What's your favourite cheap LEDE/OpenWrt device?

https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/2-4GHZ-5-8GHz-Openwrt-11AC_60536411333.html?spm=a2700.7724838.0.0.OUAQ6v, here is the link, wants to know more details, please feel free to contact me.

elina@fusonwap.com
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I'd say if you want to go cheap the lowest is tp-link tl-wr1043nd v2+

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I saw i malaysia 1043n v5. Some said the hardware similiar to v4 except antenna undetachable. If that so could simply use v4 instead.

I just ordered the Fuson Router. As soon as it arrives I will try to get a working LEDE up an running as soon as possible (at least a sort of prove of concept). The specs look really good in terms of price/quality. 16MB of flash plus 512MB of RAM, dual core and gigabit ethernet plus USB and SD-card for additional packages.

Possibly it can out perform my ARM based Netgear router since we should be able to get better support for it since its a Mediatek SOC compared to the closed source Broadcom.

The FS-WR106 is running Breaker Barrier by default, which directly excludes it from my abilities to move into production- at least until it's a supported device.

Hardware wise, it is quite similar to the zbt wg3526, but it isn't exactly the same. The chipsets in the FS-WR106 are not 100% compatible.

The FS-WR106 comes with MT7603EN and MT7612EN chipsets for the WiFi.

I figured it might have issues, but I flashed the 17.01.1 firmware for it, and lost 802.11ac- which I thought might happen.

The system panics with the mt7603e driver, and mt76x2e driver seems to be working, but I have yet to successfully test it.

[   57.220000] Stack : 00000000 00000000 804e6862 00000036 00000000 00000000 804
90000 80500000
[   57.220000] 	  8fd718ec 80489d83 8040494c 00000001 00000213 804e367c 00000003
 8f1f4b78
[   57.220000] 	  8f1f52c8 80064fa8 80490000 80500000 8048e288 8048e28c 80409260
 8f173a34
[   57.220000] 	  00000003 80062cf4 00000003 8f1f4b78 8f1f52c8 00000000 00000000
 00173a34
[   57.220000] 	  00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
 00000000
[   57.220000] 	  ...
[   57.260000] Call Trace:
[   57.260000] [<8001692c>] show_stack+0x50/0x84
[   57.260000] [<801b736c>] dump_stack+0x84/0xbc
[   57.270000] [<8002cf40>] warn_slowpath_common+0xa0/0xd0
[   57.270000] [<8002cff8>] warn_slowpath_null+0x18/0x24
[   57.280000] [<8f000b94>] wiphy_register+0x58/0x6c4 [cfg80211]
[   57.280000] [<8f180f20>] ieee80211_register_hw+0x7fc/0xa20 [mac80211]
[   57.290000] [<8f1e9a98>] mt7603_register_device+0x908/0x948 [mt7603e]
[   57.300000] [<8f1e8124>] init_module+0x90124/0x91130 [mt7603e]
[   57.300000] [<80225c00>] devm_kfree+0x20/0x44
[   57.310000] [<80221e94>] driver_sysfs_add+0x6c/0xa0
[   57.310000] [<802224c4>] driver_probe_device+0x120/0x288

