Latest OpenWrt for Dragino MS14 with imagebuilder

For Developers
1

Hello,
I tried to build OpenWRT 22.03.0 for an old Dragino MS14 with imagebuilder from "https://downloads.openwrt.org/releases/22.03.0/targets/ath79/generic/".
I think 71xx is ath79 now.

I can't find a matching profile. What do I need to do to get a current version of OpenWRT on the device and bundle several packages in the image to save space.
I think it is to bad to put the old hardware to trash just because I didn't dare to compile a current firmware. It should be possible to get a current version running on the device, right?

muebau

2

At 16 MiB flash and 64 MiB RAM, you should still be able to use it (but a web UI might be a close call). What first needs to be done is port it to ath79 (which is the device tree based equivalent of ar71xx).

Since ar71xx is deprecated, all hardware that was not explicitly ported when migrating to ath79 has been dropped. It needs to be done on a per device basis.

3

Sounds manageable.

What are the steps to port the device to ath79?
I think the main tasks were done while the port of all the other ar71xx devices.

What else need to be done other than write a definition file for the specific device?

4

You are starting from scratch, again - but you have a head start in terms of documentation.

1 Like
5

Here's a sort of porting guide. (It's really a huge forum thread of people lookin for a porting guide, then porting their boards.)

I'm always happy to help port ath79 boards, if folks can mail one to me. Feel free to PM me if so.

2 Likes
6

I read a lot the last days and got the impression that I would simply need to modify something like eg. "ar9330_glinet_gl-ar150.dts".

There are many devices very similar to the Dragino MS14 with just minor differences (eg. LEDs at different GPIOs, switch with different VLAN IDs).

Do I miss something if I simpy take some *.dts, modify it a bit and build an image based on that?

1 Like
7

If you got a way to recover from a broken build (serial, or a flash programmer), it's certainly worth a shot.

8

Yes, this will work. You will also need to create an image profile (see target/linux/ath79/image/generic.mk).

As @Borromini suggests, you will need to be able to recover out-of-band. For example, you should be able to boot an initramfs using your serial console to control U-Boot.

1 Like
9

To save You some work, @karlp sent this ath79: port dragino ms14 to DTS. For the non-detected link check this PR: https://github.com/openwrt/openwrt/pull/9971.