The ap152 has since been removed from upstream kernel (probably because of the introduction of DTS)
I also found that it was part of ar71xx, but not with the newer ath79.
Could anyone point me in the right direction? I am unsure if “ap152” is the right route, or should I aim towards this specific board. - I want to avoid work that perhaps has been done already.
I have also created a wiki-page where I collect my research.
I have also seen the 8M/64M problem. Whilst the Flash could be replaced with a hardware mod, the ram would be the limiting factor, as I don’t think the DDR2-chip can easily be replaced.
However, reading the opinion of the dlang and looking trough the toh, I have hope that a plain release featuring the very basic functions could be possible. Which, honestly, is all I would want for an access point, in contrast to an actual router.
RAM upgrades can be accomodated automatically or via ubootenv on many platforms (not 76x8 which needs upper address wire on PCB + configuration capacitors soldered in correct ritual order)
16/64 still has some use, if you were lucky enough 10y ago buying one of those....
That is very unlikely to be true, the vendor might have started with the ap152 reference design, but they undoubtedly modified hardware and software extensively for their product, without bothering to change the model name (which won't be seen by normal users anyways). Most vendors do that (even more in the past), barely any bother to use a correct/ dedicated model name there. The old ad152 reference image won't help you much/ at all with getting your device supported.
You both were indeed correct. Investigating the Makefile and kernel config I found a mach-ap200.c, which contained the unchanged name ap152 - probably one of our beloved downstream mods.
There are some quirks there, but I was able to make a minimal DTS from it.
Further, I was able to create a bootable kernel.
Let’s see how it goes.
At least I have learned something already from my “mancave project”
I have been able to create a sort of minimum viable product!
Ethernet works, wifi works, LEDs work.
Obviously, this firmware has not been battle tested. Interested people may use it with care. As always, taking a dump of your flash is heavily recommended!
I have successfully installed my experimental build from stock firmware without modifications. I had to modify tplink-safeloader to be able to build images for the AP200. See my firmware-utils fork.
Despite this being my “mancave project” that will likely not be merged into master, I’m still open for any suggestions or feedback!