   54.830000] mt7603e 0000:02:00.0: ASIC revision: 76030010
[   54.840000] mt7603e 0000:02:00.0: Invalid MAC address, using random address 8
a:b3:11:e5:db:c2
[   56.950000] mt7603e 0000:02:00.0: Firmware Version: _mt7603mp
[   56.960000] mt7603e 0000:02:00.0: Build Time: 20151020155902
[   56.990000] firmware init done
[   57.170000] ------------[ cut here ]------------
[   57.170000] WARNING: CPU: 1 PID: 531 at compat-wireless-2017-01-31/net/wirele
ss/core.c:763 wiphy_register+0x58/0x6c4 [cfg80211]()
[   57.180000] Modules linked in: mt7603e(+) ledtrig_usbport mt76 mac80211 cfg80
211 compat ip6t_REJECT nf_reject_ipv6 nf_log_ipv6 nf_log_common ip6table_mangle 
ip6table_filter ip6_tables x_tables mmc_block mtk_sd mmc_core leds_gpio xhci_mtk
 xhci_plat_hcd xhci_pci xhci_hcd ahci libahci libata sd_mod scsi_mod gpio_button
_hotplug usbcore nls_base usb_common
[   57.210000] CPU: 1 PID: 531 Comm: kmodloader Not tainted 4.4.61 #0
[   57.320000] [<802226a8>] __driver_attach+0x7c/0xb4
[   57.320000] [<80220988>] bus_for_each_dev+0x9c/0xac
[   57.330000] [<80221bbc>] bus_add_driver+0xec/0x20c
[   57.330000] [<80222df8>] driver_register+0xa8/0xf8
[   57.330000] [<8f158044>] init_module+0x44/0x74 [mt7603e]
[   57.340000] [<8000f920>] do_one_initcall+0x1e8/0x214
[   57.350000] [<80089c68>] do_init_module+0x74/0x1d0
[   57.350000] [<8008b5d4>] load_module+0x1794/0x1c3c
[   57.350000] [<8008bb94>] SyS_init_module+0x118/0x168
[   57.360000] [<80007898>] syscall_common+0x30/0x54
[   57.360000] 
[   57.370000] ---[ end trace 43917352ef7fbd9e ]---
[   57.370000] mt7603e: probe of 0000:02:00.0 failed with error -22
[   57.430000] mt76x2e 0000:01:00.0: ASIC revision: 76120044
[   57.430000] mt76x2e 0000:01:00.0: EEPROM data check failed: 7603
[   57.440000] mt76x2e 0000:01:00.0: Invalid MAC address, using random address 0
2:75:f8:ee:d5:80
[   57.460000] mt76x2e 0000:01:00.0: ROM patch already applied
[   57.460000] mt76x2e 0000:01:00.0: Firmware Version: 0.0.00
[   57.470000] mt76x2e 0000:01:00.0: Build: 1
[   57.470000] mt76x2e 0000:01:00.0: Build Time: 201507311614____
[   57.500000] mt76x2e 0000:01:00.0: Firmware running!
[   57.500000] ieee80211 phy1: Selected rate control algorithm 'minstrel_ht'

I can get further data as necessary, and will try to work on a local build for myself- but I'm still a greenhorn in this land of LEDE. :slight_smile:

@sholwe looks like this: https://bugs.lede-project.org/index.php?do=details&task_id=460&string=witi&search_name=&type[0]=&sev[0]=&pri[0]=&due[0]=&reported[0]=&cat[0]=&status[0]=&percent[0]=&opened=&dev=&closed=&duedatefrom=&duedateto=&changedfrom=&changedto=&openedfrom=&openedto=&closedfrom=&closedto=

You need a newer build.

Also, that invalid MAC address warning is worrisome. Need to find a way to fix it.

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Its getting off topic, but I have the same/similar error on my own build for the Mercury MAC1200R v2 (MT7628AN + MT7612E). I updated my feeds, but I'm not sure if the MT76 driver is updated/patched correctly. How to check? Sorry for the Noobs question. I am using the Reboot (SNAPSHOT, r3925,-64175ff) revision

git pull or ./scripts/feeds/update -a

if that doesn't work, poke nbd on IRC.

I ordered a WR1043ND v4 to replace a aging v1 lately. While I hoped I would get a v4 it's a v3.

The v3 has a slightly older/slower CPU (QCA9558@720Mhz) and less onboard storage (8mb) but with extroot and zswap it does everything I want it to do (including but not limited to OpenVPN and adblock).

tl;dr: WR1043ND is great.

If you really want v4 then I think someone here might be inclined to exchange his v4 for your v3. I know some of the users wanted v3 because of OpenWRT and Gargoyle support but they got v4 instead.

