*** BETA RELEASE ***
The OpenWrt Team would like to announce a beta of the next major release, codenamed Backfire. Testing of this build will help refine the code in preparation of the final release.

Binaries can be downloaded at http://downloads.openwrt.org/backfire/10.03-beta/

Highlights:
* brcm-2.4 updated to 2.4.37 kernel
* other targets updated to 2.6.30 or 2.6.32
* gcc updated to 4.3.3 for arm/mips targets, 4.4.3 for powerpc
* uClibc updated to 0.9.30.1
* b43 wireless driver for Broadcom 11g chipsets on the 2.6 kernel
* ath9k wireless driver for Atheros 11n chipsets
* support for many new ar71xx devices
* magicbox target folded into ppc40x

new targets:
* brcm63xx - Broadcom ADSL modem/routers chipset
* cobalt - MIPS-based servers from Cobalt Networks
* orion - Marvell Orion devices

Known Issues:
* ipv6 resolution via uClibc can produce segfaults
* busybox httpd occaisionally segfaults or hangs, but luci uses lucid instead of httpd by default. kill -9 should be used if it refuses to die
* luci is still being worked on for this release, some configuration is missing, partiuclarly switch config and 802.11n options

Note: We said we'd tell you when brcm47xx should work for those of you with Broadcom wireless, the time is now, start testing.

Yours truly,
--
The release management team
Andy Boyett & Nicolas Thill

great news

(Last edited by tapwave on 4 Mar 2010, 09:32)

ath9k needs an opensource implementation of Ubiquiti airmax

Great. So what about the DSL driver for BRCM63XX for this version? Still not work?

It will probably never work unless somebody reverse engineers the binary drivers or Broadcom opens the sources.

Can someone briefly explain why the Linux v2.6 kernel cannot be used with the older broadcom chipset?

Seems stuck at kernel version 2.4 and I always wondered why.

Because of the binary blob drivers, that will only work on 2.4 kernels.

Please let me know if this is the wrong thread/need to start a separate thread for this question:  How/what do I need to do to revert back to my factory firmware on my Netgear WNR854T router?

First - installed no problems and was able to log right into the management page. I fully understand this is a beta, and so checked out the features, etc. However, wireless is not yet completed, so decided to revert back to my factory firmware. However, from the admin firmware update page, I selected my factory .img file, but get an error that the file type is not right and I should make sure I use a basic one.... I have made a serial to usb cable for this router and so put it into boot wait mode, and then pushed the factory firmware via tftp. That uploads fine and then begins to execute, but right after jffs2 loads the boot image, it gives me the "Bad Magic Number" and then hangs there...  

Appears that loading this squashfs based file system has repartitioned the drives differently so the factory image won't boot? Anyway, if anyone can provide the steps or a link on how to reload a factory image after installing this openwrt firmware on this Netgear WNR854T router it would be much appreciated!

Looks interesting, i'll have to try it on one of my WL500gP v1's

Regarding the b43 driver, what should we expect performance wise?

Definitely make your own thread.

It depends on your hardware, BCM4306 (corerev 5) should be almost as fast as the binary driver. BCM4318 and later are likely to be slower due to transmission errors (note: I haven't tested them in a while, they might have improved recently).

Is there any chance we can get the ath9k config option "Force Atheros drivers to repect user's regdomain settings" enabled in the release? I found it missing in at least ar71xx-wndr3700. Without 5Ghz radio remains useless.
I already searched for source to re-bake the image myself but couldn't find it. Any hints?

Overall great job. Big thanks!

Kudos to devs for this major step.

One question:  are all the features in Backfire 10.3 currently available in trunk?

I use WL500gp V1 and i've tried the brcm47xx 2.6 binaries and everything seems working even my USB ADSL Modem works (it had stopped doing so with latest kernel in kamikaze trunk).

What should I do to compile my own binaries like in kamikaze? Because for WL500gp V2 I have problems with ADSL USB Modems that I would like to try solving.

