New TrendNet TEW-632BRP 802.11n wireless router work

[Jeremy Collake]

This affordable little router runs linux, and is a great candidate for aftermarket firmwares. Therefore, I've been working on it in my free time the last little while (like I did the WRT54Gv5 and the WL-530g). Here's where I'm posting my work:

http://wiki.x-wrt.org/index.php/Trendnet_TEW-632BRP

[Jeremy Collake]

I've released build 1 of a modified vendor firmware, with telnetd enabled for users to play around. Its only a toy build, and the telnet login isn't even secured to indicate that.

[xemc]

Hey.  I used your firmware modification kit to extract the firmware for my version (rev A1.1)..
It didn't like the firmware you provided for some reason.

However, I copied over /usr/sbin and /lib from your copy over to my extracted firmware, uncommented the line for telnetd in rcS, and tweaked /etc/passwd in the rootfs.   I was able to log in!

What do these do?
makeVAP sta my_ssid
activateVAP ath1 br0 NONE

Also, the makeVAP command spits out a bunch of errors, but seems to do something..
It also creates ath0 in my case instead of ath1.  It seems to link it to br0, and sets up 'wifi0'...

I was hoping to use this as a wireless bridge; to use the wireless as the WAN port and allow other computers to connect to the network using the wired interfaces.   Any ideas on how I'd go about this?

Thanks!

[Jeremy Collake]

The Atheros scripts allow you to set up new network interfaces, as you've surmised. In your example, you are creating a new station (client) mode wifi interface, and adding it to bridge 0 (br0).

You can have multiple wlan interfaces, allowing for client mode, WDS, etc.. However, I never got the networking configured right. I was able to create a new wlan interface and connect two TEW-632BRPs with it (unencrypted and at minimum rate). However, something was wrong with the iptables or routing config -- or something. The LAN clients couldn't pass traffic through to the wifi interface, so I could only access the second router via the shell of the first. I never tracked down why.

A lot of people desire more robust wlan configuration capabilities. I had hoped someone would follow up on my work with some proper scripts to set up the network stack correctly.

[netmduser]

Hello I have been following this thread (and other internet threads) about the TEW-632BRP.

So far it seems linux formware builds are WIP and still in research and development.

What is your general opinion at this time 1/1/09 is this a good router to have for future builds or are there known hardware issues preventing this from happening.

Regarding A1.1 version about it not liking the firmware you provided for some reason is there an explanation why it would not work? Is A1.1 expecting a different size? I have A1.1 and would like to apply your firmware version db90h.

Thanks

[Jeremy Collake]

I dunno about the future. There are no hardware obstacles, it is just a matter of developers finishing work.

As for the newer router version, it is likely a simple tweak to the firmware image would result in a working firmware.. but I can't confirm that. I'll have to go check out the firmware images they distribute, tweak my firmware, then have someone test it. There is a platform ID appended, probably this just needs updating.

[netmduser]

I added 4 hex 0 before AP81-... to the 13 firmware and it loaded no problem now. Thanks

[Jeremy Collake]

I added 4 hex 0 before AP81-... to the 13 firmware and it loaded no problem now. Thanks

Thanks for the results, I figured it was probably that. Feel free to edit the wiki if you like, or I will get around to it. I suppose I should package a new firmware. It seems likely that NULLing that portion of the platform ID will cause the images to work on either version.

[Jeremy Collake]

What portion did you nullify exactly? The code BEFORE AP81- is already NULL. Please clarify, I could assume, but want to be sure I nullify the right part, as I'm updating the firmware image download now.

[netmduser]

My update should read I Inserted 4 of the 0.

The end of the firmware should be the same as this one

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=43228&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=60

http://www.sendspace.com/file/12yj5d

[Jeremy Collake]

Ok, thanks. This seems to work on the older router version as well, so I have updated the firmware. My change may have been a bit different than yours. If you discover my image doesn't work for the new version, please let me know.

I need to update the Firmware Modification Kit too now.

[netmduser]

I just took your rel 13 firmware and it didn't load on my A1.1R revision. So I compared it with the dlink firmware and inserted 4 0 in hex format before the string id. Then it worked on A1.1R.

Thanks for updating to rel 14 and I will let you know with your new version of the firmware if there is any problem.

I was wondering would you be able to add the same utilities to the dlink firmware version posted (which also works) It's fun to telnet into the box, the dlink firmware has some nice features over the trendnet one. But then might wait for the open wrt release and that would be even better.

Would you know if it is possible to solder on a usb port on the pcb? Then it could be possible to nsf to a usb drive?

Sorry for the questions, hopefully you might have better insight into the pcb and the tew router.

[Jeremy Collake]

Ok, thanks. I updated to revision 15, inserting 2 more bytes of NULL (I assume you are speaking of nibbles when you say 4 0s). This seems to flash fine on the older router version, so hopefully all is well now.

I could add telnetd and more to the D-Link firmware. It would be pretty easy to do. I'll try to get time to do this here in a few minutes. I'll also update my Firmware Modification Kit to properly append the platform ID.

Having OpenWrt fully ready for this device is still a ways off, I think. Getting OpenWrt booting on the device is the first of many steps to adding full support. Things tend to move slow at OpenWrt, so it will probably be a while.

I don't know about soldering on a USB port. I think the SoC has an internal USB port, but you'll have to verify that. Even if it does, whether or not the leads are exposed in such a way on the PCBs that you could solder on a USB port, I don't know.

[Jeremy Collake]

By the way, if I got the firmware platform ID wrong again for the 1.1, let me know. I don't see the difference between the DIR-615 you modified and the new firmware image. Maybe you are not meaning 'insert'? I don't know..  I could create accurate images for the A1.1, but I like that effectively nullifying the platform ID allows it to be flashed on either version. Hopefully I did get it right in this last update.