centric
join:2005-07-31
Ann Arbor, MI
| Question for Mazilo....
I have a question. How You were able to squeeze all the necessities on your router which has 8/16 MB Flash/RAM?
My Buffalo WHR-54G has 4/16MB Flash/RAM. Even w/ the micro version of dd-wrt, I can't get asterisk/codecs to install w/out running out of space. Can you write a small tutorial of how you squeezed it all on within 16mb? |
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Usenet1
join:2008-04-07
87100
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I too am interested in this topic. I've just acquired a Linksys WRT54Gv2, which Wikepedia says has ONLY 4mb of flash and either 16 or 32mb of RAM.
My cursory investigations indicate that the main limiting factor here is the available flash memory. Is this correct. I can acquire an Fon 2100 if necessary for installing Asterisk on a device. I THINK that openWRT allows one to choose "modules" for various functions which one desires, so that one could conceivably forego some functions un-needed by one user, and compile with the functions which a particular user does need. I probably have it all wrong, but would be interested to learn more here by others who have actually done these types of flashes. I've not actually tried any of this yet.
Any Gurus out there who care to enlighten us further?
Thanks,
Valentin |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| reply to centric
Unlike your Buffalo WHR-54GS WiFi router, a LaFonera WiFi router is packed with an 8/16 MB Flash/RAM. Since my LaFonera is intended ONLY to use with asterisk + WiFi (no NAT/Firewall), the OpenWRT SVN firmware I compiled and used only contains a minimal (bare) necessity of functions for my LaFonera unit. Currently, I don't have a copy of a base (micro) version of OpenWRT SVN firmware compiled for my LaFonera WiFi router on my hard drive; however, the bare (micro) OpenWRT SVN firmware with squashfs I compiled for a NetGear WGT634U on my hard drive shows about 1.7MB in size (not including the Linux kernel which is about 780KB). Its squashfs TRX (I believe firmware + Linux kernel) version is about 2.6MB in size. If you compile and flash your own OpenWRT SVN firmware for your Buffalo WHR-54GS unit with a bare (micro) version, it should have about 1.4MB Flash space left that you can use as a JFFS (R/W) partition to hold asterisk-mini + voicemail.
Here is the directory listing of asterisk-1.4.19 + its modules for my LaFonera WiFi router:
The (*) after the filename shown above was added by me to show you that the package was bundled with the firmware.
If you want to run an asterisk on your existing WiFi router supported by OpenWRT firmware, a 4MB Flash is just right at the margin. I just happened to be lucky to have some LaFonera WiFi routers laying around to play with. If I had to invest my $$$ to do this, I certainly won't waste my $$$ on a LaFonera WiFi router mainly because it has a limited resources, i.e. under power, no USB ports, etc. So, if you want to do this, please invest your $$$ on a much powerful WiFi router, i.e. Asus WL-500GP, NetGear WGT634U (discontinued), etc., supported by any open-source firmware. For those who already have a Linksys WRTP54G/RTP300/PAP2v2, DLink VTA-VR, Uniden UIP1869V, etc., these devices come with an 8/16MB Flash/RAM. Currently, OpenWRT SVN has a support for a TI AR7 chipset used on these devices. If someone knows how to reverse engineering the kernel modules (drivers) for the FXS ports (and perhaps the VM part used) on any of these devices, we can use them to run OpenWRT + asterisk with two FXS ports. If you had the CYT source codes, that is even better. I am sure some hackers out here can manipulate the source to come up with his own version to GPL and use. This will make the reverse engineering process easier. This way, we won't be dealing with the copyrights issues. ;)
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Mazilo always prays for FREEBIES!
