Trying to build a Firmware for a 4MB Flash device

[rishabmehta7]

Hi Folks,

I have 4 routers in my house which have all been obtained in different ways, 2 of these cannot run OpenWRT as one of these is a Tenda device which is not supported and the other one uses a Broadcom Chip and is a ISP device. I am in a process of replacing these.
The other 2 can run WRT one of which Mi Router 3G is running great since about 2 years now. The other 'TP-Link TL-WR740N/ND v4' runs an older version of OpenWRT which is fine with me as its just an AP. My problem is I can't use this for fast roaming as there seems to be absolutely no space left on the device. I did try cleaning up the device following this but doesnt seem to help as the available space seems to be going lower.

My final thought is to build my own firmware with the required package for Fast roaming 'wpad'
Can anyone help my build this? I have a setup ready on Ubuntu but build systems are very new to me and hence I cant make head and tail.
All I need is an image that can fit the 4MB flash with the wpad built in. I dont need IPv6, Firewall, PPPoE, DHCP etc.

Thanks for being and awesome community and keeping this Opensource Project Successful!!

[brada4]

dd-wrt can help you.

[slh]

This is coming up multiple times a week, the answer is still that it's not going to fit.

https://openwrt.org/supported_devices/432_warning

Can't connect to router page

Let's take a step back. 6,2M openwrt-23.05.2-ath79-generic-tplink_archer-a7-v5-squashfs-sysupgrade.bin On an 8-MB-flash devices that leaves you with around 1.5 MB free space after flashing, not deadly, but not great for comfort either - and certainly not much space left for installing additional packages. Expect that to grow by around 100-200 KB per LTS kernel release on average, some more churn on userspace and potential changes to the package line-up (e.g. WPA3 support required adding a …

[rishabmehta7]

I am fine using an older version with all the unnesessary packages removed (IPv6, Firewall, DHCP, PPPoE).

All I need is guidance to be able to build the same. Manually removing the packages did not increase the space available.

Also the device in question is a 4MB device.

[frollic]

@rishabmehta7

anually removing the packages did not increase the space available.

it never does, they need to be excluded during build.

@rishabmehta7

Also the device in question is a 4MB device.

yes, this is the 2nd time you're mentioning it.

[brada4]

You need old linux as build host. And click that 832 link that says how to trim image size.

[eduperez]

How do you value your time? Compare the time you are going to spend trying to support a dying device, with the price of a new device that will work out of the box... perhaps it's not worth it.

[rishabmehta7]

Its not just supporting a dying device, its also time spent learning something new (I am a tinkerer, time spent here is time I am speding to help me relax).
Also the device is just connecting to a few devices and is currently working just fine. Just cant get a few packages installed due to lack of space.

[frollic]

reach out to @Rozin14, they were determined to undertake a similar (and equally pointless) journey in TPlink RE315 4MB / 64MB wifi repeater. Requesting help to build an image.

[zekica]

I have managed to fit a more fully featured hostapd on 4MB TP-Link WR841N on version 19.07.10 using the image builder.