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Topic: TP Link Archer C20

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Hi,
I'd like to buy this router
http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/deta … r-C20.html
and change original software for some alternative software but I cannot find any. I've found software for C20i but I don't think that this is 'clone' of C20.
Is there any known alternative software for Archer C20 or maybe clone routers of this model?

Best regards,
Goat.

(Last edited by Goat on 20 May 2015, 14:31)

Use the forum search function. C2 and C20i are almost the same. Don't buy it. Support is not mature. 5GHz not working.
https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=52625

Goat wrote:

Hi,
I'd like to buy this router
http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/deta … r-C20.html
and change original software for some alternative software but I cannot find any. I've found software for C20i but I don't think that this is 'clone' of C20.
Is there any known alternative software for Archer C20 or maybe clone routers of this model?

Best regards,
Goat.

bkil wrote:

C2 and C20i are almost the same. Don't buy it. Support is not mature. 5GHz not working.

bkil... These devices lack documentation on the wiki and the topic you refer to does not contain much. Do you have first hand experience with either (almost the same) device and can you share any information?

- Does flashing from firmware work?
- Does recovering OEM firmware work?
- Does 2.4GHz work?
- Status of the Gbit switch in C2?
- Is it stable?
- Any bootlogs?

I work on trying to improve the Wiki Table of Hardware and the device pages. If you have first hand information and just give brief answers here I can take care of updating the wiki.
I think these two (currently unsupported) devices could prove to be high-volume-OpenWrt-devices in the future.

Sorry for the late answer. It seems as if the system forgot to subscribe me to this topic.

No first hand information here. I just wanted to be absolutely clear, so we won't break a newbie's heart in the process of continuous unfruitful self-torturing. I referenced that thread because it seemed to sum up the current status pretty compactly and anyway that was the last one I skimmed through.

I wanted to jump onto the 802.11ac bandwagon to have some inexpensive fun, but after seeing the seas of tears all over the place, I had to change my mind.

I am not following kernel development nowadays, so all my relevant information comes from quick web searches this time. If I am not mistaken, the status quo is that of all the open source drivers, only ath10k provides 802.11ac. As I've heard, dd-wrt works around these issues by favoring binary blobs from the OEM and/or signing proprietary agreements with the vendors. Neither of which OpenWrt would like to promote as I understand. The status quo will remain until vendors release full driver source or someone would pick up the great effort of reverse engineering, like an individual seeking adventure or research group having proper financial backing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compariso … ers#Status

Please correct me if I'm misunderstanding something or if you know any fully supportable inexpensive 802.11ac devices. Note that many routers could be or have been supported up to booting and maybe in some cases even wifi works over the 802.11n cards (like in the C20), but I don't consider that real support, nor do I think that it's a good idea to purchase an AC router and use only the N radio. Of course this is a subjective matter, because some may find the extra flash, RAM or CPU power useful, and we do indeed need platform support if miracle happens and drivers start falling from the sky. However, I'd rather buy 2-3x as many low power N-only routers for the same price to increase density or reach. By the way, perhaps it would be worthwhile to add columns on the kind of support provided for each device, like whether the 5GHz radio is supported.

edit: Okay, add Marvell to the list of good guys. Perhaps it would be useful to keep a catalog of these? Or just update the kernel wireless wiki or Wikipedia about open source wireless chipset support and cross reference that to router models via some funky SQL query. http://www.snbforums.com/threads/offici … ver.21973/


zo0ok wrote:
bkil wrote:

C2 and C20i are almost the same. Don't buy it. Support is not mature. 5GHz not working.

bkil... These devices lack documentation on the wiki and the topic you refer to does not contain much. Do you have first hand experience with either (almost the same) device and can you share any information?

- Does flashing from firmware work?
- Does recovering OEM firmware work?
- Does 2.4GHz work?
- Status of the Gbit switch in C2?
- Is it stable?
- Any bootlogs?

I work on trying to improve the Wiki Table of Hardware and the device pages. If you have first hand information and just give brief answers here I can take care of updating the wiki.
I think these two (currently unsupported) devices could prove to be high-volume-OpenWrt-devices in the future.

(Last edited by bkil on 4 Jun 2015, 00:44)

bkil wrote:

I wanted to jump onto the 802.11ac bandwagon to have some inexpensive fun, but after seeing the seas of tears all over the place, I had to change my mind.

That is where I was too! I have been thinking about getting an Archer C2/C20i for the fun of playing with OpenWrt on an unsupported router, even though I might break it. But currently there is slightly too little information available on the C2/C20i to really give it a try.

bkil wrote:

nor do I think that it's a good idea to purchase an AC router and use only the N radio

Agree. And as long as the TL-WDR3600 is available it makes little sense to buy C2/C20i anyway, as long as AC does not work.

bkil wrote:

By the way, perhaps it would be worthwhile to add columns on the kind of support provided for each device, like whether the 5GHz radio is supported.

Yes! We are thinking about writing in the ToH "b/g/n/(ac)" when AC does not work.
But the challenge is to get the "data" in and get this information right for each router.

So, as it is, the C2/C20 remains "officially completely unsupported".
But it is possible that they essentially work well in N-only-mode.
Or that not so much effort is required to get it there.

As it is, we don't really know wink

Hello guys
Archer C20 uses MT7620A-H + MT7610E From MTK
RAM Size is 512Mb DDR2 .
May this help it out a little to make a OpenWrt firmware.

IF anyone already made it then pls help the others...

https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_Archer_C20i
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_Archer_C_series

I saw you say the ram size, and I said bullshit, but no wikidev has your back. Can you
EDIT: 512MBIT /64 megs

I saw one going very cheap and I'm tempted to get one to have a crack at it.
I understand the C2 AC750 C20 and C20i are similar, yet the switch uses MDIO not SPI for control and people haven't cracked it yet. Not having the AC wifi I can live with.

[s]Any news on the switch and I'll buy it on Sunday[/s]
UPDATE: 3600 is 25% more for something that works. 1043ND v3 gives me faster cpu / better hardware support for the same price without the ac - there is a v4 out now with 750MHZ cpu I haven't seen in the shops yet. 4300 33% more price than the 3600/1043 with ac and 128MB ram.

All this fun for a 25% discount. I don't know. I am pissed off with ath9k ath10k. If the C20 has an external antenna connection for 802.11,bcn the SOC wifi then i just might buy it.

(Last edited by hojuruku on 15 Jul 2016, 19:22)

I'm willing to buy and send one Archer C20i to any developer who is willing to take a crack at MDIO... and get 5ght radio from MT7610E up and running...

I got openwrt running on my c20. I will get digging into the MT7610E issue.

Made an wiki page for it toh/tp-link/tp-link_archer_c20_1 (wiki url)

Hi, everyone!

I has briked my C20 router sad After flashing bin file via tftp device rebooted and no one led is no lighting now. After repowering USB led lighting about 2 secs and nothing more.
Can I fix this?

mariogrip wrote:

I got openwrt running on my c20. I will get digging into the MT7610E issue.

Made an wiki page for it toh/tp-link/tp-link_archer_c20_1 (wiki url)

Can you share the changes compared to C50 tried to compile one for C20 in trunk then tried to upload compiled C50 but ended up without working switch. smile

The discussion might have continued from here.