LEDE on Netgear WNR834B

Hello,

I want to install LEDE on a WNR834B v1 - for WNR834B v2 there already exists an image to download.
As the two versions are very similar regarding the hardware (chips used), I would be interested, if an image for the V1 can be built by the image builder.
Or is there a way to convert the "chk"-image to an "bin"-image?!?

Currently I'm using DD-WRT, but I would like to switch, if it is possible.

Thanks for a short answer in advance and kind regards,

Manni

OpenWrt wiki says that only v2 is confirmed to work (https://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/netgear/wnr834b). V1 is not in the LEDE toh neither, only v2. It doesn't look good so far...

Either way, running current OpenWrt or LEDE on a device with just 16 MB RAM will be very challenging already. A normal firmware (with webinterface and everything you normally expect from a basic router) simply won't fit into 16 MB RAM (and 4 MB flash is also becoming difficult, still possible, but not for much longer), so technically running on devices with just 16 MB RAM isn't supported in either project anymore (for several years already). That doesn't mean you can't get it doing anything useful at all, but you'll have to cut down the firmware and its running processes down to the bare minimum you really can't do without.

Hello and many thanks for nice and helpful answers. :wink:
I played around with the Image Builder tool and got it to produce a "bin"-image instead of the "chk"-image.
But I am not sure, if i got the right options for the "bin"-image creation.

I used the "bin"-image options from the Netgear WGT634U in the same section "legacy" for the brcm47xx,
as both use a CFE bootloader and in the "changesets" for the WNR834Bv2 it's obvious, it uses the same boot up (e.g. comments "do not count the elf loader"). The WNR834Bv2 wants a "chk"-image, the v1 as WGT634U wants a "bin"-image.
So created a "bin"-image for the WNR834Bv2 instead of "chk"-image.

define Device/netgear-wnr834b-v2
DEVICE_TITLE := Netgear WNR834B v2
DEVICE_PACKAGES := kmod-b43
#$(Device/netgear)
#NETGEAR_BOARD_ID := U12H081T00_NETGEAR
#NETGEAR_REGION := 2
IMAGES := bin
IMAGES/bin := append-rootfs | trx-with-loader | prepend-with-elf
endef
TARGET_DEVICES += netgear-wnr834b-v2

But I did not use the "FILESYSTEMS := $(FS_128K)" option from the WGT634U, as it uses another type of flash double in size.

I haven't tried to upload the image, as I am not sure if I brick the router.
The main reason for me, was to use OSPF-routing features, which seem to be buggy on DD-WRT related to available information, altough I have not tried it myself. Maybe I get bird-ospf up and running with the router, as I want to do some real routing on real hardware and not only in LXC/LXD containers. I am already using an ODROID-C2 with stretch, and a synology DS (chroot) for this. I like to recycle hardware, and therefore the WNR834Bv1 was/is also an option. :wink:

But many thanks for your help already anyway and kind regards from Austria. :slight_smile:
As I am from the western part I append "maschgaro, maschgaro, rollolo!!!" - which are carneval greetings, meaning nothing useful. :slight_smile: