OpenWRT on Nico Maas

[Freifunk] Upgrade Virtual Freifunk Router on VMWare ESXi 6.5

Fri, 01 Sep 2017 13:50:41 +0000

As I mentioned earlier, I use a virtual Freifunk Router as part of my mobile Infrastructure / Server. With this little VM, I can actually run a big-area Freifunk Network with lots of users without having to invest in new TP-Link accesspoints: I am running the VM, outputing the Freifunk LAN to a designated VLAN and use old spare Accesspoints as dumb “Media-Converters” (LAN to WIFI ;)).

But, as I only use this appliance every now and then for different kind of conventions and conferences, I need to upgrade that Appliance manually, to get it straight to the latest version without waiting or reinstalling (and droping the VPN key…).

[RaspPi] How To Compile OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi Kernel 3.10 for the RPi on Ubuntu 12.04

Thu, 27 Apr 2017 12:00:25 +0000

EDIT: This post is from 30.09.2013 and should be the “how to” to this post. However, I never released it for a now unknown reason. Because of the interest in this topic, I still will publish it today so that it can stand as some kind of documentation of what I did back then. However, I might not work anymore.

This is the latest Guide.

What are we doing here?
Building OpenWRT Trunk with the offical RPi 3.10 (next) Kernel.

[Freifunk] Virtual Freifunk Router on VMWare ESXi 4.1

Mon, 03 Oct 2016 19:44:33 +0000

This post was planed a LONG TIME, however - due to the fact that I could not get it working back in 2015 (See: https://github.com/freifunk-gluon/gluon/issues/496) it had been delayed. However, as I have the need to get Freifunk working as VM on a central ESXi Server - I tried it again - and it worked! Basic instruction to get it working can be found here in german: https://www.it-kl.eu/2015/08/gluon-x86-unter-vmware/

I got following equipment: ESXi 4.1 Server with multiple NICs.
Start up with getting the right image from your Freifunk Team. I got the gluon-fftr-0.8.4-x86-vmware.vmdk from the Firmware Store of my trusted guys from FFTR (https://github.com/freifunktrier/firmware_store/tree/master/firmware/stable/factory [ Trier 0.8.4 is gluon 2016.1.6-3-g9300421, it’s just 2016.1.6 + ee597c6 + Webinterface-color-patches ] )
After that, create a new VM on your VMWare ESXi Server. Choose an user definied configuration, “Other” OS and “Other (32-Bit)” Version. I gave the VM a 1 vCPU and 512 MB of RAM - but you can chose as you like. After that, you need to create two Network Devices / NICs. I chose two E1000 ones, and gave the first Interface the Freifunk LAN and added the second Interface to my common WAN (IMPORTANT!). After that, you’re not going to create an HDD.
After the creation of the VM, upload your vmdk file to the folder, edit the VM and chose the downloaded VMDK as Harddrive.

[RaspPi] OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi 3.10.32+ #648 Kernel – as Image download

Tue, 11 Mar 2014 18:09:24 +0000

As a lot of people asked for the OpenWRT / Raspberry Pi Images, I decided to make a new version which replaces the old one from this post ([RaspPi] OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi 3.10.18+ #585 Kernel – as Image download.

That said, the rules haven’t changed:

It is the trunk version of OpenWRT, injected with the latest Raspberry Pi Kernel
opkg list does contain the current stable package list for the OpenWRT RPi port of the latest stable release and will work out of the box (opkg update, opkg install..) Most packages like apache should work out of the box – but kernel moduls could/will probably fail. I won’t build an package mirror and won’t build packages because of limitied time. Sorry!
Other than the normal behavior, the RPi does use DHCP to get its IP Adress. To connect for the first time, use nmap to find your RPi in your network. (Then connect via telnet, set an password with passwd and you’re good to use SSH finally!)
The main partition size has been changed from 48 MB to 64 MB – giving you additional space

You can just download and use the (7zip-ed) image here: rpi_openwrt_2.7z [ 6.1 MB ]

[RaspPi] OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi 3.10.18+ #585 Kernel - as Image download

Sun, 10 Nov 2013 17:49:53 +0000

THIS POST IS OUTDATED! A NEW IMAGE HAS BEEN POSTED! PLEASE USE THE SEARCH FUNCTION TO FIND THE LATEST VERSION!

