Hi @Rylos. I have a couple of questions (I'm a noob).
I bought a brand new tp link 8970, and it came with the firmware version TD-W8970_V1_130828. Can I flash it with the image you posted?
Does the firmware you posted work with VDSL?

Thanks in advance!!!

can somebody help me  install openwrt on  tplink 8970 .
i have a usb to ttl cp2120 gadget

hi guys
i have now usb to serial from laptop to my 8970 and when booting i see the massages on the serial application and i have intrupted the boot and got the VR9 prompt and can see the available commands in it.so i guess thats uboot prompt?

now my problem is many issues i have after this .the Rylos user says some stuff about ip and i have entered those but after tftp just times out. probably because of tftp issues on my linux laptop.
can somebody help me ? maybe step by step ,starting after uboot prompt?
can i flash from serial port without lan ?
if not do i need to connect lan directly to modem and laptop with no between router ?
do i need to have lan directly connected to modem and laptop BEFORE booting?

if you can't help me with step by step procedure, some info would be helpful.for example the tftp on 8970 is in client mode, right? does 8970 in uboot have telnet mode? basically is there a simple way of putting a file on it from serial other than tftp,cause my tftp server on manjaro linux is very buggy and doesn't start correctly without manual change .(i don't know why archlinux maintainer don't fix it) and after that i still am not sure if the server is running(though this is on me)

thanks

Don't you have a windows box? ^^

anyway I think you can install some other tftp serv in your linux.. or boot some usb live distro

BTW I'm afraid tftp is the only possible method from that uboot

no i no longer use windows.
i have windows inside virtualbox for some needed software but that's it.

there not many tftp software available to me that i know of.
there is atftp that i may try if you can tell me the answers to to other info i asked about.

success.
i have openwrt on my tplink 89070.
now to get it to work....

How to install the firmware rezad1393? Wich firm you installed?

right now its not possible to install openwrt on 8970 without hardware modification on 8970 and using a usb-to-serial connection from a pc to 8970.

"i used the provided firmware from openwrt download website:
https://downloads.openwrt.org/barrier_b … iq/xrx200/   openwrt-lantiq-xrx200-TDW8970-sysupgrade.image"
the last statement was not correct.
i used the one provided by RyLoS user here  https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= … sp=sharing
cause I used his procedure and that i think erased some part of firmware that the official version doesn't replace cause of their different size  so i got kernel bug and couldn't boot.so i had to use the one provided by RyLos.

i wrote it on 8970 with help of serial connection,cause as i said you cant use the easy (without hardware modification access) install the openwrt firmware ,like the other fully supported ones that you just need to upload the file from standard router webpage.

if you are comfortable with hardware access then you can do it.but it may brick/burn your device.
not jocking.i took it to a supposed technician to solder the needed serial connection and he botched it and i thought that i was doing something wrong cause i couldn't get serial access.
and i was a noob and have never before use serial access so it was double hard for me.i guessed that maybe the solder job was the problem and i was right. somebody better than the first one saw my board and showed me the botched job the last one did. and he had to connect the Tx and Rx connections from some resistors on board cause the default solder place was too messed up.

and even after this hardware access with soldering and using a cp210X chipset-based module was established and i could see the serial and interact with it ,it still was confusing and frustrating to get openwrt on it and am pretty sure i got lucky that after some failed attempt i could get it to work.
if you need more help with this method ask me and i will help to my extent of ability.
but if you basically are not comfortable with this hard method, you can wait until openwrt community release an official supported and up-loadable from webpage-of-router verion of it.

EDIT: if you want to see some of the hardness of this hardware method take a look at this video.
its text is in italian i think but  you see how many steps involved in it to get it to work.and this guy doesn't even show the soldering part which was the hardest for me cause it was a small windows available for soldering space so i had to get help from some body who was a veteran  in soldering this small board.(i was used to solder on old boards that had a big (very big compared to current boards) space available to solder.

(Last edited by rezad1393 on 25 Nov 2014, 15:42)

Hi rezad1393 wich video I can see?

sorry forgot to  give the link.
here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki2U_z_mI6A
i didnt look very much for it but this is the closest i find.

