Hello All! I am a networking noob and I'm trying to set up a travel router on an old Dell Optiplex 7010 I picked up for free from work.
My problem is I can't get passed the initial setup and install. I can ssh in from my main PC via ethernet and connect to the web gui, but I have no access to internet and OpenWrt doesn't see the PCIe wifi cards I have installed. I can't ping IPv4 and with no internet I can't download the firmware for the PCIe cards.
The PCIe cards I have are an Intel Corp. Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (rev 1a) and a MediaTek MT7922 802.11ax PCI Express Wifi adapter.
Some Context: I live in a skoolie so my internet connection is based on where I am currently parked. At the moment, I am parked long term and using a wifi repeater in AP mode to connect to my landlords wifi. This is great as is, but since I want to be on the move I want to build my own travel router using OpenWrt. There is no wired connection to internet available to me, only wifi.
To install, I followed some write ups to use Ubuntu via flash drive to install a generic OpenWrt version into the internal SSD. Once that was complete OpenWrt boots fine on the Dell. I want to change my IP address on the Dell to be anything other than the default, but when I do I can no longer ssh in from my PC or use the gui. I tried changing my network adapter settings on my main PC to have the ethernet port reflect the new IP address but still no luck.
I feel like its something really simple right in front of my face but I can't figure it out. Any advice as to whjat I'm doing wrong?
I don't know if this will work, but if all you're looking to do is inject some wireless drivers into your build, just go to https://firmware-selector.openwrt.org/
That's because if you change the address via the GUI, the router wants a confirmation from the connected pc. If the pc doesn't answer on the new address, the change will be reverted.
So there're (at least) 2 ways to accomplish this:
For this you should know how to use the build-in editor vi.
When connected via ssh or direct console, edit the file /etc/config/network and in the stanza
config interface 'lan'
option device 'br-lan'
option proto 'static'
option ip6assign '60'
list ipaddr '192.168.1.1/24'
change the last line to your desired value.
After this you should either restart the router or at least execute /etc/init.d/network restart.
Add an additional IPv4 address in the desired new network to your pc. So you can use both the old and the new address at the same time. Don't forget to remove the old one after your setup is working.
Through this whole build I've been following Network Chuck's travel router build and that was the 1st step he did (yeah his is on a Rasp. Pi 4 but I figured I could figure out the differences).
I have gotten very familiar with "vi" I have /etc/config/network backed up and so everytime an experiment doesn't work I delete the current network file and copy my back-up.
I apologize for all the rookie questions, but how do you add an additional IPv4 address on my Windows 10 PC? Is it in the properties for the ethernet network that I have been changing to ssh into the router?
Progress! I got my IP changed to something other than default. However, I am now stuck since there is no built in wifi on this Dell, only the Wifi cards I installed, I can't access the web to download the packages that I need. In fact, there isn't even a wireless file in the /etc/config.
Is there a way to get internet via the bridged lan I have on my PC?
Do you have any other network interface available on the Dell to connect to Internet?
It doesn't matter if they're built-in or installed, you just need the driver packages. Another user explained what packages to try, and it was discussed how to use the Firmware Selector.
Nope, just the one ethernet port that is on the motherboard and then the 2 PCIe cards I have installed.
I was using the Firmware selector but the packages weren't coming up. However if I search all downloads and use the Index of (root) / releases / 25.12.1 / targets / x86 / 64 / kmods / 6.12.74-1-dad96e0b324e75e311f44d061391d208 / path I can ctrl+f and find all the packages listed. I'm going to try downloading them to the PC and then upload them.
Or you can use the Firmware Selector to make an image that already includes them. But feel free to download each one individually and then upload them to the OpenWrt instead.
It's not clear what this statement means. Were you able to successfully build an image after adding the packages to the list?
When you say make an image, does that mean an instance of OpenWrt that would have those packages baked in, rather than the default x86/64 version not having any of those packages?
Okay so I'm playing around with the Firmware Selector and I think I'm figuring it out. I add the firmware that @OpenWRT-fanboy listed to the list of packages and then request a build. From there, do I select which image I want downloaded after it creates a build?
Hello everyone, has anyone had issues using the MediaTek MT7922e dual band card with OpenWrt? My router sees it, I can connect and log in to the local WiFi, but it doesn't know which channel its using, bitrate, and I can't ping using the router.
I've got all the firmware required (that I know of) intalled, and with some Googling I found that I need to check that there are specific binaries in /lib/firmware/mediatek/ (there is).
You will likely also need the following 2 packages to get wifi to work since the default x86 firmware does not come with any of the wifi related packages.
hostapd-common
wpad-basic-mbedtls
You may also want to include the package 'pciutils' so you can check if your wifi cards are being recognised by your machine.
I have /etc/config/network backed up and so everytime an experiment doesn't work I delete the current network file and copy my back-up.