For what it's worth, trunk added support for the ZBT-WE1326 yesterday, which appears to be the same device. I'm building it now, and will let you know if/how it works.

@neheb I did a pull from GH for -HEAD, and I'm still having the same issue despite a completely clean source tree.

The 15.05 build for this device is also based on the WG3526 build, not the WE1326- the filesystem is the same, excepting the MAC address location. Can you point me to a "Stupid Newbie" bit of documentation so I can do more direct research myself before posing more inane queries?

Thanks!

@sholwe

The mt76 driver is here: https://github.com/openwrt/mt76

The commit that fixed my segfault issue is: https://github.com/openwrt/mt76/commit/a5eaeb27d6a80c012ffc8b5bb5549983e446b4ef

As for the mac address, it really depends on the DTS file used for your device.

Relevant sidenote: The MQMaker WiTi comes with no built-in mac address for anything. A script called fixup-mac-address is provided(at least for the WiTi) to fix the issue.

@neheb Sadly, Fusion is thus far refusing to help me with software, beyond sending me the binary of 15.05. Is there an easy way to read the flash device directly so I can search for the offsets? I have a feeling that I'll be cracking it open and finding where to connect a TTL adapter soon enough.

Cheers!

Can we come back to the topic, please?
If you want to discuss special devices and their configuration, you can open a new topic, dedicated to your device.

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I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Xiaomi MiWifi Mini. Full 1176 Mbps AC dual band router with 16MB flash and 128MB ram, and it runs perfect with LEDE.

There were some problems with the Wifi but that seems to be fixed in 17.01.1, and it didn't mean much to me personally, because I only use wifi when I can't avoid it.

Downside is it only has two lan ports apart from the wan port, but I converted the USB port to lan with a USB to lan adapter.

The tricky part is getting ssh access. It ships with a Chineese only interface, but there are plenty of youtube tutorials to enable internet access, and after that you can use Google Chrome or Chromium with the built in Google Translate to navigate the admin interface (unless you understand Chinese).
After that you will need to connect to the manufacturers server with a connected Android or iOS device (I used a virtual machine) to get an ssh patch, and after that installation is straight forward.

It's a bit unfair to call it my favorite, since it is the only one I have used with LEDE or OpenWRT (the Chinese interface is what sent me looking at OpenWRT to begin with). But right now it sells for 25-30 dollars with free shipping, and overall I am really happy with it.

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The A5-v11 (4 MB Flash / 32 MB RAM / RT5350F) for 6 USD

and upgrade SPI Flash to 16MB using W25Q128 for 0.30 USD

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I would have suggested the Fusion / Airwave FS-WR106, but it came with 14.07, and they offered a binary 15.05 when I asked.

I tried working with what I found from a ZBT WG-3526 (weeks before I got their 15.05 binary), but.. so far, still haven't found where the MAC address is stored. They have stickers, so it's obviously easy-software, but ART isn't really accessible. The 15.05 binary is not stable enough to use, and has so much spurious and random activity that I'll never put it into production until it has a clean build.

My favorite (to date) is stilll the GL-MT300A. It comes with a semi-basic 15.05.1 build, but has a custom LuCI interface (and drops back in advanced mode). The only problem I found is that it usually drops back to 54Mbit, and you have to set/reset it to get it above that for your local LAN.

For ~$30, I can't bitch too much.

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I'm currently on the lookout for the router which can be ordered from China, so I'd welcome more feedback about MiWifi Mini's WiFi experience with LEDE 17.01.1 (and not as you said, occasional use). I've been cautioned against MediaTek based devices specifically because of the poor WiFi on non-stock images.

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Xiaomi mini with lede 17.01 had serious problems with 2.4GHz in a noisy environment. I tried to use it in the office as ap but the connection was unstable. With stock everything fine.
New xiaomi 3g looks very interesting.

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