New Bie. Airties Wav-281 file too big or corrupted

Installing and Using OpenWrt
1

Hi everyone,

I have Airties Wav-281. I wanted to try and learn OpenWrt. I am trying to install it (I know it is low on flash but just installing OpenWrt is a win for me. Also I am okay with bricking it.) I tried to follow https://openwrt.org/toh/airties/wav281 instructions. I downloaded the spesified file and tried to update firmware but it said "file too big or corrupted". What can I do from this point on ? I have USB to TTL adapter and I am not afraid to use it :smile:

2

Buy a device with more than 4MB flash space. There aren't really any other useful or practical ways forward.

3

You have four problems, each of them a show-stopper:

  • 4 MB flash, which is below (hard-) minimum system requirements for a while now
    • and thanks to the phone features, you lose even more to 'unrelated' (voice) OEM stuff, leaving you with 3.75 MB (compared to the 3.875 other 4 MB flash devices would give you, looks like a tiny difference, but it really matters if every KB counts)
  • 32 MB, which is also below minimum system requirements and which will hit you once the wireless drivers are loaded
  • danube as a SOC is barely tested these days (lantiq vr9 has replaced its predecessors)
  • there is no way to fit current OpenWrt into 3648k (max. declared IMAGE_SIZE), not that older (EOL, known vulnerable!) versions would be much easier to fit, this really is veeeery little, even if you did, you'd have serious troubles with the overlay.

I'd strongly suggest to scavenge your local used markets for an actually useful device instead, this really is wasted time and money. While https://openwrt.org/toh/airties/wav281#restore_uboot 'should' probably work (no, I have not checked the details and don't have the device anyways, but the device page is lacking).

If you really need an integrated VDSL modem, https://openwrt.org/toh/arcadyan/vgv7510kw22 should be out there for a song, if you want a good device the https://openwrt.org/toh/bt/homehub_v5a comes with some markup but is still cheap; or one of the other VRX200/ vr9 based options (with sufficient flash/ RAM and non-lantiq-wireless). If the modem is not required, you will find plenty of used ath79 or mt7621 based devices in the sub- or around 10 EUR range, as well as the first new wifi6 based mt7621+mt7915 devices (dap-x1860, covr-x1860, wsm20) for around 15-20 EUR new/ delivered.

4

Thank you for your reply. As I stated on my original post, I am not trying to get something practical to daily use. I am trying to learn openwrt. Buying something usefull will be my second stage.

5

Thank you for your reply and guidance. You made a great point. Currently I am just trying to learn Openwrt without making a purchase. BTW I have fiber optics at my home. So, I don't care about VDSL at all. Just basic router is sufficient for me. The moment I see some blinking with openwrt, I am gonna buy usefull hardware :smiley:

I have 2 Wav-281 at hand. Also I do not intend to use them as daily. So security issues is not my concern. Older versions of OpenWRT is fine for me. After installing the uboot with TTL how am I gonna install the OpenWRT firmware ?

6

This is all good and makes sense... however...

Because your device is 4/32, you'd need to use a version of OpenWrt that is >> 5 years old. There have been a lot of significant changes in the subsequent releases, and therefore a lot of what you learn will be entirely obsolete and will not apply to current versions.

If you don't need to do anything practical, consider these options:

  • Use virtualbox (free) and setup an OpenWrt VM.
  • Buy a used router that supports a modern version of OpenWrt... something low-end/cheap is fine as long as it has at least 8MB flash/64MB RAM (ideally 16/128, but 8/64 is fine for this).
  • Use a device like a Raspberry Pi (even an old one) or an x86 device (bare metal) if you have one lying around (or that can be tasked part of the time to this exercise)
7

Apart from the above, these danube devices are slow (beyond the obvious caveat of fast-ethernet ports), something that doesn't quite compute with "BTW I have fiber optics at my home", regardless of first- or second stage.

The newer vr9 generation, which would be 2*500 MHz, caps out around 75-80 MBit/s, I would guess that danube might be around 25-30 MBit/s, not really up to the job - at all. And lets be very clear, any ancient version of OpenWrt capable of running on ~3.5 MB flash would be utterly insecure by now on every level, routing, firewall, ssh, wireless, it mustn't be used in any capacity at all.

The device page you quoted contains all the information known about this device, it's not very complete and hasn't been touched (beyond global cleanups) in ages (I never owned any danube devices, so don't ask me for any details) - but that's all you have. You may be able to piece together and extrapolate the missing pieces from similar devices, but it's not going to get you very far, unless you are familiar with lantiq already.

Honestly, even if you had a dozen of these devices, look for something supported with contemporary OpenWrt versions and good documentation, devices that are easier to deal with. E.g. the TP-Link TL-WDR3600/ TL-WDR4300 sell on the used markets for around 5 EUR regularly, to be clear, these devices aren't all that fast (~150 MBit/s routing performance, only 802.11n wireless) and they are on the cusp of no longer meeting minimum system requirements (8/128) and I certainly wouldn't buy one myself in 2024 (although I own them myself for well over a decade), but they are cheaply available (and had worldwide distribution) and just work.

…but there are even good contemporary devices (including wifi6) starting new/ delivered around 15-20 EUR, so even less of a reason to look at the tl-wdr3600 (let alone danube), but if you want the cheapest among the cheap, those later (not the first draft-n/ ar9132 generation!) ath79 devices (>= 8/64) are sold for a song.

8

The advantage of this is you cannot brick a Pi. If you really mess things up you pull the sd card and re-flash it.
I've gotten OpenWrt to run on a Pi Zero W. So we are not talking much.