Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 16:04 Post subject: Any plans for DD-WRT on La Fonera? Source code is out!
I got the router yesterday and it looks promising. Very small, atheros based. I'm guessing it can do WDS mode or even Client mode + AP. The flash is 8MB Serial Flash meaning it uses the SPI bus and the ram is 16MB.
With the SPI bus, we can add our SD cards inside and get even more storage!
Last edited by goldserve on Wed Nov 01, 2006 17:46; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 7528 Location: Dresden, Germany
Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2006 16:56 Post subject:
i have a la fonera box at my home. you remember, i developed some parts for fon.
the flash is 4 mb and very slow. but fon uses a encrypted firmware format which is using a private/public key validation etc. i dont know the private key, so you cannot flash it without opening the device and plugin a serial console.
due the bad quality of this device i do not plan any support right now. i will wait until i see a benefit in it.
consider that the serial flash is sooo slow that you need 5 - 10 minutes for flashing _________________ "So you tried to use the computer and it started smoking? Sounds like a Mac to me.." - Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_5YDRWqGE&t=60s
I opened up the box and from what I can see, the flash is a Spansion flash @ 64mbit so that should mean it is 8mb? I may be wrong here. There seems to be a header near the flash and it could provide direct access to the flash. We can write a program on the PC to do bit-banging and emulate SPI to flash the router. I don't see a slow flash a real problem except for programming.
In everyday usage, the Atheros based device should exceed in sensitivity so range extenders/repeaters, client mode should work much better.
I guess there isn't much interest right now eh? Too bad...
I don't think it's a matter of not being interested since as you said, Atheros radios are waaay more sensitive then BC ones. It's more a matter of a brand new port to the Atheros platform and as of yet not even Open-WRT has managed a fully working solution. It will take quite a while before we'll see DD-WRT running on Atheros platform.. Hope i' m wrong on this one and BS will surprise us any day now
The openwrt new buildroot should have support for atheros. BS has support for atheros cards in the other platforms as well. The FON firmware existing is based on openwrt so everything points to a good outlook.
With 8mb of flash and 16mb ram, this little thing should be great as client radio devices or range extenders. I hear the dual SSID implementation is better in atheros and works better than broadcom's.
Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 7528 Location: Dresden, Germany
Posted: Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:39 Post subject:
adisor19 wrote:
goldserve wrote:
I guess there isn't much interest right now eh? Too bad...
I don't think it's a matter of not being interested since as you said, Atheros radios are waaay more sensitive then BC ones. It's more a matter of a brand new port to the Atheros platform and as of yet not even Open-WRT has managed a fully working solution. It will take quite a while before we'll see DD-WRT running on Atheros platform.. Hope i' m wrong on this one and BS will surprise us any day now
Adi
maybe. i could suprise you in 1 or 2 weeks if i want to, the problem is that everything i would do to this device would be for free and noone would pay me for that work. i think i'm already doing alot of stuff for free for everyone. so i must also think about the money a little bit each week _________________ "So you tried to use the computer and it started smoking? Sounds like a Mac to me.." - Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_5YDRWqGE&t=60s
I'm not in a financial situation where I can pay for a project but i'll be the first in line for donations. I have donated in the past and will continue. Cheers!
The flash chip is a serial flash so it we probably need software for the PC to do bitbanging to flash the chip. Flashing through the web is probably not viable because as BS said, the firmware probably has ecryption or checks to prevent third party software.
Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 7528 Location: Dresden, Germany
Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 0:11 Post subject:
connect a serial adapter to the unit (needs max323 converter)
and configure to 9600 baud. then you can use the redboot bootloader to flash another firmware one it. _________________ "So you tried to use the computer and it started smoking? Sounds like a Mac to me.." - Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_5YDRWqGE&t=60s
Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 7528 Location: Dresden, Germany
Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 0:14 Post subject:
goldserve wrote:
I'm not in a financial situation where I can pay for a project but i'll be the first in line for donations. I have donated in the past and will continue. Cheers!
i know. thats the problem. currently everything is running well on the broadcom line and i dont want to bring people onto another device which is not very good from my point of view. the WRT/Buffalo etc for example is much more powerfull and faster than any fonera device
Broadcom:
BRCM Mips Little Endian: 200mhz - 300 mhz (different from model to model)
RAM: 8 - 64 MB
Flash: 2 - 8 MB
Ethernet: 1 - 2 (second one is constructed as 4 port switch) _________________ "So you tried to use the computer and it started smoking? Sounds like a Mac to me.." - Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_5YDRWqGE&t=60s
Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 7528 Location: Dresden, Germany
Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 0:40 Post subject:
and this is not true for the embedded device. do not compare atheros soc devices with a wistron cm9 for example. they might be slightly better than broadcom but this is very depending to the board design. if you use a wistron cm9 on a minipci supporting device you will always get a better result
the 8 mb version is just planned but is not produced yet so far i know _________________ "So you tried to use the computer and it started smoking? Sounds like a Mac to me.." - Louis Rossmann https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eL_5YDRWqGE&t=60s
Okay BS. Thank you so much for your explainations. It is true, the atheros chip may not be that much better. It's cool if we can have a little device that can do wireless repeating or a client to another network. It's so small and convient. Didn't you say the Atheros dual ssid implementation was better?
