TP-LINK_Archer_A9_v6.x

bjlockie · February 20, 2020, 8:11am

I'm considering the TP-LINK_Archer_A9_v6.x.
It's not listed but everything (including 5Mhz wireless) should work?

I found this page:
http://en.techinfodepot.shoutwiki.com/wiki/TP-LINK_Archer_A9_v6.x

Hegabo · February 20, 2020, 8:39am

It doesn't look like an attractive target. With the exception of the CPU that's marginally faster, it has the same small flash space as the years-old Archer C7 which can be bought used for a small fraction of the price, minus 1 USB port (and in fact several posts on the forum say that the C7 isn't considered a good investment, so I imagine that the same applies to the over-priced A9).

slh · February 20, 2020, 11:10am

If it's not listed as supported, then it isn't supported at all[0], until someone gets it on their desk and tries working on it.

--
[0] and there currently isn't a single device with QCN5502 supported by OpenWrt. While it's reasonable to assume that it won't be that much different from its ath79 predecessors, no one knows for sure until someone tries to port it - and it very likely will need some SOC specific changes.

Hegabo · February 20, 2020, 12:07pm

And at around $80 new, I don't see that happening in the new feature (I don't think it's worth even half this price), and by the time it's widely available used for cheap, the 16 MB flash space is already too small.

bjlockie · February 20, 2020, 3:16pm

I thought the warning on the front page was not to but routers with 4mb flash so I thought 16mb should be ok.
Mmm.

slh · February 20, 2020, 3:24pm

The specs of this router (assuming that it gets supported one day) are good (including the flash size), but it's just too expensive for what it can offer (single core mips, 16 MB flash, 128 MB RAM). There are better devices around for just about the same or even slightly less money.

Hegabo · February 20, 2020, 9:42pm

I have Archer C7, which has similar specs (although the processor is a bit slower), and after fresh insustituible of OpenWrt, there is only a few MBs of flash left. So if you happen to want to install something that requires rs python for example or some packages that have many or large dependencies, you could run or of space.

If, however, the specs are good for your requirements, then you could just get a used C7 for $20 or even less, and it's well supported.

Plus C7, for example, has 2 USB ports, which can be a lot more useful than just one.

But then again, as @slh says, there are much better devices in the range of $40 to $80, so if you outline your needs, people may be able to recommend some.

LAP87 · March 21, 2020, 9:25pm

I bought the A9 in sweden last black friday, it was approx 40 usd with shipping.
But there is no custom rom/fw anywhere for it and the last update it got was sometime early 2019.
Is there something a total noob at this could do to port openwrt to it?

bjlockie · March 22, 2020, 1:01am

I think the hardware is

CPU: Qualcomm QCN5502 WiSoC (MIPS 74Kc)
WLAN: Qualcomm QCN5502/QCA9984
802.11n 4T4R:3SS (600Mbps, 2.4GHz)
802.11ac 4T4R:3SS (1300Mbps, 5GHz)
USB: 1x USB 2.0 ports

https://openwrt.org/toh/hwdata/tp-link/start

https://openwrt.org/toh/recommended_routers

rblumel · May 17, 2020, 3:30pm

bootargs=console=ttyS0,115200 board=APJET01 rootfstype=squashfs init=/etc/preinit mtdparts=spi0.0:128k(factory-uboot),192k(u-boot),64k(ART),1536k(uImage),14464k@0x1e000

here is the boot args from the FW.

TFTP info

bootcmd=bootm 0x9f0c0000
bootdelay=0
baudrate=115200
ethaddr=0x00:0xaa:0xbb:0xcc:0xdd:0xee
ipaddr=192.168.0.2
serverip=192.168.0.10
dir=
lu=tftp 0x80060000 ${dir}tuboot.bin&&erase 0x9f000000 +$filesize&&cp.b $fileaddr 0x9f000000 $filesize
lf=tftp 0x80060000 ${dir}apjet01${bc}-jffs2&&erase 0x9f010000 +$filesize&&cp.b $fileaddr 0x9f010000 $filesize
lk=tftp 0x80060000 ${dir}vmlinux${bc}.lzma.uImage&&erase 0x9f300000 +$filesize&&cp.b $fileaddr 0x9f300000 $filesize

rmbowie · September 17, 2020, 9:58pm

I was drawn to this router by the same review as OP.

Based on the firmware source on the TP-link support site, it appears that this router's firmware is openwrt.

So I guess the review site wasn't entirely wrong..

brjhaverkamp · September 18, 2020, 11:49am

Hi Mbowie,

I also get this router based on one of the recommendation sites. But those seem to be completely fake.
Where did you see the information about the firmware being based on Openwrt? That would be very surprising.

Otherwise, does anyone know if someone is working on making openwrt work on this router?

Regards,

Bert

tmomas · September 18, 2020, 1:43pm

In the GPL code provided on https://www.tp-link.com/en/support/download/Archer-A9/#GPL-Code

brjhaverkamp · September 18, 2020, 2:13pm

Wow, indeed, TP-link provides the whole openwrt source as in their GPL code package. Version 12.09 if I looked at it correctly.
Wonder if there is something useful to get out of it, or if all the required magic is in a binary blob.

Regards,

Bert

Protopale · October 27, 2020, 11:08am

The readme states that on building the code from the zip file, OpenWrt binary images are generated.

