Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

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Eric
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Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by Eric »

Version 1.3.10 introduces a fairly major architectural change: Broadcom firmware (for e.g. WRT54GL) now makes use of an open source driver and the newer 2.6 kernel instead of the old 2.4 kernel. Numerous issues have been reported with routers using the 2.4 kernel in the new Gargoyle 1.3 (based on OpenWrt Backfire) including problems with flash read/write and WPA encryption. Moving to a newer, better maintained architecture seems the best strategy.

Further, OpenWrt has dropped support for the old 2.4 kernel in the latest trunk code. Support for this is being dropped upstream, and right now there aren't enough people working on Gargoyle to maintain this code independent of OpenWrt.

The biggest drawback to this decision is that routers that use serial flash (e.g. Rosewill RNX GX4, Netcore NW618, OvisLink WL-1600GL) are no longer supported in 1.3.10. I am working on this problem. There is a branch in the repository (sflash_26) that has a partial solution, but it is not ready for release yet.

New in 1.3.10:
  • Migrate from brcm-2.4 to brcm47xx target (with 2.6 kernel) for broadcom routers (e.g WRT54GL)
  • Implement support for dual band routers in AP mode (e.g. D-Link WNDR3700 and D-Link DIR825 b1)
  • Fixes bug preventing quota rules and restrictions from not being applied properly without a reboot
  • Fixes wake-on-lan issues and moves WoL functionality to a new, separate section
  • Fixes initialization of WAN if on alix boards
  • Improved default QoS rules
  • Implements wireless signal strength indicator of each wireless host in Status / Connected Hosts section

caeci11ius
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Location: Canberra, Australia

Re: Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by caeci11ius »

Congratulations on getting this out! Will be great to try out some dual band functionality on my two Netgear WNDR3700s. Will get them flashed tomorrow. Thanks for all the effort that went into this :-).

Cezary
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Re: Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by Cezary »

Eric: repository not working.

Eric
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Re: Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by Eric »

Cezary: thanks for the heads-up. I'm looking into it now.

For the moment you can pull the code from the github mirror:

git://github.com/ericpaulbishop/gargoyle.git

Eric
Site Admin
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Re: Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by Eric »

Cezary: Repository issues should be fixed now. Please try again.

Cezary
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Re: Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by Cezary »

Yes, thanks.

bigsexeh
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Joined: Sat Jan 29, 2011 1:15 pm

Re: Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by bigsexeh »

Just flashed my WNDR3700 v1 and noticed the 5ghz light is permanently lit on the router, even if i disable wifi.
I then decided to try out 5ghz connectivity but i wasn't able to detect it for some reason; no problems with 2.4ghz though.

I'll do some more thorough testing to see what i can come up with.

SVoyager
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:08 pm

Re: Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by SVoyager »

So far so good over here.

The error on the wireless page that I reported on previous version is fixed. Now when I load the wireless page, it defaults on the actual setting of the router and the status/overview window shows the correct info too, nice!

On the connected host page where you see the signal strength, if the signal is meant to be in percent, it shows negative there. However if it is in DB noise levels / attenuation or the likes, then it could be correct. Maybe add something to identify that value?

One issue however with the new dual band option. So far I am unable to connect to the 5ghz as it defaults to the 2.4. Win7 doesn't allow for selecting the actual channel and since you can only set one SSID, there is no way for the system to know if you want 2.4 or 5ghz so i guess it defaults to 2.4.

So if possible, add a second SSID for the other band. One for 2.4ghz, another one for 5ghz.

On another note, I now see the USB settings yay!!! Have hard time setting this (not used to linux stuff). It detects my drive fine so I tried setting up a share, couldn't make it work in win7 so I deleted the share and tried to setup a new one but now it wont let me setup shares anymore. I setup a share, save and then reload the page and it reverts back as if I didnt setup a share. Hmm. I could use a FM on how to setup a share with gargoyle and have it recognized in windows so I can RTFM hehe.

Running DIR-825 b1

Cheers and nice work again!

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DoesItMatter
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Re: Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by DoesItMatter »

SVoyager - what format is your USB drive you are using on the router?

If the drive is blank, or you can format and set it up, its best to
try and use EXT3 or EXT4 for the simplest configuration.

NTFS will work, but it can be finicky at times.

If you can reformat, download GPARTED - freeware ISO

You can boot off that, and partition/format the hard drive as
EXT3 or EXT4 format, which the router handles quite well,
and Windows 7 has no problem seeing the share with that format.
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SVoyager
Posts: 29
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2010 11:08 pm

Re: Version 1.3.10: Broadcom 2.6, Dual Band N

Post by SVoyager »

Thx 4 the info!

My drive is currently in NTFS. I managed to make it work, it included reflashing the router again to get it "unstuck", remaking the shares with the proper config and its now working.

-edit. Another lill suggestion. The password field in the CIFS Access Policy is not hidden!

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