[Cerowrt-devel] Fwd: wndr3800 replacement

[Martin Bailey]

You're right, there is that proprietary firmware bit for 5GHz. It's
mostly but not fully open-source then, at least the firmware is easy
to access and update.

Newegg specifies v2 in the product description, that's the most
reliable source for now. I imagine Amazon will also run out of 1.0 and
1.1 inventory pretty soon if it's not already the case.

On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 12:56 PM, Dave Taht <dave.taht at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 29, 2014 at 12:27 PM, Martin Bailey <martin at pcalpha.com> wrote:
>> The recently released v2 of the TP-Link Archer C7 router would be a
>> pretty good low-cost replacement. It's fully open-source Atheros/Qualcomm,
>
> Um, no, the ath10k depends on a binary blob. Which has been really
> irksome. I do hope they open-source the firmware so we can make
> more progress on incorporating better algorithms into wifi.
>
>> includes a fairly high performance 720MHz SOC with 128MB RAM, 16MB
>> flash and 6 dual-band antennas (AC1750) with very good range. It can
>> be found for $99 right now. The first hardware revision isn't
>> supported by the ath10k driver in OpenWRT so make sure to only
>> consider v2.
>
> It's not clear how to ensure you are buying a v2 through sites like amazon.
>
> If you can find a good source for it let me know...
>
>>
>> http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wdr7500
>> https://wikidevi.com/wiki/TP-LINK_Archer_C7_v2.x
>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704177
>>
>>> On Thu, 27 Mar 2014, Aaron Wood wrote:
>>>
>>>> Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:50:27 +0100
>>>> From: Aaron Wood <woody77 at gmail.com>
>>>> To: David Lang <david at lang.hm>
>>>> Cc: Dave Taht <dave.taht at gmail.com>,
>>>>     "cerowrt-devel at lists.bufferbloat.net"
>>>>     <cerowrt-devel at lists.bufferbloat.net>
>>>> Subject: Re: [Cerowrt-devel] Fwd: wndr3800 replacement
>>>>
>>>> On Wed, Mar 26, 2014 at 11:11 PM, David Lang <david at lang.hm> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> If the openwrt folks could figure out how they are going to deal with
>>>>> NAND
>>>>> flash, it would be nice to be able to use one of the many routers that is
>>>>> shipping with more flash (128M in the newer netgear routers would be
>>>>> nice)
>>>>>
>>>>> if I were to get my hands on one, what sort of testing would you want to
>>>>> do to it to tell if it looks like it would hold up?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I have experience running mtd on NAND, using jffs2.  It seems to be
>>>> holding
>>>> up well.  Better than NOR did, honestly.  Although in general, I wish they
>>>> would shift to eMMC.  But it's driven by two factors:
>>>>
>>>> 1) part cost
>>>> 2) chipset support from the router SoC vendors
>>>>
>>>> Given some of the wishes that I see on here, I think for development,
>>>> people would be happier with a platform that wasn't based on a router SoC
>>>> (like the wndr is), but instead was based on an embedded application
>>>> processor with PCIe for the radios, and an external switch fabric.
>>>
>>> I think we have two competing desires.
>>>
>>> one is to have a nice powerful device for those people who have fast
>>> connections
>>> and for us to experiment with.
>>>
>>> the second is to have a 'home' device.
>>>
>>> using a 3800 or similarly priced ($100-$150 USD) device that's readily
>>> available
>>> is very good for the second category, the question is if we can find one
>>> that's
>>> powerful enough for the first.
>>>
>>> David Lang
>>>
>>>>  But for
>>>> thermal purposes alone, I've been seeing more and more external switch
>>>> fabrics.  The heat of a 5-port gigabit switch IC is pretty substantial
>>>> (from my teardowns).
>>>>
>>>> One item I think will be a boon, especially with DNSSEC, is super-cap or
>>>> battery-backed rtc, but that's asking for a unicorn, I think.  Or...  a
>>>> Gateworks Ventana GW5310 loaded with a couple standard (industrial-grade)
>>>> PCIe radios, loaded into a custom case.  My guess is that it's a pretty
>>>> expensive route, though.  I would be surprised if a completely assembled
>>>> unit would be <$300.  At which point it starts to look better to just run
>>>> a
>>>> separate router and AP (using standard wndr-type platforms as the APs and
>>>> a
>>>> higher-end board or PC as the gateway).
>>>>
>>>> -Aaron
>>>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Dave Täht
>
> Fixing bufferbloat with cerowrt: http://www.teklibre.com/cerowrt/subscribe.html