(Last edited by rezad1393 on 5 Oct 2014, 17:31)

Hi
i'm interested to use open wrt on my td 8970 ,
Unfortunatly my modem is upadated to the latest firmware TD-W8970_V1_140613

its the first time i want to do it . I know it has risk of bricking my modem but i dont wanna brick  it becouse i dont have any expricience about the wrt

Can anyone please guide me install open wrt step by step in a simple way

thanx

your family name appears Iranian. are you? if so ,che khabar hamshahri?
for your question:
i am a noob in this matters so what i say have no guaranty. but i read here(https://forum.openwrt.org/viewtopic.php?pid=237650#p237650) that flashing from serial doesn't isn't effected by  OEM firmware version that much (though i am doubtful ) .so basically you can upload openwrt on it even though you had the last firmware.
i didn't have the last firmware cause i didn't upgrade to it based on wiki page saying not to do so.
but i don't know if the wiki page considers the hardware way of installing openwrt and if the new firmware version messes that up to or not.basically you have to ask if anybody had install openwrt with the new firmware installed.i didn't have the new firmware.

now if you get the answer that yes you can then after that you have to solder a connection on to the router (which voids the guaranty if it has guaranty ) and this is not hard for a electronic technician(mobile repair people for example) and you need a usb to serial converter with 3.3V ttl output.

after this you need to upload the openwrt from LAN after connecting to router with serial.

so in summary this is NOT a simple procedure right now.
for other router that are officially supported by openwrt usually you just upgrade them from there webpage(192.168.1.1 and like that) and there is no need for anything else.

so if you don't want to do the steps i said ,you have to wait till openwrt people support this model with hopefully a web upgradeable image to install.

salam hamshahri
Thanx for your reply it helps me so much
specially the video on youtube
there are too many developed roms, which of them is latest version or has less bug ?
I'm using NAS in my local network and high east-west traffic in gigabit ports. how is the 8970 stability on openwrt ? does the hardware handle it smoothly?

hi openwrtuserx you can explain step by step how to include the vdsl.bin firmware inside the image thanks
sorry for my english

aleik.
i didn't see different roms for 8970.some where on web from an Italian or some other country i think that disappeared ,so i know about just the one RySoL updates that is 8MB and the one openwrt barrier breaker which is 1.5MB.
i use right now the RySoL one. i am very new in this area of technicality but i got  wifi on it and can get internet from another modem to it via lan.
about adsl function i have not yet bridged the interface of it to LAN( i hadn't had the time and i had very little experience with bridging before).I may do it today. but when i installed the needed kernel module and connected the telephone jack and used the dsl-something command and checked its status i saw my isp line max up/down speed shown(which i saw in my other modem without openwrt too).so thats good. but i didn't test to see if i have internet on it or not (by changing the adsl password to garbage and see if it still shows the speed or not)

btw happy that it helped but i think the video on youtube was in italian right?
do you speak that too? but i know what you mean cause the harder and more complex hardware based way of installing openwrt is NOT explained step by step  on openwrt wiki.

openwrt wiki has some very good data but it's NOT written for new users. its written as tough you have used and hacked openwrt ten times before and want to do it for a new device.though this is not a failure on their part i wish they would create a noob section so more people like me get involved and be less confused and afraid.)

(Last edited by rezad1393 on 22 Oct 2014, 12:05)

Wow putting openwrt on this router is not for faint hearted. It took me a week to get it right, my original attempt with max3232 to serial only worked once and I ended up getting USB to ttl cable on ebay.
I have also burned the original serial connection and had to find good connections at the resistors. The good news is that once openwrt was running getting it configured was a smooth ride as is usual with openwrt. I've noticed the firmware does not have much space left for extra packages, anyone had an issue with that? Overall I'm really happy, my parents are supposed to switch very soon from adsl to vdsl so I plan to use it for them.

about the soldering the pins, me too.the person i gave it to burned it and i have to use the resistor pins for soldering.
if you use the Rysol version of firmware it has some extra packages so the space is low for adding.
i used the official openwrt version and it has more space. and i am trying to create a ROM  with image creator to lower the space required.
can you help me with adsl connection and bridging?

Do you know if it is possible to switch between the rylos version and and official 14.07 using the sysupgrade method? Don't want to go back to serial given how bad it was for me.

Concerning adsl  are you on pppoa or pppoe? I have at the moment working pppoa which looks like

config interface 'wan'
        option proto 'pppoa'
        option username 'foo'
        option password 'bar'
        option vpi '0'
        option vci '38'
        option encaps 'vc'
        option ipv6 '0'

config vdsl 'dsl'
        option annex 'a'
        option firmware '/lib/firmware/vdsl.bin'
        option tone 'av'
        option xfer_mode 'atm'

my guess of correct pppoe is (of course adjust vpi/vci/annex based on your local settings)

config atm-bridge 'atm'
        option vpi '1'
        option vci '32'
        option encaps 'llc'
        option payload 'bridged'

config interface 'wan'
        option ifname 'nas0'
        option proto 'pppoe'
        option username 'foo'
        option password 'bar'
        option ipv6 '0'

config vdsl 'dsl'
        option annex 'a'
        option firmware '/lib/firmware/vdsl.bin'
        option tone 'av'
        option xfer_mode 'atm'

Easy, if you use the imagebuilder, make files folder, and put in  desired files, for example:

