May Day Uploads – TL-WR703N, TL-WR720N & TL-MR3020 images + Secret Sauce

Uploaded a bunch of images for the TL-WR703N, TL-WR720N & TL-MR3020 on May 1st.

Based on OpenWRT r36503, it has the new 3.8.10 kernel as well as the new LuCi theme.  Due to the slowly expanding size of the kernel and the packages, I had to drop 3G out from the ‘standard’ image and made a separate ‘3G’ image.  All images are very barely tested though so that’s why I’m not updating into the main project page.

The benefit of these images is that this time I’ve included the image builder as well as helper scripts that should give people an idea on how to quickly roll their own images and still have access to a set of online packages.

Lots of comments asking me how I compile USBIP and make it work with the outdated Windows client, so I’ve included all the extra files I use on-top of the OpenWRT source in a package.  Yup I was too lazy to set up a github or similar for it 😛  It basically is 3 packages and a couple of modified source files…

All files located here :-
http://code.google.com/p/madox/downloads/list

23 thoughts on “May Day Uploads – TL-WR703N, TL-WR720N & TL-MR3020 images + Secret Sauce”

  1. Hi Madox,

    I really love your work and use your images on all my units. I now have a wr703n with 64mb memory could you please do an image that does have all the good stuff that I could download. Thank you for your great work….

    Best regards
    Tinraz

    1. What good stuff did you want? 64MB Memory but how much flash? I have some test 8MB images with Python etc… around 800KB/1MB free afterwards.

  2. I’m running your latest “Madox Standard 36503_2013-05-01” Image and I still have like Free space: 87% (10.69 MB) when I look under the Software tab. is it the right place I look to see the flash size ? I would like to have all images in one… I miss the 3G functionality in the standard.

    Thank you for your swift reply….

    Best regards
    Tinraz

    1. Telnet/SSH in and type
      cat /proc/mtd
      Convert the size of ‘firmware’ from HEX to DEC… are you buying these routers pre-modded? I have an 8M image which basically has everything I need…
      Curious – what are you using the routers for?

  3. I appreciate you work on this! Seems like very few people are working on this hardware.

    Do you know if there is space enough to support the following?: 3G, dynamic DNS and PPTP VPN? That would make it the ultimate portable gateway package. Maybe I am asking too much of this small and cheap router? I don’t have the knowledge to compile my own builds yet unfortunately..

    I am currently using TL-WR720N that I bought in China a few weeks ago.

  4. I’m trying to rebuild/build a new kernel module for this version (3.8.10 kernel). It seems that the two image builder related files contain a pre-built kernel…. Is there a simple cookbook to get a new image built from scratch?

    Thanks

    Philip

    1. Best to follow the OpenWRT Wiki 🙂 The ImageBuilders do contain a pre-built kernel, the catch is once you rebuild a kernel it is not compatible with almost any other module out there… so the pre-built kernel is a prerequisite for compatibility with the repository.

      1. I can use the openwrt build to build everything, but when I run your build703.sh profile/standard script, the make image fails with ‘no rule for target image’. I put the build703.sh script in the ‘trunk’ directory — the same place as I can do an openwrt build from. This is the only directory which has a bin/ar71xx subdirectory.

        I’m sure that I’m missing something trivial, but I can’t see it…..

        1. Those scripts are part of the image builders and are meant to be run from the image builder directory. Since you want to compile from scratch, you should just select your packages using make menuconfig. The config files I have can give you a hint, but keep in mind every version of OpenWRT might be slightly different so run make menuconfig even if you copy my config to use as your own.

          1. Thanks for this. I did manage to build an image, and I flashed it. However, it bricked the router, so now I’m off to build the serial console. Maybe that will also reveal what went wrong with my image!

            Philip

            p.s. I’m trying to get a firmware image that will allow me to us mjpg-streamer to stream higher resolution images. Currently it runs out of RAM when it tries to do any significant size. Happily, this can be fixed, but you need both a patched version of mjpg-streamer and of the kernel for best effect.

  5. Good day!

    Thank you for your good work.

    Please advise on procedure to restore the Factory firmware to Chinese wr720n. After successfully installing your 3G build it appears impossible to return back to default image bit.ly/16DviOG even using the serial connection. Upon re-flashing bit.ly/1cnULAl the router becomes unreachable with LED slowly blinking. The only option is to load back your 3G Sysupgrade build. By comment bit.ly/1cdDyLr on forum.openwrt.org the procedure should be adjusted depending on the size of image. Hopefully you can provide some ideas to solve the situation.

    Thanks for helping.

  6. Hi Madox,

    I’m using your base image (55706_2013-02-13) with my WR703N (which by the way is working pretty well) to test some 3d Printing stuff that I’ve been developing in other Linux Embedded boxes, it sends gcode data into the 3d printer via USB ACM (hey, aren’t you also a 3d printer enthusiast ?)

    So, I started with a simple C++ demo that would fetch gcode data from a WebServer (via http REST request) and send it to the printer serial port /dev/ttyACM0 (I’ve cross-compiled the app and required libs – libCurl, etc), it work ok, just a proof-of-concept!

    Now, I’m testing something that I already used in some other Linux Embedded devices, a Node.js WebApp to print the GCODE data (still very experimental):
    https://github.com/nneves/3DPrinterCloudClient

    But I’m starting to have some issues with the available RAM (I was already aware that I would eventually hit the wall), could you provide me some tips on how to free some RAM? My idea was to create a barebone firmware just with the basic (really basic) sutff running, SSH, USB ACM Support, USB Storage and network filesystems (I have a USB FLASH drive attached for node.js, libs and GCODE downloaded files), cloud you please help me out to find the right path on how to free some RAM? I could start trying to replicate the compilation of your base image and then start removing things that may not be essential.

    Thanks in advanced, being able to use your image was already a great help 😉

  7. Hello,

    A real THANK YOU for your good work.

    I need a tip or advice. Any chance to get your images running on a TL-MR10U ?

    Cheers!

    1. Hi, I thought I had uploaded TL-MR10U images [Since I have one and am using it…]
      Can you send me an E-mail to bug me if I forget 🙂

  8. Thanks for your images. I installed it on a WR703N. I successfully patched the network modules on mine and enabled channel 13 on wifi. Found the files here http://luci.subsignal.org/~jow/reghack/ , the mips version, if that can helps other people struggling with the same. After patching my wifi was accessible within the gui.

  9. Wanted to know how do I play mp3 files using your old kernel 3.8. I am unable to install madplay as I am getting some kernel dependency errors. Required kernel 3.10. Any insights which can solve my problem?

    1. You cannot install packages from other sources unfortunately. I actually created an image with madplay and pianobar etc, but I haven’t uploaded/shared that one and I don’t know where I’ve put it now 😉

      Are you building an internet radio or some other gizmo?

      1. I am also interested in that image with madplay, if you can find it and upload it. That would be great. At this moment I’m using one of your base images, with kernel 3.7.9 and I was able to find the right packages including madplay, in different repositories, I had to reset my router (a WR703N) a few times, and every time I have to search for the madplay package, so if you can find that image, that would be awesome. Thank you for your great work !

  10. Hi Expert,

    I have just bought a wifi router which model is

    “H-Ver = WR720N v4 00000000 : S-Ver = 3.17.1 Build 131021 Rel.36123n”

    it is totally Chinese language. Any one can help me to get English version.

    Thanks
    Kokila

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