As I found out that the old tutorials weren’t helpful and either the OpenWRT Trunk OR the Raspberry Pi Kernel broke the build process (you can still build it successfully, but you won’t be able to use the RPi after boot!) - I sat down and found an new way. This time I don’t let the kernel build by the OpenWRT enviroment, but insert an healthy and prebuilt one by the RPi Team ;)!

[RaspPi] How To Compile OpenWRT Trunk with latest Raspberry Pi Kernel 3.6 for the RPi on Ubuntu 12.04

Wed, 04 Sep 2013 14:55:36 +0000

What are we doing here?

As far as I understand the problem, there are two worlds:
Raspberry Pi Foundation on the one hand, the OpenWRT Team on the other one.
OpenWRT does try to patch “Default Kernels” until they work out with the intended Plattform, which does work in most cases very well.
The problem is, RPi is an new target for the latest OpenWRT Release - and does work - but it does not get much love of the devs:
No trunk compiles or nightlys of the Image or the packages - i.e.
And - the “so patched Kernel” does not represent the state of the art of the RPi Kernel Development at all:
I got many errors of the “first days of Pi”, like the loved “SDcard error” which corrupted the whole filesystem and such.

OpenWRT

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 06:00:32 +0000

OpenWRT is one of my most “beloved” operating systems ever. I am using it since 2006, already. It is very small (>= 4 MB), light weight and therefore an excellent choice for embedded computing or very small appliances. I have used it on several occasions (“prototype”) in my blog, but never actually gave a heads up in terms of “What is it?” - So, let’s get rid of that:

OpenWRT is a debian linux derivate especially made for routers. OpenWRT does derive from the famous Linksys WRT series, which were based on Linux. One of the founders found out about that and got Linksys (by pointing out about the caveats of the used Linux GPL License) to the point of releasing the source code (except the wifi drivers). From the point on, OpenWRT was founded and the project began to write an own “router linux”. On the course of that adventure, several forks of OpenWRT were founded (i.e. FreeWRT) - but in the end, OpenWRT remained “THE” third hand firmware for your router. Nowadays OpenWRT does support a load of routers out of the box, with famous titles like the Linksys WRT Series or even hardware like the Seagate Dockstar (which was an sort of NAS Appliance for Seagate Hard drives).

[OpenWRT] Build your own image on Ubuntu 10.03

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 17:22:36 +0000

I’m a huge geek when it comes down to OpenWRT.
I love the style of small little router boards with not much power consumption and still big impact and power.
I have been registred on OpenWRT Forums since 2006, and thats also the time I’m already working on it and doing (weird) stuff with it.
And actually I just plainly love that small debian derived linux.

And thats why most of you would be wondering why I never downloaded the build enviroment and build an image myself.
Actually, I have to face the same question. Because, In fact, its very easy to build an image from source to your own like.

[pRoToTyPe] LaFonera OpenWRT/Kismet/GPS/SD-Mod

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:26:54 +0000

So, here is the Documentation of the Project that I have been working on the past Months. I called it “Prototype” for no other reason as not having another name ^^’. But actually its just an plain and simple Kismet Server running on an LaFonera 2100 and using GPS for Positing and Time aswell as an SD Card for the Log Files. So… there were many things to do on that project, so that thing will get quite a bit longer and get some pics.

[Jasager] Fon/Fon+ Newbie Guide to Installlation of Jasager 1.0 Firmware

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 12:58:56 +0000

Pre Info:
This guide has been made with an Fon+ (2201), but should work with any other
Fonera Classic as well. Only limitation is that I have Problems with my
Jasager in Terms of SSIDs, there seems to be a Problem which hasn’t been
addressed by Digininja, but the Rest should work.
(Problem described here: http://hak5.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=13883 )

This guide should be quite useful and has been written by using guides and
stuff from this Forum, I just wrote it together and added my own experiances.
Maybe that will turn out as a good starting point and help some newbies.