Gargoyle Forum

I have a TP-WDR4300 V1.4 router, currently with a working DD-WRT version (their recommended stable version, a few years old). It works OK, but I'm not too crazy about it or their forum, and was considering openwrt, when someone suggested Gargoyle. Gargoyle looks good, but I have a few questions.

• 1, it seems that openwrt said I would need to go back to the factory rom before upgrading. I saw some discussion on the Gargoyle forum saying I might be able to upgrade directly. Should I try directly, and if so, which configuration should I use?

• 2, I'm wondering about the relationship between openwrt and Gargoyle. Is it possible to go from one to the other? If I try Gargoyle, and have any problems, can I go to openwrt directly, or vice versa? I guess I'm wondering if it's like going from Gnome to KDE on Linux, where you can do it without reinstalling.

• 3, can I do everything on Gargoyle that can be done with openwrt? Can I install openwrt packages? If so, what if they modify the Luci menu - will that work with the Gargoyle menu?

• 4, does anyone know if my router will work reliably with the newest version.

I'm hoping this will work out. I've looked at a virtual installation of Gargoyle, and like the structure much better than DD-WRT.

1, it seems that openwrt said I would need to go back to the factory rom before upgrading. I saw some discussion on the Gargoyle forum saying I might be able to upgrade directly. Should I try directly, and if so, which configuration should I use?

check with the openwrt wiki on your router

Gargoyle is effectively the same as openwrt (different GUI with tweaks)

3, can I do everything on Gargoyle that can be done with openwrt? Can I install openwrt packages? If so, what if they modify the Luci menu - will that work with the Gargoyle menu?

yes and no

Can I install openwrt packages?

yes, but command line only

If so, what if they modify the Luci menu - will that work with the Gargoyle menu?

No, command line only

4, does anyone know if my router will work reliably with the newest version.

see openwrt wiki

ispyisail wrote:

1, it seems that openwrt said I would need to go back to the factory rom before upgrading. I saw some discussion on the Gargoyle forum saying I might be able to upgrade directly. Should I try directly, and if so, which configuration should I use?

check with the openwrt wiki on your router

So, if the openwrt forum says one thing, and the Gargoyle forum says the opposite, I should listen to the openwrt answer? OK. But what would happen if I tried to upgrade directly - would it simply not work and refuse to upgrade, or would it die a horrible death? Or is it simply a mistake to even ask - I realize things can always go wrong.

The thing I wonder about is versions; I don't know if newer versions are OK, but older ones need to be reset first, and sometimes it's not clear when docs were written. I was hoping maybe the openwrt docs that said to reset to factory were perhaps out of date, since I saw the post here (http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/vi ... f=5&t=2611) with two different moderators saying it worked

The link you provided relates to DD-WRT which is a different animal to OpenWRT
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/vi ... f=5&t=2611
(With DD-WRT you must go to stock then to Gargoyle)

I have never tried it, but I would expect that you can flash directly from OpenWRT to Gargoyle using the *sysupgrade.bin file.

If I am wrong, and you get bricked, then the recovery procedures will very likely work because OpenWRT and Gargoyle are identical in this regard.
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/wiki/dok ... e_recovery
I have use these many times to recover from my learning experiences.

nworbnhoj wrote:The link you provided relates to DD-WRT which is a different animal to OpenWRT
http://www.gargoyle-router.com/phpbb/vi ... f=5&t=2611
(With DD-WRT you must go to stock then to Gargoyle)

I have never tried it, but I would expect that you can flash directly from OpenWRT to Gargoyle using the *sysupgrade.bin file.

[/quote]

To be clear, I now have DD-WRT, and I want to change to Gargoyle. Hence, my question was how to best go from DD-WRT, not openwrt. So I posted the link about that, where 2 people said it could be done directly.

I think ultimately the answer is, "your mileage may vary"
There's always two sides to the coin.

You seem to have done plenty of research so as long as you are familiar with the reset procedures then I don't think you can get yourself into too much trouble.

Take the plunge, then let us know


Key notes:
Gargoyle will default to 192.168.1.1
If you were previously using a different subnet you may need to refresh your DNS lease etc.

(Sorry @Lantis )

Willing to bet that from DDWRT you will need to go via stock to get to Gargoyle.
http://www.friedzombie.com/tplink-stripped-firmware/

Well, I'm not really familiar with the reset procedures, since I haven't needed them yet, and I hope to never need 'em. It's probably not that hard, but until I've done it, I'll never know. If I knew I could do it easily, perhaps I'd be more adventurous.

From what I've heard, I think I'll probably follow the DD-WRT procedure to restore the factory rom, then go through the installation procedure normally.

When I have a spare router, I'll be much more adventurous.