17.01.2/targets/sunxi/generic/lede-17.01.2-sunxi-sun7i-a20-lamobo-r1-ext4-sdcard.img.gz) onto my Lamobo BananaPi R1 ( Allwinner A20 - sunxi - generic ).
Unfortunately, WIFI is still highly unstable in AP mode and far from being usable (which is not so nice for a router).
As this issue is around for quite some time now (I try each new version of openWRT / LEDE now for almost 2 years), I would like to ask if anybody has some information regarding this issue. Is there any chance that an appropriate WIFI support for the Lamobo BananaPi R1 will be provided in/by LEDE?
The routers using Realtek wireless out in the wild are very few and far in between. From what I could find your device has 802.11n wireless - if at this point that driver isn't stable for AP usage, I'm not sure it ever will be.
There's many Realtek wireless chips being used as clients, also on Linux afaict, but very few as an AP. I'd say: cut your losses and get a decently supported platform (e.g. Atheros or Mediatek wireless).
Hi Borromini, thanks a lot for your answer. What I like about the BananaPi R1 is its relatively high computing power (compared to other routers), which I want to use for state-of-the-art encrypted openVPN connections. Do you have any recommendations for low-power-consumption alternatives with a decently supported platform?
I investigated a bit in the meanwhile, too. The BananaPi R1 uses the Realtek rtl8192cu chip. LEDE uses the corresponding vendor driver kernel module rtl8192cu (as per lsmod). This module seems to be of very poor quality, as depicted in the sequent presentation:
Therefore, the author of the presentation apparently developed a new driver kernel module (rtl8xxxu) for a whole bunch of Realtek chips, also including the rtl8192cu. Unfortunately, according to the presentation, this new driver doesn't support AP mode yet, but the presentation is not older than half a year or so....
So the rtl8xxxu driver is still under development. And the rtl8192cu driver is just terrible. Situation will improve over time. In the meantime, you could try loading the rtl8xxxu driver instead of the rtl8192cu driver. No idea if that will help.
I have written an e-mail to the author of the rtl8xxxu module and asked him whether there are any plans to implement AP support for the rtl8192cu chip. I did not get any response at all so far, so I guess the answer is no.
They wrote that they have successfully installed LEDE on a Lamobo R1. Unfortunately, I do not succeed. I can not find instructions for it. Would you help me?
I brought "lede-17.01.4-sunxi-sun7i-a20-lamobo-r1-squashfs-sdcard.img" with Etcher to an 8GB SD card. I then tried to access the 192.168.1.1 with IE. For this I connected the single Ethernet socket of the Lamobo R1 with a network cable with my laptop with Windows 7. In Windows, I have given the ethernet port the 192.168.1.2 (subnet mask 255.255.0.0 default gateway 192.168.1.1 and DNS server 192.168.1.1).
Where is my mistake?
Did you consider desoldering the Wifi module and soldering a different one that works properly in AP mode? There is a thread about this in the armbian forums:
OT: Please be aware, that for secure operation of the Lamobo R1 you need to solder an additional resistor, otherwise the switch falls back to "stupid layer-2" mode during boot, and if for some reason one could make your router go back to fallback mode all vlan separation would be gone without the resistor.