Hi, can somebody tell me how to get the bootlog of this device and the rest of procedure to get it supported for openwrt?
Thanks in advance!
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Developing support for it will be quite a challenge…
- SoC, IPQ4019: supported
- wlan, IPQ4019, supported
- VDSL modem, Intel VRX518, not supported yet
might be relatively similar to VRX2xx, but there will be considerable development necessary to get it working at all - and outside its natural habitat (married to a QCA ARMv7 SoC, rather than an all Intel/ lantiq SoC; also using little endian instead of big endian…) - FXS ports, same issue as with the VDSL modem - might be supportable, but it probably needs considerable porting and development efforts
- DECT, unsupported - might not be impossible to add, but requires from-scratch development.
For the bootlog you'll need to identify and use the serial header - and hope that the vendor didn't cripple it.
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Found this patch which could help with the VRX518 driver:
and this:
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Hey fellas,
integration into OpenWrt has already been started at https://github.com/blocktrron/openwrt/tree/pr-fritz7530.
We are also in the process of requesting the GPL sources for the VRX518 driver that is not amongst the files already shared at http://osp.avm.de/fritzbox/fritzbox-7530/source-files-FRITZ.Box_7530-07.02.tar.gz.
Best regards
Martin
3 Likes
Hi everbody,
thanks for the answer!
@hexa
Very very nice!
Have you flashed a FB7530 already? 
If yes, did you flash over adam?
Thanks in advance!
We take the same approach as with the 4040. We put a UBoot image into the kernel partition which is loaded by EVA. We plan on using the already-present ubifs to store kernel & rootfs.
Regarding flashing: In contrast to e.g. the 4040 or 4020, EVA does not support writing to flash directly. You need to load an initramfs image and write the partitions from there (AVM uses this approach for their recovery.exe)
2 Likes
Thanks for the answer, could you please explain step by step how to perform the flash procedure ?
Thank you!
I will do as soon as i have some kind of state which i would recommend someone to flash. Currently it is pretty barebone in terms of what is working and the required U-Boot is currently in a sorcery state. It is completely WIP currently.
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Ok, thank you very much! 
Just tell me an I‘ll test.
I was just wondering if you already found the GPL sources for the fritzbox itself?
if not, here they are:
https://osp.avm.de/fritzbox/
and my mirror:
I havn't looked for the DSL driver yet, so maybe its not even in there.
There are great news.
blocktrron ported openwrt to the device
There is no dsl driver yet!
THE FOLLOWING IS AT YOUR OWN RISK:
-
Clone from here: https://github.com/blocktrron/openwrt/tree/pr-fritz7530-nodsl
-
Download modfied ramboot script from here:
https://paste.linuxlounge.net/#/rJFaI1ukX16hETwTuoNtPKHHvrY!hAx204NFzzIjbBx8dmoTgW2c7TtwbteeSdL43A6lL0c -
Compile the above branch from blocktrron
-
Upload the uboot-fritz7530.bin with the modified ramboot script.
-
TFTP to 192.168.1.1 in binary mode and upload the initrams image you just compiled
-
Scp the uboot-fritz7530.bin and the squashfs image to 192.168.1.1:/tmp/
-
SSH to 192.168.1.1
-
Write uboot to boot0 partition:
mtd write /tmp/uboot-fritz7530.bin /dev/uboot0 -
Write uboot to boot1 parition:
mtd write /tmp/uboot-fritz7530.bin /dev/uboot1 -
Remove avm partitions to get space for owrt:
ubirmvol ubi0 --name=avm_filesys_0
ubirmvol ubi0 --name=avm_filesys_1 -
Sysupgrade the squashfs you've uploaded to the device:
sysupgrade /tmp/squashfs_image.bin -
OpenWRT should boot.
THANKS TO @blocktrron !!!
3 Likes
A little confusing as this device seems to be in the compatibility list now showing as "snapshot" but I can't actually find any image.
Are there any pre-compiled images now or do you still have to compile it yourself? I understand you would still have to do the procedure above to flash as AVM locked out flashing on these devices thus you have to boot a custom image from RAM first.
Has anyone tested how the WiFi performs on OpenWRT? I was kinda hoping this would be a nice replacement for my Archer C7 which seems to be CPU bound for large WiFi transfers.
https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ipq40xx/generic/openwrt-ipq40xx-avm_fritzbox-7530-initramfs-fit-uImage.itb
https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ipq40xx/generic/openwrt-ipq40xx-avm_fritzbox-7530-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin
Keep in mind that this doesn't imply that the VDSL modem, DECT or the FXS ports were supported.
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Thanks, I understand DECT is likely never to be supported and VDSL is not guaranteed either.
I'm really just interested in more consistent 802.11ac performance than the Archer C7 while waiting for OpenWRT supported 802.11ax devices to come out (I bet that will be a while coming).
I think I will hold off trying until someone can confirm if performance is acceptable or not as I don't fancy trying to get stock firmware back on it if its not, if you even can.
