******* CAUTION ******* Due largely to the introduction of new FCC guidelines in 2016, manufacturers of commodity routers have moved to prevent the installation of third party firmware by locking down the router. Attempting to install third party firmware may simply fail, or it may brick your router. TP Link and Ubiquity devices have already been observed to include lockdown in some models, but there appears to be no reliable published information available. As the situation is very fluid at this time, proceed with caution and at your own risk. PLEASE BE AWARE that if you purchase a new commodity router you may not be able to re-flash it with OpenWrt or other third party firmware. 1. XSCE Firmware ---------------- The XSCE firmware is a version of SECN firmware with the network settings configured to work with the XSCE, and operating as a simple WiFi Access Point inteneded to support 30 concurrent WiFi client connections. The User Guide for the generic SECN firmware is available here: http://wiki.villagetelco.org/SECN_3_User_Guide The router is intended to be connected to the XSCE via one of the Ethernet LAN ports on the router. It is set up with the WiFi Access Point (Internet_in_a_Box) operating with no encryption. The WAN port is disabled by default. There is no DHCP running on the router by default. Multiple routers may be used with the XSCE as long as you change the IP address of subsequent routers to avoid conflict. Optionally you may also change the SSID and set up WiFi encryption/passphrase to separate user groups. A guide for using PoE and daisy-chaining routers for power and network is available here: http://wiki.villagetelco.org/Power_over_Ethernet_for_MP02_and_TP-Link_Routers The key parameters for the device are: IP Address: 172.18.126.101 Netmask: 255.255.224.0 Gateway: 172.18.96.1 Broadcast: 172.18.127.255 DNS: 172.18.96.1 WiFi SSID: Internet_in_a_Box WiFi Encryption: None / Open WiFi Channel: 11 WiFi TxPower: 17dBm WiFi MaxAssoc: 35 Note: The router will not accept more than the MaxAssoc limit of WiFi client connections. This is intended to prevent overload and ensure stable operation. Accounts - ssh and web admin screens. Login: root Password: g0adm1n Login: admin Password: g0adm1n Note: The "admin" account may be used only with the web admin screens, not for ssh. To access the SECN web admin screens, point your browser to the IP address of the router. 2. Firmware --------------- The firmware here has been tested only on a limited range of devices before posting. If in doubt, please post to the VT Dev mail list for help. If you install and test on a particular device, please post to the xsce-devel mail list (xsce-develgooglegroups.com) and advise the outcome. Do not flash firmware that has been downloaded without checking the MD5 Sum for the file. If the file is corrupted you may brick your router. Having a standard OpenWrt image installed first provides OpenWrt Failsafe mode as a means of recovery. Please see the VillageTelco Wiki page for how to use this if required. 3. Sysupgrade Firmware ---------------------- The firmware files are for SYSUPGRADE i.e. to be installed on a device which already has a copy of OpenWrt installed. It is not suitable for installation on a device running the manufacturer's original firmware. 3.1 Commodity Routers --------------------- To istall an initial version of OpenWrt on commodity routers, use the FACTORY version of the firmware from OpenWrt. The stable Barrier Breaker firmware is recommended, available at: http://downloads.openwrt.org/barrier_breaker/14.07/ar71xx/generic/ Download the 'factory' image for your device and install as per OpenWRT installation instructions for your device, typically from the manufacturer's Upgrade page. Once OpenWrt is running, install the VT SECN firmware using the OpenWrt Upgrade page in the web UI. ****** BE SURE to UN-TICK the "Save Settings" checkbox before you upgrade. ****** Otherwise the new SECN settings will not be loaded! If you forget to untick the checkbox, look for the device on the previous IP address (192.168.1.1 by default) and reflash. To install manually, copy the firmware file to /tmp on the device with scp, then install with: cd /tmp sysupgrade -v -n ./ # Note the use of -n flag to ensure old settings are not saved!! Note: Factory firmware for some SECN builds may be available on request. If you require this firmware, email to the VT mail list: village-telco-dev googlegroups.com 3.2 MP02 and OpenWrt based Routers ---------------------------------- The MP02 is AR9331 based and comes with SECN or another OpenWrt based firmware already installed and so only requires the use of sysupgrade firmware Similarly for other routers which are natively OpenWrt based eg Dragino and GLiNet devices.