This is a re-post from White Russian forum, which turned read-only before i could get an answer.

Hello.

First (re)post, so please pardon my nubicity.

I got myself a TP-Link TL-WR703N and flashed it with openwrt-ar71xx-generic-tl-wr703n-v1-squashfs-factory. My aim was to connect an Arduino to the router and speak with it over serial, inspired by the page http://www.thebmwz3.co.uk/article.php?s … 1144749730 but i cannot get the modules for usb serial installed.

I've tried searching for answers on this forum but have come up with nothing. The closest was this thread https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?id=37214 but unfortunately the thread was just full of snappy answers, and in the end PeterN's router just seemed to work.

What am i doing wrong and what can i do to rectify? Are there some other packages i need to install first? Am i on the wrong kernel, ie is 3.3.8 #1 not the same as 3.3.8-1? Am i just dumb or have i ran out of karma?

root@tipi:~# uname -a
Linux tipi 3.3.8 #1 Tue Aug 21 12:04:20 UTC 2012 mips GNU/Linux

root@tipi:~# opkg update
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/Packages.gz.
Inflating http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/Packages.gz.
Updated list of available packages in /var/opkg-lists/attitude_adjustment.

root@tipi:~# opkg list-upgradable

root@tipi:~# opkg install kmod-usb-serial-ftdi
Installing kmod-usb-serial-ftdi (3.3.8-1) to root...
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/kmod-usb-serial-ftdi_3.3.8-1_ar71xx.ipk.
Collected errors:
 * satisfy_dependencies_for: Cannot satisfy the following dependencies for kmod-usb-serial-ftdi:
 *      kernel (= 3.3.8-1-2a0edb5ba0d101ae0bb84a44e4344525) *   kernel (= 3.3.8-1-2a0edb5ba0d101ae0bb84a44e4344525) *
 * opkg_install_cmd: Cannot install package kmod-usb-serial-ftdi.

root@tipi:~# opkg install kmod-usb-acm
Installing kmod-usb-acm (3.3.8-1) to root...
Downloading http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/trunk/ar71xx/packages/kmod-usb-acm_3.3.8-1_ar71xx.ipk.
Collected errors:
 * satisfy_dependencies_for: Cannot satisfy the following dependencies for kmod-usb-acm:
 *      kernel (= 3.3.8-1-2a0edb5ba0d101ae0bb84a44e4344525) *
 * opkg_install_cmd: Cannot install package kmod-usb-acm.

Grateful for any helpful input,

~rL
Online

Did you download the latest snapshot?the kmod packages and the firmware must be from thr same build.
Ex. Today's snapshot could not be compatible with the kmod packages built tomorrow.
I'm not 100% sure but it seems so.

You are absolutely right: it looks like you installed a snapshot on one day, then tried to install a kernel module one or more days after.

Unfortunately, the must be from the same build, so either you copy all the binary packages from the snapshot locally on the same day, or you get the source version and compile everything locally to have a consistency between kernel and modules.

Im having the same problem.. is there no archive? I give my router a 78% chance of bricking on me again in an attempt to upgrade, so if that can be avoided, that would be awesome.

*nvm... it didnt brick

(Last edited by trendpoinder2 on 18 Sep 2012, 19:31)

That must be it then. I installed the new firmware, toyed around with it for a week or so, then tried installing the USB modules (and lost). I guess i'm just too used to the Linux apt-get update && apt-get upgrade cycle which tends to take care of everything. I was not even considering that this would be the issue... It's good to be shown that things are different from one's expectations at times.

Now i just need to figure out how to re-flash the WR703N without rendering it into a pretty, light blue brick.

Excellent boogie.

I followed the instructions from http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/generic.sysupgrade (adding just /root to the /etc/sysupgrade.conf file). The firmware can be found from http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr703n (the link-of-the-week is http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/ … pgrade.bin and so the link to the md5sums file is http://downloads.openwrt.org/snapshots/ … x/md5sums). There were no packages to upgrade using opkg. I installed packages tc iptables-mod-ipopt wol though i don't know why, i just followed the instrux. And much to my happy surprise, the little blue box rebooted itself and came back into life, nice and upgraded.

I could then install kmod-usb-* stuff and everything is roses.

OK, i still need to test it by plugging in an Arduino, but so far everything excellent.

Good!

The problem is really not with opkg vs. apt-get, it is more that the only version running on the WR703N is still not stable: "Attitude Adjustment" is still beta, see front page https://openwrt.org/.

Good point. I guess i'm just too dulled to the fact that in the hobbyist embedded space, everything is in Beta

On the other hand, with an active developer/hacker/maker space like this, things actually also get fixed, and there are always somebody who can give a helping hand.

Thanks all!

The fact that the OpenWRT distribution for the TL-WR703N is still beta is mainly coming from the fact that this product is quite new (it appeared only 1 year ago and only in mainland China), and got no support for open sourcing it from its manufacturer.

Moreover, the main AR9331 chip does not have a public datasheet, so all the efforts to make OpenWRT work on this device are the sole result of people working on it on their spare time using reverse-engineering.

Of course, this may look a little bit unorganized, but the results are not that bad, considered the small resources involved