Upgraded to Backfire from a trunk snapshot a month or so old.  Ath9k seems to be handling the 5Ghz better now.

Thanks for the work!

Is 10.03-beta available as a branch from SVN? Can't seem to find it...

Could somebody explane to me the difference between the Kamikaze builds and the Backfire builds?

Thanks

At the moment, I *think* it is just the trunk revision on the date 10.03 was built.  I assume a branch will be created soon, and updates to the trunk will be merged into the branch when necessary until 10.03 is officially released.

Hey,

Wifi is still not working on my WRT54G I have a mac80211 adapter.. and I can't get running with the last releases

Great job guys!

...I have a "little" problem where I have no more ideas on how to try to solve it...

I build from TRUNK rev 19860 for an ixp425 platform, the MI424WR... using gcc 4.3.4 and uClibc 0.9.30.1 (all compiled from scratch).
All seems fine, compiles without problems.

The kernel boots but it ends up with "not syncing, attempting to kill init"...

the thing is, the rootfs IS mounted! it detects both jffs or squash roots and mounts it. The kernel obviously find the init to run (if I give a init=xxx during boot the kernel complains as "init not found trying defaults").
I checked the root.ixp4xx directory under build_dir and all seems fine (init, preinit etc are all there, the contents seems ok...)

I just tried to use the "precompiled ixp4xx-squashfs.img" from the Backfire repository.... AND IT WORKS!!! The kernel execute init and continues to boot...

The same (my) filesystem won't work with an older kernel also... so it must be something with the filesystem but how could I determine WHAT is wrong?? Ideas?

best regards,
m.culibrk

Don't know that platform, but you haven't dome something like compiled without initrd or similar have you ?
Most problems can be fixed if you don't get into the mindset of "It's an openwrt" issue, and instead think "It's a linux issue, how do they solve it on servers / desktops" then filter what you find.

Yes, please ... how do I build Backfire from SVN???  Is is just trunk?  I grabbed trunk but couldn't get it to build.

Hi!

Created a new topic for this issue as this really does not fit in the "News"...
https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php … 18#p104518

No... yesterday I again refreshed the buildroot (svn up) to rev20124 and recompiled again all from scratch... this morning I retried the generated images... the same problem...

Yeah.. the thing is, I tried... a lot...

I don't thing it's a kernel issue. If I use "my kernel" (the one freshly compiled) and just use the precompiled squashfs from downloads.openwrt.org - IT WORKS!
On the other hand, I additionally flashed "my rootfs" in another redboot partition and I mounted that fs once openwrt booted (with my kernel and precompiled squashfs) then I did a chroot...  and all seems working ok.... busybox, init, all the apps...
So, "my conclusion" is there must be something "wrong" with the file system... but I have no idea what to search/check for...

the file system as such is "muntable", readable etc... (if mounted later) but not "bootable"...

The "difference" with other desktop/server is mainly in the filesystems and "medium" - it's a lot easier to "hack" around a normal disk compared to a soldered flash chip... which is not really easily accessibe from "outside"...

I'm not saying "it's a openwrt issue"... I'm asking what/how shoule I try to identify/solve the problem?

Regards,
mculibrk

(Last edited by mculibrk on 11 Mar 2010, 17:26)

Does this:
* orion - Marvell Orion devices

Mean that it will work on a Buffalo Linkstation Pro

According to:
http://buffalo.nas-central.org/wiki/Category:LSPro

it is a Marvell 88F5182

I'm quite happy with my Linkstation, but OpenWrt will definally take it up a notch. I like the no-nonsense bloat-free approach.

/macsat

I've been stuck on 7.09 (2.4) for my WRT54G v1.1 devices because the wireless does not work in 8.09.x on that version of the router. Can I expect wireless to work with Backfire on those devices? I guess it would be just as easy to try it and see...

Nope, doesn't appear to work with WRT54G v1.1. I have two of these devices and it is interesting that on one of the two it shows the wireless interface on the "iwconfig" command but the 2nd one doesn't detect any wireless at all. Weird.