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Topic: Asus WL-330gE Works -- Small and Cheap Broadcom Router

The content of this topic has been archived on 7 Apr 2018. There are no obvious gaps in this topic, but there may still be some posts missing at the end.

I've done some testing and 8.09 and trunk both support the Asus WL-330gE out of the box. It's YABD (Yet Another Broadcom Device), but a small one at that and so far as I can tell it's based on the WL-520gU sources. I'll have patches submitted for kmod-diag/netconfig and a wiki write-up soonish, so it can be "officially" supported. For now, look to this thread for any more info. I give you permission, flash away!

Quick facts:
  * One ethernet port
  * 240mhz, 4mb flash, 16mb RAM -- the same integrated chip as the Asus WL-520gU
  * I have device detection, the reset button and the power LED working (releasing soon)
  * The CFE failsafe boot mode works -- hold the reset button, the power LED flashes, tftp an image
  * It's pretty cheap, I paid retail $40 CAD for it (after a mail-in rebate)

Here's how it looks next my keys for size comparison. It comes with the nifty little case, a USB power cord, a tiny Ethernet cable, and a regular power adapter (not shown).

http://priv.kupesoft.com/wl-330ge-with-keys.jpg

Any questions? Ask away...

Thanks,
Dave Cooper

Is there any gpio line?

Hi, Dave.

Good job!
Wireless works?

regards,
zukky

Wireless works great. As for the GPIO line, I haven't opened it up, but the FCC specs are available for you to check it out.

Edit: added FCC link

(Last edited by kupesoft on 13 Feb 2009, 16:47)

This patch, which I will be submitting soon after I test it, adds support for the device.

Hmm... WL-330gE not based on Broadcom chipset, but on Marvel.

http://wl500g.info/attachment.php?attachmentid=336&stc=1&d=1109258998

(Last edited by szemo77 on 17 Feb 2009, 14:30)

szemo77 wrote:

Hmm... WL-330gE not based on Broadcom chipset, but on Marvel.

Very strange, mine's most definitely Broadcom. I'm using it as a repeater to access the net right now...

A little more research and I think that the WL-330g and the WL-330gE are distinctly different devices... anyone?

Plz.. take a photo and put it. I'm asking out of curiosity smile

I found some data sheet about WL-330gE:
Broadcom CPU - BCM5354 rev2@240
16MB Ram
4MB Flash
802.11b/g Radio
1 WAN FEthernet Port
Power: 5 DC

Kupesoft what rev/compilation do you use on it? I have other router on the same CPU and compilations with 2.4 and 2.6 give kernel panic.

szemo, I'll take a photo, but you will have to wait a bit until I get back from vacation. I'm using a standard kamikaze 8.09 brcm-2.4 build, with the base set of packages on r14492.

Hmm, I was very eager to put openwrt my WL-330gE that I have *attempted* it remotely. On my network, its IP address was 192.168.1.15 so I started a TFTP transfer to it. Then, to cause the device to reset (since I could not find a reset command to click on the web interface), I attempted to upload any firmware to it, and it said failed, but it restarted. Then I saw my TFTP transfer the over (I used openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx). However, after about an hour, I can't ping or telnet 192.168.1.15 or 192.168.1.1 (thought it might assume this ip address). I did an entire sweep of 192.168.1.0/24 but I did not see the device. Do you think its bricked, hung, needs-a-reset, working on another IP address, still upgrading? I wont be at this location to access the device for 2 weeks. From the people who have tried this do you have any advice? Thanks.

harrisonmetz -- If you power it on holding the reset button and the thing flashes, I think you'll be okay.

There's a decal on the bottom of the router saying what IP address it uses, mine being 192.168.1.220. The stock firmware defaults to that and responds to a ping and tftpinf an image when in the bootloader failsafe mode.

Hope that helps.

kupesoft -- When you flashed your WL-330gE, did you TFTP the image to 192.168.1.1 or to 192.168.1.x where x was the IP address that the device had in its NVRAM? In addition, what image did you use? I'm going to use openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx , is that right so should I grab another one? Thanks.

I used a somewhat patched brcm-2.4 8.09 image, yeah.

Here's how to use the patch I wrote to support this device properly in the 8.09 release, since I missed the freeze deadline, these changes are only in trunk.

wget -qO - http://etc.kupesoft.com/openwrt/WL-330gE.patch | patch -p 0

So I apply the patch directly to the openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx file before flashing? (Also, I got it working with the un patched version, thanks). I'll apply the patch tonight when I'm home, but what does it fix?

harrisonmetz wrote:

So I apply the patch directly to the openwrt-brcm-2.4-squashfs.trx file before flashing?

No. Maybe you shouldn't bother trying to apply the patch, because you'd need to build kamikaze from source. Of course, now might be a great time to dive in. smile

harrisonmetz wrote:

(Also, I got it working with the un patched version, thanks). I'll apply the patch tonight when I'm home, but what does it fix?

The patch adds kernel support in the diag kernel module for device detection, the LEDs, and the reset button in the back which is useful but not essential -- you won't be able to get into OpenWrt failsafe mode without it (not to be confused with the bootloader failsafe mode, which will work). It also configures the device to disable the switch by default in the netconfig script, but it'll work without that.

Alright. That makes sense. I don't know why I thought an ASCII patch would apply to binary data tongue. By the way, can I setup the wireless with WPA enterprise? I only see PSK, and the instructions to do enterprise use nvram, which openwrt has not used in the past few releases.

Hello szemo77 and kupesoft..

on the top of printed circuit ( shown in pics of 330gE ) is written ASUS WL-330G..
this very strange,  is it pics of 330gE for sure?

I use both 330g and 330gE at home and I want to use 8.09 for both ..:)

thanks

Hello szemo77 and kupesoft..
dear friends, I have found that 330g is based on Marvel and 330gE is based on Broadcom ..

just FYI

I just wonder if it is possible to run OpenWRT on asus 330 the asus 330g ancestor!

Thanks

L1q1d

(Last edited by l1q1d on 25 May 2009, 15:33)

l1q1d, I think that's a Marvel board with only 2MB of flash, so I don't really think so.

Anyone else notice J1 in upper right side of photo?

It looks like the WL-330gE has 2 internal [as advertised]  microstrip antennas [Diversity Reception] but J1 is for an external cable connection.

Can anyone else confirm that connect is on the gE model & if so, what type of connector is it? Hopefully something like an MMCX!

I am considering buying one to play around with.

Another question: Will it run with NetStumbler?

Raf

(Last edited by rafmannne on 9 Jun 2009, 22:24)

Wow!
Nice topic!!!

I've got the wl-330gE which I'd gladely put on the OpenWRT (preferably - v2.6 kernel).

Also I have some spare SDRAM chips left from my WRT54GL 16MB->64MB RAM upgrade.
Could you please post which exactly type is the RAM chip in the wl-330gE?

PS
(Please advise on how to open it's case)

(Last edited by booBot on 10 Jun 2009, 16:05)

Does 330gE support (with wireless) Kamikaze with 2.6 kernel?

vlad8848 wrote:

Does 330gE support (with wireless) Kamikaze with 2.6 kernel?

edit: I lied, no. I think the device has the LP-PHY. 2.4 only for now.

(Last edited by kupesoft on 10 Aug 2009, 09:23)

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