~/src/OpenWrt-ImageBuilder-lantiq_xrx200-for-linux-x86_64/files/lib/firmware/vdsl.bin

and make your image :

make image PROFILE=TDW8970 PACKAGES="your desired packages"  FILES=files/

or, compiling with buildroot, put files folder in  buildroot folder, and both options are well explained at wiki, http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/build

its easy, three steps are mandatory, firmware, set annex, and set tone
If you want vdsl2 and adsl2 i use annex a (most of the world) and thanks to rylos is easy obtain firmware dsl_vr9_firmware_xdsl-05.04.08.00.00.06_05.04.04.04.00.01.bin rename as vdsl.bin and put it in /lib/firmware/vdsl.bin  take from https://drive.google.com/folderview?id= … sp=sharing

i set via uci, but you can make via web interface or editinf /etc files
set the annex:

usi set network.dsl.annex=a
uci set network.dsl.xfer_mode=atm
uci commit

I start using a vdsl2 capable firmware, and make me crazy the proper conf, reading the log always readin unable to get PADO and so on, and its the xfer mode, by default goes to vdsl, (ptm) and i use adsl (atm) after that, i make
/etc/init.d/br2684ctl start
and everything perfect.

Really no need to bother. The firmware included in Rylos version is perfectly capable of adsl2, no need to swap it for another one. Main thing is to set

option xfer_mode 'atm'

To be honest I prefer editing the config files with nano over "uci set whatever" since that way I can see exactly what is already configured and how.

a point here. i had to mess with serial.i used the serial method described by rylos and in it it has erase instructions that i  think it uses its size of ROM (8MB) so i think after using the official ROM (that is 3~4MB) it doesn't boot and it gives errors so maybe it doesn't work with rylos exact instruction. but after using serial with rylos i used the web interface and uploaded the official ROM.
and it works (just the LAN bridge right now,i haven't tested adsl ). so i think you can do it my way if the serial doesn't work.

EDIT: the provided ROM image on openwrt doesnt work for serial flashing (this info got added to wiki of 8970 recently http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/td- … stallation section 1 on this ) .you have to make an image with initramfs support for serial sflashing.

(Last edited by rezad1393 on 25 Nov 2014, 16:01)

Hi
Thanks for your replies

Is it possible to increase the Wireless speed from 300Mbps to 450Mbps ?

If OpenWrt support guest Wireless network in 8970 ?

How about the Stability ? . Is it satable in high LAN traffic usage?

as you know 8970 chipset can support MIMO 3x3 , and the 2.4Ghz chipset is the same as TL-WDR4900 AR9381 Atheros 3x3:3 MIMO BGN . also 8970B German firmware supports up to 450Mbps

I'm not faint hearted ,but want to get something valuable to do something which has the risk of bricking the device

(Last edited by soltani on 1 Nov 2014, 12:44)

no problem.

i dont know about guest wireless at all so i dont know this one.
and as i said i still havent used this openwrt modem under daily load .right now i use an older router for daily use and havent tested openwrt enough to use it daily.i am still trying to decrease the size of image and right now because i see that with even the standard image from openwrt downloads i cant use torrent app i am tring to learn to install on external flash.

about the chipset: if you are familiar with electronics you would know that by having the same chipset is not always possible to change internal speeds.for many reasons. one of them is that the manufacturer locks the speed at a speed(like 300 here) internally and test the device with that and changing that is not easily possible cause sometimes the internal data needed to modify that is not available or is locked in hardware(maybe available to change with some hardware flashing that is not available to users with the  data needed).

your best bet it to get the schematics of those two devices first.
after that you get some insight to see if the are the same or not.well they are not the same technically cause if they were the tplink company would sell them as the better of two(450 speed).
but as i said first schematics then you probably need more internal data.
this is outside my experience.

hope this helps.

No idea about speed increase, it really depends whether openwrt has drivers supporting speed increase available, if they do I'm sure they'll add them.

About guest/second network, this is really a standard feature for any openwrt. Of course, be really to have to look up the correct way to configure it on openwrt wiki.

Stability: I only has this router running since Wednesday as a main one providing the internet connection. Didn't see any issues, was watching movies and other heavy traffic things. My overall impression of openwrt on other routers (wdr3600, bthomehub 2b) is extremely positive, I have uptimes of 180, 39 and 62 days (i.e. without a reboot).  They are used as primary routers in some cases in dual wan configuration and running permanent openvpn connections.

use ExRoot approch .
http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/extroot

i am using that right now and if done correctly works just like having 4gb capacity.
and you become free to install as many apps as you like.

and if i am not mistaken the flash on board is very slow when writing data  so this way you get way better speed on usb.:)

(Last edited by rezad1393 on 25 Nov 2014, 15:57)