Two routers, two laptops

Installing and Using OpenWrt Network and Wireless Configuration
1

The following is our setup:
Router1: DoodleLabs RM-2450 Smart Radio - Some Doodlelabs firmware that's based on OpenWrt 17.01
Router2: TP-link AC 1750 - Openwrt 18.06.4
Two laptops with Ubuntu 18.04

We want to send data from one laptop to the other using one router at each end; a basic test would be pinging one computer from the other.
For clarity:
Laptop 1-EthernetCable-Doodlelabs-magical bridge-TP link-EthernetCable-Laptop2

We followed all the steps in this relayd tutorial but Laptop 2 (connected to TP) can't ping its own router at 172.16.16.154 and Laptop 1 (connected to Doodlelabs) can't ping the other router either. We can each access the Luci interfaces if we make our wired connections static. What should we do? Is bridging the correct terminology/procedure that we are looking for? Some other research said we should make the routers "peers" and another person said we should route traffic.

2

is "magical bridge" some kind of wire or some kind of radio link? what is the physical medium there?

3

He mentioned relayd, so I imagine it's wireless (hence magical).

4

A true bridge with WDS or mesh is the best way to do this when you own both ends of the link. Relayd does not work very well.

2 Likes
5

The link you used for relayd tutorial points to old archived version which I recall contained errors.

Install Relayd using the newer wiki instructions on TPlink, to connect wirelessly to the regular wifi of the other router 1.
https://openwrt.org/docs/guide-user/network/wifi/relay_configuration

fwiw, review section 9.10 of the installation guide for HH5A which has a bit more info regarding assigning IP addresses etc in the tutorial for setting up relayd bridge missing from the wiki.
https://openwrt.ebilan.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=266

6

"Magical bridge" is what I'm unsure about, it's a wireless connection that is going to be tested nearby at first but with the proper antennas we are hoping this connection could reach up to a kilometer.

7

Could you provide some links for these two solutions? I apologize for not being that experienced.

8

I will try these next week and report back, thank you.

9

As per your advice, I decided to try to set up a WDS connection. It worked nicely. Thanks for your suggestions. It might have been a documentation issue with the old relayd tutorial that prevented it from working, but all the same this WDS tutorial served me well.

10

Relayd (and trelay) are hacks that you use when you have to use them, and they can problems of their own.

But if you have compatible hardware and software, WDS (or mish) is the clean solution and the way to go.