I have made new final builds, 19.07.10 for this target and for ar71xx. Now including 802.11r support, relayd and WatchCat.
3 Likes
Thank a lot. Where is the link?
Sorry for the noob question, but does the relayd package implies also luci-proto-relay gui included?
Yes, it is there, see config in selected folder.
CONFIG_PACKAGE_luci-proto-relay=y
1 Like
Hi Ashus,
only created an account in the forum just for say thank you very much for your work, time and shares keeping these little bastards up and running.
Based on what I found here and because I own a few WR841 v9..11 and read about this Mesh-Thing and B.A.T.M.A.N., I will now try to build an image just with reduced stuff.
Once again thank you for your work.
2 Likes
Hey, that’s not the answer you were asking for, but I have a question to everyone here: why is newer version is better? It probably has new security things built-in? Something else?
I don’t intend to say it’s not needed. I just look for the router firmware for my TP-Link TL-WR-841N v9.2, which has 18.06.9 right now. Right now it’s used as a router, but I have another one — TP-Link AC750 Archer C20 v4, which I plan to update to 21.02.3, so it’ll become my primary one. So WR-841N is going to be a dumb WiFi Access Point (connected by LAN cable, as I already have it right where I plan to put the router) to make my network larger where Wi-Fi signal drops.
So I consider
- either to leave it as it is on 18.06.9.
- update it to this very on-topic version, 19.07.
- or try 21.02.x
What would you guys say?
I am new to the community, though I was around for a while (a year or something). I know how to flash already, I know some settings in LuCi and I know how to ssh.
I haven't found any CVE for 18.06.9, but ... I still would not run four-years old software on a Wifi router that gave access to other devices connected to the network.
I am running 21.02.x just fine on my router (essentially the same as yours, see above), and I am planning to build and try 22.03.x once that's released. (Both require building firmware yourself at the moment.)
1 Like
Yes, there is the feeling of 4-years old software that could make a difference. The UI looks different across versions so copying configuration like that would be harder, but that shouldn't be a dealbreaker. Maybe there are some inconsistencies in hostapd configuration and you would like to make a dumb AP enabled with 802.11r fast transition (mesh).
Also I recently found out, that on some 4/32MB hardware, 21.02 is not stable enough, so if you want it rock stable and secure, I'd go for 19.07.10 - it isn't even that old, there have been some fixes backported for older devices and it was released in April 2022.
2 Likes
fyi, I have tried the approach from OpenWrt 19.07.x ath79 tiny LuCI - #121 by bers with 22.03.0, and with the config https://openwrt.ashus.net/21.02.3-targets-ath79-tiny-luci/config which I have successfully used before, the image generation fails with errors such as
[mktplinkfw] *** error: images are too big by 378042 bytes
or
[mktplinkfw] *** error: images are too big by 466753 bytes
It does not seem too easy to fit 22.03 into 4 MB.
1 Like
Have you considered removing LuCI? I think it’s way too hardcore to use 22 version on hardware this old. So maybe SSH is the only way to go. If it’d fit without LuCI, I would use it. I use web interface, but I would learn how to do the things I need with SSH only.
Considered yes, but not tried myself. I don't feel proficient enough in Linux-based networking to do that, to be honest. I am well able to extend and clean up scripts that I compile from the commands generated by manipulations in LuCI (which is a great help), but as soon as something unexpected comes up (and I'd expect that when going from 20.x to 22.x), I usually resort to LuCI again (if only to check the of status of everything).
Can you add support for Netgear WNR2000v4 ??
My mom has a WR841Nv8, so I will try your build on it when I visit her.
Thanks in advance!
Hi. There is a sysupgrade ROM for the mentioned Netgear WNR2000 v4 device among other ROMs in https://openwrt.ashus.net/19.07.10-targets-ar71xx-tiny-luci/. If you are still on stock, upgrade using the guide to my sysupgrade firmware file. Otherwise just flash the new image without keeping the configuration.
1 Like
I tried your build but it doesn't save the settings on reboot. Maybe there's no space to save the configuration.
That's why I stayed on Lede 17 because even with official OpenWRT 18, there's no enough space to save the configuration.
Do you have, by any chance at least a tiny OpenWRT 18 build?
Thanks in advance.
EDIT: Maybe removing WatchCat would do the trick? Although I saw it was a small package, like 6KB for both watchcat and luci-app-watchcat. But every KB would count.
@el_charlie
First I would try to do factory reset and change all settings via LuCI. If it still doesn't save, you could try to rebuild it without WatchCat, but keep in mind, the whole image is already compressed and extracted to ramdisk, so you could save even less.
I've tried to make my own build with your config file following instructions from here: OpenWrt 19.07.x ath79 tiny LuCI - #121 by bers using Debian on WSL but I get this warning:
WARNING: Makefile 'package/feeds/packages/ksmbd/Makefile' has a dependency on 'kmod-crypto-arc4', which does not exist
It builds fine, and the file size it's almost the usual (3.3 MB) but that warning scares me a bit.
What I'm doing wrong?
I'm an idiot!
On git checkout I was putting v19.07.7, whereas it should be 19.07.10, now I get no warnings and no errors!!!
Compiling now.
I'll do the same for the WR841N because I don't need watchcat but I do need DDNS (ddns-scripts and NoIP).
Talking about that, where is ddns-scripts-noip?? I couldn't find it on the make menuconfig. Or is there a way to add it?? I'm new in this building stuff.
Cheers!
If it's missing in menuconfig, it wasn't compatible or added to version 19.07.10. I'd go and search openwrt repository for git commit adding support for this and cherry-pick it.
Oh, it was there. As soon as I checked ddns-scripts, the noip was there.
Thanks again for everything. Now running OpenWRT 19.07.10 on a WNR2000v4.
As soon I set up everything, I realized I didn't need DDNS because I set it up on the main router. I will need it for my mom's WR841Nv8, tho.
Cheers!
1 Like