Install OpenWrt Process notes for TL-WR703N

Install OpenWrt Process notes for TL-WR703N

The next Shumei 2 was unfortunately postponed to the next year before it could be delivered. What should I do if the Spring Festival fails? I accidentally read the message about the TL-WR703N IN THE Rpi2 report, only to think of her left at the bottom of the box. I think that since spring festival, I will do a good job and introduce OpenWrt to her!

Main Character Introduction

TL-WR703N is a portable 3G router launched by TP in 2011, with a standard USB port that can connect 3G network card, 802.11N 150 M wireless network, microUSB Power Supply interface, equipped with Atheros AR7240 CPU and Atheros AR9331 chipset. Small power-saving, less powerful than the palm of your hand, less than 0.5 power consumption.

[OpenWrt] is a Linux release for vrouters and other small embedded devices. You can use the opkg Package Manager to easily expand functions. As of press time, the latest version is the 14.07 Final version of Barrier Breaker, which uses Linux Kernel 3.10.

First meeting

Simply flushing OpenWrt firmware is quite simple, OpenWrt provides a pre-compiled image for the TL-WR703N. The procedure is as follows:

1. Download the firmware of the corresponding model from the OpenWrt official website. Because it is based on the AR7240 CPU, you can find wr703n in the directory named ar71xx.

2. To switch from the official firmware to the OpenWrt firmware for the first time, you need to use the factory image. In addition, sysupgrade is used to upgrade OpenWrt from an earlier version, so you don't have to worry about it here.

3. Connect WR703N to your computer in wired mode, and enter the IP address of WR703N in your browser. After verifying the user name and password, selectFirmware upgradeSelect the OpenWrt image you just downloaded and confirm the write operation. If the firmware is not recognized, try to shorten the firmware name, for example, rename itopenwrt.bin.

4. Wait patiently. In about five minutes, it will automatically restart. At this time, you will be greeted by the LuCI management configuration interface of OpenWrt.

According to the instructions on the Wiki, it seems that the official V1.7 firmware has a compatibility problem and it is difficult to fl the firmware. The V1.2 version is quite smooth. In addition, the Code of 14.07 Final version is much higher than the Trunk in the report, so there is no need to worry about it.

Mild Training

After the root account password is set in the displayed logon prompt box, the server named dropbear SSH can be used. You can log on to any SSH client for configuration.

Do you remember to emphasize using wired connections? Because the wireless network of OpenWrt is disabled by default ......

Next, set the functions of wireless networks and wired network interfaces based on individual needs. PPPoE, DDNS, and other functions are available. If necessary, you can configure the firewall.

If you only want WR703n to continue creating a route, you can do it now.

If you want to further explore its other potential, continue reading.

Want more

By the way, you can browse the opkg software warehouse and OpenWrt Wiki. the processor of this small device has great potential. But if you want more, you must first solve the storage space problem. Otherwise, one or two additional software packages will occupy only 4 MB of flash memory. The most direct way to expand the capacity is to insert a U disk! The next step is/The partition is migrated to a large external U disk.

Find an idle USB disk with the USB 1.1 interface. If the USB is too old, format it to ext4 and insert it to the USB interface, then, use SSH to add external USB large-capacity storage devices to the system:

opkg update opkg install kmod-usb-storage block-mount kmod-fs-ext4

You can also operate on the LuCI Software panel. In Wiki, we also recommend that you create a swap partition on the USB drive. You can consider it based on your specific application.

Then usemountSimply try to see if it can be mounted normally. If there is no problem, continue. Assume that the U disk is attached/mnt/sda1

mkdir -p /tmp/cprootmount --bind / /tmp/cproottar -C /tmp/cproot -cvf - . | tar -C /mnt/sda1 -xumount /tmp/cproot

Use laterviEdit/etc/config/fstabFile, modify or add the following fields:

config mount       option target /       option device /dev/sda1       option fstype ext4       option options rw,sync       option enabled 1       option enabled_fsck 0

Save and exit, restart WR703n, and then usedfLook/Does the partition capacity increase?

In addition to/In addition to the migration to the U disk, there is also a method that only includes the system/overlayThe partition migration method has similar effects and will not be described in detail.

Share with each other

Now that you have enough space for expansion, you can make a lot of effort. For example, you may want to support Chinese characters first:

opkg install kmod-nls-utf8 luci-i18n-chinese

Next, let's just imagine it. Interestingly, there are many people in the Chinese forum asking for the application of this device for some reason. It is better to install it online from the official repository.

Here, we will first introduce how to use Samba to share files over the LAN.

To facilitate management and configuration, you can install the Samba management module of LuCI:

opkg install luci-app-samba

It installs Samba 3.6 Server Based on dependencies. In addition, the Service category is added to the LuCI interface. Click Network Share below to start configuration.

The content in General Settings is very intuitive, mainly to specify the folder directory to be shared and new file permissions. It is worth modifying the content in the Edit Template tag. The following are the recommended modification options:

Unix charset = UTF-8 # Chinese support security = share # convenient local access

The Wiki page uses a lot of space to describe the firewall configuration. It does not seem to be suitable for the default firewall configuration of the latest version: it allows access only to the LAN by default.

All-Around download

After testing Samba to achieve file sharing among mobile phones, HD players, and computers, I wondered whether to use it for download.

The OpenWrt warehouse providesaria2Andtransmission-daemonYou can download two BT software, including the latter and even the LuCI configuration interface module. But it's a simple comparison,aria2Memory usage is much less (19% vs. 39%, idle). Considering that there is only 32 MB of memory, select the former.

opkg install aria2

Then run aria2 as a daemon in RPC mode:

/usr/bin/aria2c --enable-rpc --rpc-listen-all -D -d [DOWNLOAD FOLDER]

During saving time, you can directly write this sentence/etc/rc.localTo automatically run after the boot, you can use the terminal or the LuCI Startup tab.

Aria2 has many front-ends. WebUI can be used on computers, while Transdrone can be used on Android phones. The configuration is very simple and you don't need to go into details.

If you specify the download directory as the Samba shared directory, the downloaded content can be visible throughout the LAN.

Performance and Testing

With OpenWrt, the performance of WR703n can be fully utilized. After the above configuration, two HTTP downloads and Samba large file copies consume only 50% of its CPU and 35% of its memory, this means that it still has a lot of potential to play. All of this requires less than 0.5 million power consumption. It is really environmentally friendly and energy-saving.

If you have such a small device, try using OpenWrt to torture it ~

Read more

OpenWrt Wiki: TP-Link TL-WR703N

OpenWrt Wiki: USB Storage

OpenWrt Wiki: Rootfs on External Storage

OpenWrt Wiki: Samba

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