Archer A9 is on sale in many countries in the third world, which is why I bought it, and some site recommended it as well for open source firmware. Infact many of my colleagues bought one to replace their wifi4 routers. I assume this is similar to the a7 in terms of source code

I hope a kind hearted dev reads this and tries their best on this.

wepee · June 13, 2021, 2:02am

This guy who wrote this piece of information does not do fact checking first........... before posting on the site.
https://www.gadgetreview.com/best-openwrt-routers

pepe2k · February 27, 2022, 4:13pm

Old topic, but I just included support for this device:

github.com/openwrt/openwrt

ath79: add support for TP-Link Archer A9 v6

committed 10:01PM - 25 Feb 22 UTC

pepe2k

+265 -0

TP-Link Archer A9 v6 (FCCID: TE7A9V6) is an AC1900 Wave-2 gigabit home router ba…sed on a combination of Qualcomm QCN5502 (most likely a 4x4:4 version of the QCA9563 WiSOC), QCA9984 and QCA8337N. The vendor's firmware content reveals that the same device might be available on the US market under name 'Archer C90 v6'. Due to lack of access to such hardware, support introduced in this commit was tested only on the EU version (sold under 'Archer A9 v6' name). Based on the information on the PL version of the vendor website, this device has been already phased out and is no longer available. Specifications: - Qualcomm QCN5502 (775 MHz) - 128 MB of RAM (DDR2) - 16 MB of flash (SPI NOR) - 5x Gbps Ethernet (Qualcomm QCA8337N over SGMII) - Wi-Fi: - 802.11b/g/n on 2.4 GHz: Qualcomm QCN5502* in 4x4:4 mode - 802.11a/n/ac on 5 GHz: Qualcomm QCA9984 in 3x3:3 mode - 3x non-detachable, dual-band external antennas (~3.5 dBi for 5 GHz, ~2.2 dBi for 2.4 GHz, IPEX/U.FL connectors) - 1x internal PCB antenna for 2.4 GHz (~1.8 dBi) - 1x USB 2.0 Type-A - 11x LED (4x connected to QCA8337N, 7x connected to QCN5502) - 2x button (reset, WPS) - UART (4-pin, 2.54 mm pitch) header on PCB (not populated) - 1x mechanical power switch - 1x DC jack (12 V) *) unsupported due to missing support for QCN550x in ath9k UART system serial console notice: The RX signal of the main SOC's UART on this device is shared with the WPS button's GPIO. The first-stage U-Boot by default disables the RX, resulting in a non-functional UART input. If you press and keep 'ENTER' on the serial console during early boot-up, the first-stage U-Boot will enable RX input. Vendor firmware allows password-less access to the system over serial. Flash instruction (vendor GUI): 1. It is recommended to first upgrade vendor firmware to the latest version (1.1.1 Build 20210315 rel.40637 at the time of writing). 2. Use the 'factory' image directly in the vendor's GUI. Flash instruction (TFTP based recovery in second-stage U-Boot): 1. Rename 'factory' image to 'ArcherA9v6_tp_recovery.bin' 2. Setup a TFTP server on your PC with IP 192.168.0.66/24. 3. Press and hold the reset button for ~5 sec while turning on power. 4. The device will download image, flash it and reboot. Flash instruction (web based recovery in first-stage U-Boot): 1. Use 'CTRL+C' during power-up to enable CLI in first-stage U-Boot. 2. Connect a PC with IP set to 192.168.0.1 to one of the LAN ports. 3. Issue 'httpd' command and visit http://192.168.0.1 in browser. 4. Use the 'factory' image. If you would like to restore vendor's firmware, follow one of the recovery methods described above. Signed-off-by: Piotr Dymacz <pepe2k@gmail.com>

Big warning!
Due to missing support for QCN550x in ath9k, the 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi is at the moment unsupported (I'm looking into that).

looi · March 3, 2022, 10:24pm

ath9k: experimental support for QCN5502

openwrt:master ← looi:qcn550x

opened 10:11PM - 03 Mar 22 UTC

looi

+393 -3

This change adds support for the QCN550x built-in wifi. * Overall, treating Q…CN550x as QCN956x appears to work. * While QCN5502 is a 4-stream device, ath9k only supports 3 streams, and that is unchanged. (`AR9300_MAX_CHAINS` is still 3, and only 3 chains are enabled) * The eeprom data format appears to have changed slightly to accommodate 4 streams. Looking at actual data, it appears the data size has increased from 0x440 to 0x540. (It would be great if others can confirm.) The modified `ar9300_eeprom` has a size of 0x4fc, so data at the end is not used. * Without the `ar9300_eeprom` modification, the device actually still works, but the transmit power is very low. * The QCN956x initvals already in ath9k appear to work with a few hacks. Instead of this, "real" QCN550x initvals may be better. * This change will break ath9k for other devices, so it will need to be cleaned up. Ideas to cleanly implement this change: * Convert the new eeprom format to the old one, discarding information about the 4th chain. This will minimize the changes required to the rest of the driver. * Either add conditionals to the address macros to check the device type, or use a more hacky solution where `ath9k_iowrite32` and similar functions will convert the addresses. People who may be interested: @adschm @hauke @mans0n @pepe2k

stevennausak · March 5, 2022, 11:11am

Hello everyone, my can you confirm that it is possible to develop OpenWrt also on the Fritz 2400 since it uses very similar hardware (or the same)? Thank's