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574
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centric
join:2005-07-31
Ann Arbor, MI
1 edit | said by mazilo  :however, the bare (micro) OpenWRT SVN firmware with squashfs I compiled for a NetGear WGT634U on my hard drive shows about 1.7MB in size (not including the Linux kernel which is about 780KB). Its squashfs TRX (I believe firmware + Linux kernel) version is about 2.6MB in size. If you compile and flash your own OpenWRT SVN firmware for your Buffalo WHR-54GS unit with a bare (micro) version, it should have about 1.4MB Flash space left that you can use as a JFFS (R/W) partition to hold asterisk-mini + voicemail. Do you still happen to have a copy of the compiled bin file for this Netgear? And if so, will it be compatible with the Broadcom chipset that is in the Buffalo WHR-54GS? |
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centric
join:2005-07-31
Ann Arbor, MI | reply to centric
I did try openWRT the other day (I flashed it and overwrote my dd-wrt), and one problem I had that I could not fix was I couldn't get my wife's laptop to work w/ WPA encrpyion with the OpenWRT firmware. With dd-wrt it works fine. Puzzling. |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| reply to centric
said by centric :Do you still happen to have a copy of the compiled bin file for this Netgear? I still have the compiled ipk packages + firmware for a NetGear WGT634U WiFi router.
..., will it be compatible with the Broadcom chipset that is in the Buffalo WHR-54GS? As far as the chipset is concerned, I believe the binary firmware is compatible; however, it is the WiFi module that doesn't seem to be compatible. A NetGear WGT634U uses a mini-PCI Atheros WiFi card whereas a Buffalo WHR-G54S uses a Broadcom (integrated) chipset.
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Mazilo always prays for FREEBIES!
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574
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Usenet1
join:2008-04-07
87100 | reply to mazilo
Thanks for the clarifications.....:>)
That should help me when I go to start "flashing"
Regards,
Valentin |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| reply to centric
said by centric :I did try openWRT the other day (I flashed it and overwrote my dd-wrt), and one problem I had that I could not fix was I couldn't get my wife's laptop to work w/ WPA encrpyion with the OpenWRT firmware. With dd-wrt it works fine. Puzzling. I haven't configure my LaFonera WiFi router with WiFi enabled. If I were to enable the WiFi radio, it will be without any encryptions, except filtered with MAC Address only. This way, I can hook my devices, i.e. a WiFi SIP Phone, easily.
--
Mazilo always prays for FREEBIES!
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| reply to centric
I just updated (svn up) my OpenWRT SVN trunk and managed to compile it with Broadcom BCM947xx/953xx [2.6] (I believe this version will work with Buffalo WHR-G54S). Everything is default, except to select the Broadcom chipset. However, the compiled/produced firmware all look big that each firmware almost fits on a 4MB Flash (without asterisk). This definitely doesn't look good.
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Mazilo always prays for FREEBIES!
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574
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centric
join:2005-07-31
Ann Arbor, MI
| Are you saying that the "flash" memory that stores it prior to copying it to permanent memory it to small to hold the packages while it copies it? If so, can it be done in sections? Micro... and then the rest of the asterisk packages.
So with what you described about the wifi, if the wifi package is incompatible with the buffalo wifi chipset, would that explain my problems getting wireless to work using OpenWRT? BTW, I was able to get mac id filtering to work, but mac id filtering can be easily hacked w/ packet sniffing. |
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mazilo
From Mazilo
Premium
join:2002-05-30
Lilburn, GA
| said by centric :Are you saying that the "flash" memory that stores it prior to copying it to permanent memory it to small to hold the packages while it copies it? If so, can it be done in sections? Micro... and then the rest of the asterisk packages. No. Your Buffalo WHR-G54S WiFi router only comes with a 4MB Flash while the firmware is about 3.8MB in size without asterisk. So, it just snuggly fits the Flash. As I mentioned before, I didn't make any chances to the default configuration of the .config file (through the make menuconfig), except to reconfigure it for brcm47xx chipset. I don't know what packages to remove to make the firmware smaller. I believe you ought to download and compile the OpenWRT SVN source yourself and play around with it to your like. Otherwise, wait for OpenWRT until it officially releases the Kamikaze version.
So with what you described about the wifi, if the wifi package is incompatible with the buffalo wifi chipset, would that explain my problems getting wireless to work using OpenWRT? Honestly, I don't know because I don't use OpenWRT on my Buffalo WHR-G54S WiFi router.
BTW, I was able to get mac id filtering to work, but mac id filtering can be easily hacked w/ packet sniffing. I use MAC filtering because I am just too lazy to configure my ZyXEL P2000W WiFi SIP phone device with two and/or more different WiFi configurations. Currently, it is configure to work with any open WiFi hotspots.
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Mazilo always prays for FREEBIES!
US Phone: +1-678-601-0907
UK Phone: +44-703-194-2574
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