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Topic: Support for COMFAST CF-E325N

The content of this topic has been archived on 27 Mar 2018. There are no obvious gaps in this topic, but there may still be some posts missing at the end.

Hello,

I found this patch (lists.openwrt.org/pipermail/openwrt-devel/2015-October/036298.html) on the mailing list that adds supports for COMFAST CF-E325N, but this COMFAST model isn't mentioned explicitly in the supported devices list.

Is there an OpenWrt version I can use with this device?

Thanks.

It seems the patch was not accepted, so there are no images.

Thanks for replying @Borromini.
Quite unfortunate that there's no image. sad

I'll see if I can get them forward ported to LEDE. Will keep you posted.

Before you flash any images, make sure you know how to recover your device in case flashing goes wrong.

Thanks pepe2k, I see the original patch adds a new mach file, looking at the present one... Would it make sense to integrate it?

E.g. I'm seeing includes are differing (bear with me, I can read a bit of code but no programmer tongue). Thing is, it's not clear what extra includes are needed for which hardware to me.

Example:

LEDE mach-cf-e316n-v2.c

#include <linux/gpio.h>
#include <linux/platform_data/phy-at803x.h>
#include <linux/platform_device.h>
#include <linux/timer.h>

#include <asm/mach-ath79/ath79.h>
#include <asm/mach-ath79/ar71xx_regs.h>

#include "common.h"
#include "dev-ap9x-pci.h"
#include "dev-eth.h"
#include "dev-gpio-buttons.h"
#include "dev-leds-gpio.h"
#include "dev-m25p80.h"
#include "dev-wmac.h"
#include "dev-usb.h"
#include "machtypes.h"

OpenWrt patch

#include <linux/init.h>
#include <linux/pci.h>
#include <linux/platform_device.h>
#include <linux/ath9k_platform.h>
#include <linux/etherdevice.h>
#include <linux/ar8216_platform.h>

#include <asm/mach-ath79/irq.h>
#include <asm/mach-ath79/ar71xx_regs.h>

#include "common.h"
#include "dev-ap9x-pci.h"
#include "dev-eth.h"
#include "dev-gpio-buttons.h"
#include "dev-leds-gpio.h"
#include "dev-m25p80.h"
#include "dev-usb.h"
#include "dev-wmac.h"
#include "dev-nfc.h"
#include "gpio.h"
#include "machtypes.h"

Thanks.

I see a few functions that can be merged already, so I'll give it a go and integrate it.

BTW - wouldn't it be better to rename the mac file to something generic?

(Last edited by Borromini on 22 Jan 2017, 16:51)

Borromini wrote:

Thanks pepe2k, I see the original patch adds a new mach file, looking at the present one... Would it make sense to integrate it?

Most of COMFAST devices are clones and I suppose that CF-E325N is just another one, probably a CF-E316N v2 clone (AR934x based). So, if they are similar, integrate the code in the same mach-*.c file.

Borromini wrote:

E.g. I'm seeing includes are differing (bear with me, I can read a bit of code but no programmer tongue). Thing is, it's not clear what extra includes are needed for which hardware to me. [...]

The "OpenWrt patch" seems messy and doesn't look good in general... that's probably the reason why it wasn't accepted. E.g. I really don't see any reason to include header files which are not needed/used.

Borromini wrote:

BTW - wouldn't it be better to rename the mac file to something generic?

I would keep it as it is now as the ar71xx target is planned to be switched to dts soon (hopefully till next LEDE release) and all mach-*.c files would go away anyway.

Yeah, good point.

I'm looking through the patch and I am a bit puzzled by the mach file. From the looks of it, the E325N seems to have that watchdog as well, and i can see some siimilarities to the code for the E316N already in the LEDE tree.

My changes to the mach file are here: http://ix.io/1QKU. I have added comments, the cf_e325n_setup is what I'm most unsure about.

Could you take a look?

I can also put it up on Github if that helps, let me know. Much appreciated.

Thanks for looking into this @Borromini & @pepe2k. Much appreciated!

Hi

I would like to install OpenWRT on the CF-E325N and would like to know if this is something you might be able to help me do. I have some experience with dd-wrt but have close to no experience with openWRT and would like to not f**k up and brick my device.

Is there a firmware that can be flashed on to this particular hardware now?

If yes where can I find the correct firmware to use?

Thank you in advance
Alfa

Is there a firmware that can be flashed on to this particular hardware now?

I'm afraid there isn't one at the moment. sad

Hi guys, i found this patch pastebin.com/kdQJkzzf  and it seems to me that the cf-e325n is in here.

cf-e325n)
+       ucidef_set_led_netdev "wan" "WAN" "comfast:red" "eth1"
+       ucidef_set_led_netdev "lan" "LAN" "comfast:green" "eth0"
+       ucidef_set_led_wlan "wlan" "WLAN" "comfast:blue" "phy0tpt"
+       ;;

would it be possible to build a firmware that supports this model by applying the patch?

---

On a side note, the AP is reporting as an OpenWRT router when using the Fing Network scanner tool on IOS  itunes.apple.com/in/app/fing-network-scanner/id430921107?mt=8

Hi @alfa,

Following pep2k's hint above, I tried flashing LEDE firmware for CF-E316N v2 on my CF-E325N router and it worked. Here's a relevant blog post you may find helpful.

zaxter wrote:

Hi @alfa,

Following pep2k's hint above, I tried flashing LEDE firmware for CF-E316N v2 on my CF-E325N router and it worked.


@zaxter Please can you describe how you managed to flash your AP?

Im trying to flash CF-E380N AC with LEDE but i cannot ssh or telnet, ssh asks for password which people have mentioned that is changed from COMFAST.  So im trying to TFTP, COMFAST is trying to assist me to flash via TFTP, they made a video showing how they went into TFTP mode and then accessing "192.168.10.1" via browser and it shows firmware flash.

Please tell me how you flashed this besides the TTL serial cable method ??

(Last edited by MyelvR on 18 May 2017, 12:03)

Right, so some feedback. I flashed lede-project.org/toh/hwdata/comfast/comfast_cf-e380ac_v2
on my new device E280AC v2 and I flashed normally through COMFAST gui. AP rebooted but was stuck and i was unable to ping 192.168.1.1.  However, all i had to do was reset the AP on the reset button and it rebooted into LUCI.  Perfect!

So not sure what the fuss is about needing to flash via TFTP, via TTL Serial Cable, ssh or telnet.  No need for that complicated process. COMFAST fully supports flashing to OpenWRT and LEDE through their GUI as far as my device is concerned (although they dont know what LEDE is) it is still supported.

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