TL-WR1043ND setup help needed

[__Miguel_]

Hello, guys.

I'm hoping you might be able to help me out with my router setup.

I bought a TL-WR1043ND router last year. Not much after I bought it, I briefly tried both Gargoyle and DD-WRT on it. Since the router, at the time, was kind of new, several issues (PPPoE woes, Wireless locked to 20MHz mode, etc.) made me revert back to the stock firmware, which I've been using until a few days ago, when I decided to give non-stock firmwares a chance again, mostly because I wanted automatic ad handling at the router level (and also working QoS, if possible).

Gargoyle seemed a bit "tame" at the time (simple GUI, not many advanced options really available), so I thought DD-WRT might be better for me, since it exposes *A LOT* of options from the GUI, including something that basically works like a shell.

Long story short, DD-WRT is still not liking my router (the GUI fails to read basic status info like DHCP leases and client names; PPPoE "keep alive" is nowhere to be seen; setting up static DHCP simply does not work, etc.), which leaves me wanting to just pack everything up, forget the added functions I'd like to add to the router and revert back to stock.

Before doing that, however, I'd like to ask what my options (preferably with easy-to-follow instructions, since I'm a total Linux noob) are with Gargoyle/OpenWRT, to do the following:

1) Working static DHCP leases and port-forwarding rules;
2) Preferably, intra-LAN DNS without the need for special configurations (I believe that has something to do with ARP and DHCP, right?)
3) Using QoS to make non-essential (P2P and similar) connections low priority and VoIP high priority;
4) Having a working, self-updating, ad-blocker at the router level;
5) Being able to share my Epson SX110 MFP, for printer and scan jobs, via the router (I could do that with an app from TP-Link, and it worked just fine, I'm assuming it has something to do with USBoE);

6) (long shot, not that important) Having automatic IPv6 (and/or IPv4, when my ISP finally moves to native IPv6) tunneling for the whole network;
7) (even more of a long shot, but it would be nice to have) Torrent client;
8) (and since I can dream) a FON hotspot.

Spares I have available right now:

- 1GB USB pen drive;
- 2.5'' HDD with USB-powered enclosure;
- both a 4-port (non-powered) and a 7-port (powered) USB hub;
- a bit of time, to get things working

I know this is a lot to ask, but my router would kick some major a** if I managed to get it working like that... Any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Miguel


P.S.: I might consider changing up the router, if you guys think it's a good idea (which would give me a couple more features to boot), like the WDR4300 (I can get it for under €90, which is not bad) or the RT-N66U (a bit more expensive, at least €135). And I don't care which firmware to use, be it my current DD-WRT (build 19519), Gargoyle or OpenWRT, I'm completely open to suggestions.

[ispyisail]

I would suggest all things are possible but i,m going to suggest that not much in your shopping list would be plug and play with gargoyle.

Gargoyle is designed as a easy'ish plug and play firmware and it is what it is

Try openwrt ....................

[__Miguel_]

not much in your shopping list would be plug and play with gargoyle.

Hmm... I always thought most, if not all, OpenWRT stuff should work with Gargoyle, since Gargoyle is basically an OpenWRT derivative (except for the QoS implementation, apparently), right? Or am I missing something?

In any case, I've read a couple of things that might help me out, especially on the Ad-block front. It seems a pixelserv is feasible, and so is 6to4 and USBoE, though is does need a bit of fiddling with Linux command line.

I've since dropped the Torrent client and FON hotspot (the Torrent client would make for a very convoluted setup, with wires everywhere, and the hotspot would only work if I moved my router to the other side of the house, so that's a no-go right there...), so with a 4-port hub, a 1GB drive and my printer I should be good to go, right?

One question, though: is there an easy way of having the drive be used as the swap partition (64-128MB, just in case I want TOR in the future), OPKG package install directiory (I'm thinking 128MB or so) and a SMB-accessible common storage area for the network for quick-access files?

Thanks for the input, btw, ispyisail!