I can only speak for a single Client 2SS <-> AP scenario, but i managed to get ~500Mbit/s to the LAN side. However, I can't speak for if it's worth the upgrade from a C7. From the raw WiFi speeds when directly near the device i had with neither of those devices any problems.
However, in case you consider buying one, i would go for the 4040. It has the downside of having less flash, but it sports an additional WAN port, additional USB 2.0 port but has the same core chipset. Way back to stock is relatively easy in case you have access to a Windows computer (on this device I've tested it personally, but i could try the same with the 7530 and report back if you wish).
The recovery tool can be obtained from AVM's FTP server: http://ftp.avm.de/
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That's very promising.
I got the router free with my ISP for signing a new 12 month contract, which also was cheaper for the same package, so quite a steal.
My Archer C7 is not performing great. Here's a comparison of the Archer C7 OpenWRT vs the Fritzbox stock firmware:
Reverse mode, remote host lcars is sending
[ 4] local 192.168.1.2 port 49810 connected to 192.168.1.253 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 31.5 MBytes 265 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 31.8 MBytes 265 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.01 sec 32.1 MBytes 268 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 3.01-4.00 sec 36.8 MBytes 311 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 35.0 MBytes 293 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 35.0 MBytes 294 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 40.0 MBytes 335 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 41.9 MBytes 352 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 41.1 MBytes 345 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 42.2 MBytes 354 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth Retr
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 370 MBytes 310 Mbits/sec 5 sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 368 MBytes 308 Mbits/sec receiver
Reverse mode, remote host lcars is sending
[ 4] local 192.168.1.2 port 49935 connected to 192.168.1.253 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 50.2 MBytes 421 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 51.6 MBytes 433 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 51.5 MBytes 432 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 52.8 MBytes 443 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 51.9 MBytes 436 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 51.1 MBytes 429 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 52.5 MBytes 441 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 52.0 MBytes 436 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 49.8 MBytes 418 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 49.8 MBytes 418 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth Retr
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 516 MBytes 433 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 513 MBytes 431 Mbits/sec receiver
iperf Done.
Even 2.4Ghz is dramatically different on the same channel and width:
Reverse mode, remote host lcars is sending
[ 4] local 192.168.1.2 port 50623 connected to 192.168.1.253 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 3.92 MBytes 32.9 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 3.32 MBytes 27.8 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.01 sec 3.73 MBytes 31.0 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 3.01-4.00 sec 3.67 MBytes 31.1 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 3.42 MBytes 28.7 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 2.68 MBytes 22.5 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 3.61 MBytes 30.3 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 3.72 MBytes 31.2 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 3.89 MBytes 32.6 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 3.91 MBytes 32.8 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth Retr
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 37.1 MBytes 31.1 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 36.0 MBytes 30.2 Mbits/sec receiver
Reverse mode, remote host lcars is sending
[ 4] local 192.168.1.2 port 50835 connected to 192.168.1.253 port 5201
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth
[ 4] 0.00-1.00 sec 8.21 MBytes 68.8 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 1.00-2.00 sec 8.31 MBytes 69.8 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 2.00-3.00 sec 9.41 MBytes 78.8 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 3.00-4.00 sec 9.72 MBytes 81.7 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 4.00-5.00 sec 10.1 MBytes 84.5 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 5.00-6.00 sec 9.46 MBytes 79.3 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 6.00-7.00 sec 8.73 MBytes 73.2 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 7.00-8.00 sec 9.15 MBytes 76.8 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 8.00-9.00 sec 9.26 MBytes 77.5 Mbits/sec
[ 4] 9.00-10.00 sec 9.25 MBytes 77.6 Mbits/sec
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
[ ID] Interval Transfer Bandwidth Retr
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 93.0 MBytes 78.0 Mbits/sec 0 sender
[ 4] 0.00-10.00 sec 91.7 MBytes 76.9 Mbits/sec receiver
I use custom scripts to aggregate a list of all connected clients, for security and to monitor range/connection issues, which is why if I can get that performance on OpenWRT then that would be great. I can repurpose the C7 on my friends cable line which is using an older WDR3600 that can't quite handle his full speed with QoS enabled.
You forgot the u-boot: https://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/targets/ipq40xx/generic/u-boot-fritz7530/uboot-fritz7530.bin
Also that folder has the uploader for the 4040 instead of the eva_ramboot.py so I took the latter from github.
Everything seems to have gone fine, just need to configure it now.
UPDATE:
Everything works fine from boot but if you try to restart WiFi you get the following error and 5Ghz never comes back up, you have to power cycle.
[ 1154.642701] ath10k_ahb a800000.wifi: peer-unmap-event: unknown peer id 0
Apart from that speed seems much more stable than the Archer C7 (Channel 52 80Mhz Reg: GB):
Out of curiosity - How distant is now the scenario to get DSL support for 7530, given that drivers for vrx518 have now been obtained?
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Don't hold your breath.
--
Keep in mind that the Fritz!Box 7530 not only employs this new Intel/ lantiq VRX518 modem chipset, it also operates it outside of its natural habitat, connected via PCIe on a little endian QCA4019 ARMv7 system SoC.
It's a pity