TPLink AX73 uses OpenWrt, so can we modify it?

For Developers
1

Hello. This is my first post to the forum.
I purchased a TPLink AX73 almost as soon as it was released.
Then I heard a rumor that this router uses Openwrt and I was wondering if it is true and if Openwrt functionality is available.
Then I tried to extract the firmware using binwalk on kali linux, and I was sure that Openwrt was used.
But I also found that the version is very old, 12.09-rc1.
It would be really helpful if you could tell me how to update the Openwrt version of this router and install packages etc. I will provide the information.

openwrt_release file:

DISTRIB_ID="OpenWrt"
DISTRIB_RELEASE="Attitude Adjustment"
DISTRIB_REVISION="unknown"
DISTRIB_CODENAME="attitude_adjustment"
DISTRIB_TARGET="model_brcm_bcm490x/generic"
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="OpenWrt Attitude Adjustment 12.09-rc1"

luci file:
The lucy file is located in rootfs_ubifs/www/cgi-bin/

#!/usr/bin/lua
require "luci.cacheloader"
require "luci.sgi.cgi"
luci.dispatcher.indexcache = "/tmp/luci-indexcache"
luci.sgi.cgi.run()

root directory:
image

Thank you.

1 Like
2

But I can't access luci...
image

3

That's just a typical OEM firmware, built upon a heavily butchered up vendor SDK, which in turn 'borrowed' parts of an ancient OpenWrt code base in order to butcher that up with their proprietary kernel(-drivers), it won't get you one step closer to running vanilla OpenWrt on that …$THING.

And Broadcom is effectively a death penalty for that idea to begin with, as there are no wireless drivers for their …$TECHNOLOGY.

4 Likes
4

It's like saying it runs on electricity, since pretty much all of them do.

There's also Support for TP-Link AX5400 Wi-Fi 6?, too bad you didn't use the search, would have saved you some time.

1 Like
5

Thanks for the reply.
One question, is it not possible to do this using SSH?
I can SSH to AX73.

6

It's not a matter of access, but hw support in open source, BCM never release their drivers.

The unit runs a 10+ years old kernel for a reason.

2 Likes
7

I think Broadcom support is the worst. I am curious why manufacturers use Broadcom.
Thank you for the discussion.

8

Because they do offer bang for buck, and manufacturers mostly do not care (nor advertise) open source support.

9

looks like v2 is Qualcomm IPQ5018 so mabie in future

1 Like
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