Miguel

[ispyisail]

Hmm... I always thought most, if not all, OpenWRT stuff should work with Gargoyle, since Gargoyle is basically an OpenWRT derivative (except for the QoS implementation, apparently), right? Or am I missing something?

The key to my statement is "plug and play"

One question, though: is there an easy way of having the drive be used as the swap partition (64-128MB, just in case I want TOR in the future), OPKG package install directiory (I'm thinking 128MB or so) and a SMB-accessible common storage area for the network for quick-access files?

yes, easy

[__Miguel_]

I ended up with OpenWRT, as you suggested, ispyisail.

I did try Gargoyle first, but LUCI packs a very big punch when you want to add more stuf... Though I still need a bit of command line, as expected.

One problem I encountered right from the start (on both OpenWRT and Gargoyle) was the impossibility to use Channel 13 on the wireless radio (it's allowed in my country). I found a workaround, though, so that was cool.

UPNP, QoS, WoL, DynDNS, port forwarding and basic USB support (SWAP partition and EXT3 remaining space) seem to be working.

Next up will be handling the QSS button enabling and disabling the WLAN interface (quick couple of settings, not too hard), plus offering the ~800MB EXT3 over the LAN. Not sure what's the best way there...

Also on the list is trying to get IPv6. I have an IPV4-only connection, which means the standard IPv6 config on the Wiki doesn't work (I have been able to have DNS resolve an IPv6 site from the router, but no go anywhere else...). I'm a bit lost on this one, too. Any ideas?

Last on the list will be the Adblock thing, there's a script over at the OpenWRT forums (viewtopic.php?id=30760&p=2) that seems to work, so I'll try that one.

This is shaping up to be a great project!

Cheers

Miguel

[ispyisail]

http://knowhow.bart.prokop.name/install ... t/wr1043nd

[__Miguel_]

http://knowhow.bart.prokop.name/install ... t/wr1043nd

Oh, WOW! I can't wait to peruse that page when I get home in a few hours... seems almost everything I wanted, including IPv6 with an IPv4 dynamic IP IPS connection.

Now, if I could just nag you a bit more. What's easier to handle and install on multiple machines when you have an MFP (with Linux drivers) to share via the router: SMB/910 (since I'll be using Samba, that should get exported rather easily, right?) for the printer and SANE for the scanner (it's SANE-compatible), or USBoE?

Also, have you noticed a rather odd behavior from the Ethernet switch on the 1043? I mean, it can handle 90%+ Gigabit bandwidth on each port using the stock firmware, but I get stuck at around 50% with OpenWRT/Gargoyle... I wonder if a recent snapshot might help me there (though I'm a bit afraid to bork the whole thing in the process...)

Again, thank you so much for all your help, ispyisail. I feel like I've gotten a super router, and it's probably even getting better!

Miguel

[ispyisail]

http://knowhow.bart.prokop.name/install ... t/wr1043nd

Oh, WOW! I can't wait to peruse that page when I get home in a few hours... seems almost everything I wanted, including IPv6 with an IPv4 dynamic IP IPS connection.

Now, if I could just nag you a bit more. What's easier to handle and install on multiple machines when you have an MFP (with Linux drivers) to share via the router: SMB/910 (since I'll be using Samba, that should get exported rather easily, right?) for the printer and SANE for the scanner (it's SANE-compatible), or USBoE?

Also, have you noticed a rather odd behavior from the Ethernet switch on the 1043? I mean, it can handle 90%+ Gigabit bandwidth on each port using the stock firmware, but I get stuck at around 50% with OpenWRT/Gargoyle... I wonder if a recent snapshot might help me there (though I'm a bit afraid to bork the whole thing in the process...)

Again, thank you so much for all your help, ispyisail. I feel like I've gotten a super router, and it's probably even getting better!

Miguel

I don't know the answers

you might have better luck at openwrt

[smching]

I prefer OpenWRT too. You can take a look my website if you are intersting in OpenWRT.

http://ediy.com.my
http://ediy.com.my/index.php/search?q=openwrt&Search=