Upgrading from X-WRT

[Lucky75]

Hi all,

I currently have x-wrt running on a wrt54GL router. How would I go about upgrading, and which image would I use?

Could I just install it under the firmware upgrade section using one of the binaries? What are the trx files for? Would it wipe the existing install (I obviously need it to not just install other files, since I'm running out of space)?

Also, how stable is the current release? Is there anything important missing that is needed to have a working router?

Thanks for the help! I read the documentation, but it doesn't seem to be that detailed. I really want to use this instead of x-wrt, but I'm not sure yet...

[Eric]

The trx is a binary. The .bin files have special headers for the various models listed, while the .trx is the generic install file, without headers. You should be able to upgrade via X-Wrt given just the trx file. Actually, I don't think X-Wrt will support any of the bin files (at least it didn't when I last tried it) -- you have to use the .trx file.

As for stability... I'd say it's pretty stable, but I'm a bit biased, since I'm the author Do use the latest bleeding edge firmware, since there's a ton of bug-fixes since the last release.

The question of whether anything important is missing is rather dependent on what you consider important, so it's hard to answer. Static routes aren't currently implemented, and neither is wireless survey -- those are the two biggest deficiencies right now (but I'm working hard to correct them, honest!) Maybe just try it and if you don't like it you can flash back? The update function works fine (and as of the latest bleeding edge firmware handles .bin as well as .trx files).

[Lucky75]

Thanks for the reply!

I must admit, I'm still a little bit shaky as to what "Bleeding Edge" means. I assume that it simply means that it's new, somewhat "beta" still?

By static routes not being implemeted, what do you mean? That one cannot access computers by entering the IP address? I'm not too sure what that will prevent me from doing Same goes for wireless survey

I guess what I'm asking is if currently it doesn't allow for what, say, the default firmware from linksys allows? Although, since it's based on openwrt, one would assume that the default functionality is all in there somewhat, and it might just be a matter of configuring it manually through ssh?

Also, if I were to upgrade using the generic .trx file, it would wipe my current firmware completely, including the openwrt base, wouldn't it? Otherwise I'd have to do some major cleaning up before I re-flash my router

I must commend you though, there are a lot of very nice features here that are missing from others.

[Eric]

The "bleeding edge" firmware is the latest build, which contains the latest features bug-fixes. Before a release I usually take some time to do a bit of testing to catch bugs, which I don't do before uploading bleeding edge firmware. However, I do install it to verify it doesn't brick my router before uploading. It's been long enough since the last beta release, and enough bugs have been fixed, that the bleeding edge firmware is probably more stable than the actual major releases, so I recommend using it. My current plan is to make the next major release within the month.

If you don't know what static routes are, you probably don't need them -- they are mostly useful if your device is acting as more than a gateway, forwarding traffic between multiple subnets.

Wireless survey is the ability to scan for what wireless networks are currently available in range of your router. This is useful for finding a wireless network to join or determining whether a wireless specific network is present.

Yes, all standard openwrt 8.09 features are available and can be configured if you login via ssh. And yes, installing via the trx will wipe out your existing installation of openwrt.

[alenhoff]

i'll go ahead and put my 2 cents in since i'm not biased on this project. in my opinion its very stable. i've been running this firmware for awhile now and the only restart that has been done is when updating to the latest bleeding edge upload. it functions very well and has alot of features not available in other firmware projects. i've got it running on a wrt54g, wrt54gs, and wrt54gl and have had no problems from any of them. another note on this project is the frequency of bug fixes. bugs found and reported are fixed very quickly from what i've seen. a bug usually doesn't last a week before it is taken care of, many other projects usually take a month or more if at all. i personally wouldn't run any other firmware on my routers.

[Lucky75]

I just flashed to this firmware, and I must say, it is rather nice (and straightforward, especially coming from xwrt!) No problems with flashing at all.

Just a quick question about quotas:

Is it possible to specify an *overall* quota for a given IP? As in, I don't care about how much they upload vs download, but I only want the IP to have, say, 20 gigs a month. Is that possible?

Also, is it possible to merge more than one IP into a single quota? E.g.
I want IP's 192.168.1.100 and 192.168.1.101 to have a TOTAL of 30 gigs a month, split however they want amongst the two IP's. Is that possible? or is it possible to do it somewhere by ssh'ing into openwrt?

Thanks!!

[Eric]

Your question about combined upload/download quotas has come up before, and unfortunately the answer is no, not currently. Several people have requested this feature, however, so it has a fairly high priority.

If you're using a broadcom router (you mentioned .trx files so I assume you are), there's no easy way to do combined quoatas now, even by sshing in. the quota match module currently doesn't compile for the 2.4 kernel.