RouterTech Firmware v2.92 Release (20100105)

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Kieran
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RouterTech Firmware v2.92 Release (20100105)

Post by Kieran » Sat Jan 09, 2010 6:24 pm

This firmware release has been superceded by firmware v2.93. See here: viewtopic.php?f=23&t=3331

RouterTech Firmware v2.92

Version: v2.92 (20100105)
Author: RouterTech Development Team (thechief)
Other contributor(s): mstombs
Testers: Various RT staff & forum members
Category: Custom Router Firmwares

Compatible Routers
A list of compatible routers is available in our knowledge base. Please check this before even contemplating an upgrade and remember you should always ask in our forum if unsure. Also see the section below on backing up and compatibility.

Disclaimer & Warning

1. Flashing custom firmwares onto a router is not for novices, as the process may well "brick" the router.

2. You must not flash this firmware onto your router unless you are very familiar with the PC-Tool (or similar) and are competent in using it to un-brick a router.

3. Please take this warning very seriously. If you are not adept at recovering bricked routers, and if you are not familiar with the PC-Tool, then do not install this firmware!

4. Do not even consider installing this firmware without first reading all the documentation supplied with the firmware. If you fail to observe this, then you are entirely on your own.

5. Do not even consider installing this firmware without first running the Router Upgrade Checker (RUC) and following whatever counsel it gives. If you fail to observe this, then you are entirely on your own.

6. Do not even consider installing this firmware unless you have first backed up your router's bootloader environment (i.e., /proc/ticfg/env) to your hard disk. If you fail to observe this, then you are entirely on your own.


Backing up & Compatibility
For ease we recommend you run the Router Upgrade Checker - this will backup your environment, LED config, current config, default config, generate a recovery script for the bootloader environment, and tell you if your router is suitable for this firmware.

Upgrading
Before upgrading you must backup your router config as detailed above and reset to factory defaults.

Please remember to run the Router Upgrade Check BEFORE you upgrade!

If you choose to upgrade via the router's web interface, then you MUST observe the following
  1. First reset the router to factory defaults before trying to install this firmware.
  2. When upgrading via the web interface, (particularly for the 1350A wireless firmware) you must wait for at least 7 minutes for the new firmware to establish itself. Do not do anything to the router for at least 7 minutes from the moment the upgrade process starts, and do not interrupt the upgrade process.
  3. Once your router has been upgraded and be seen to be working you must reset to factory defaults again
Note: Before installing this firmware, you must, among other things (see the docs in the zip file for those other things) back up a copy of your router's current "/etc /led.conf" file. We only have a few LED configuration files, and the chances are that we do not have one suitable for your own router. If you do not keep a copy of the original contents of that file, then we have no way of knowing how your LEDs should be configured, and the LEDs will always be wrong. This will not affect the router's normal operation - but you the LEDs will not be reporting the correct operations.

The Router Upgrade Checker as described in the backup and compatibility section above can backup your LED config - if you use the Router Upgrade Checker then you can double-check the output by looking in the check*.txt file for data after the "/etc /led.conf" line.

Comprehensive Documentation and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
While full documentation is included with every release of our firmware we have also made it available as a separate download below so you can take time to read it before even needing to download a firmware. The router upgrade and firmware FAQs are also hosted online HERE. We recommend you do this as it will give you a chance to properly familiarise yourself with the process and get every angle covered etc.

PC-Tool and repairing / unbricking
Please see this forum topic

Files
Assuming your router is compatible, you just need to download the release that matches your router - if you have wireless and the Adam2 bootloader then you would download "Standard Wireless (Adam2 bootloader)".

Changelog
1. New shell script: ap_restart.sh (wireless firmwares only) - restarts the wireless access point.

2. Busybox "sync" has been replaced with a stand-alone sync utility (wireless firmwares only).

3. Fixed a display issue with the printenv command (problem with printing newlines).

4. Fixed a display issue for pppoe on the Status menu.

5. Following a poll on the forum, the bwbasic interpreter has been removed.

6. Following a poll and other discussions on the forum, the default DSP driver for the standard firmwares has been set to dsp75.

7. New feature: udpxy added to the wireless firmwares. The program allows you to relay multicast UDP traffic to a client's TCP (HTTP) connection (unicast). This allows you to use IP TV (UDP multicast) services via wifi. Example: "udpxy -m br1 -p 88 -S"
where: m - interface (LAN group) where the IP-TV bridge connection added.
-p - the port to listen on... here, it is port 88
-S - enable the bandwidth statistics. The status page is available at http://192.168.1.1:88/status (router ip and 88 port from the -p 88 option). Also the -B option can be used to setup udpxy's cache size, e.g: "udpxy -m br1 -p 88 -B 1024K -S"
After this you can use the IP-TV as unicast by ethernet and wi-fi, for example if the udp multicast url is udp://@233.132.142.30:1234 - you can access it as http://192.168.1.1:88/udp/233.132.142.30:1234

8. The darkstat feature has been removed from the firmwares for routers with 2mb flash.

9. The rt_commands.html file has been removed from the binary firmwares.

10. Busybox has been upgraded to v1.15.3.

11. New shell script: start_httpd.sh - to start the firmware's http server, optionally specifying the http server's port (the default port is 80). This script runs during the boot-up process to start the http server for the web configuration.

12. New environment variable: http_port - to specify a port for the http server. If this is set to "none", then the http server will not be started during the bootup process - this can save significant memory on low memory routers - but you will not be able to open the web configuration with this setting. If you thereafter wish to configure the router from its web interface in such a case, you will need to run start_httpd.sh from the command line, either with no parameters, or with the desired port number.

13. Slight change to the syntax of auto_defragenv.sh to: auto_defragenv.sh --threshold=<number> (note the "=" sign).

14. The dnsproxy server has been upgraded from dproxy-nexgen to dnsmasq v2.51 (still masquerading as "dproxy") for its up-to-date caching dns proxy functions only (NOT lan dhcp). The code has been patched, to reduce size by disabling unused options and functions, to ignore command line parameters, and to do all configuration by configuration file. Additional conf files can be added to /tmp/dns.d/. dnsmasq supports many options and enables additional functions such as auto selection of the fastest responding dns server from all configured, and domain blocking - exploited by the extra_dns and adblock functions below.

15. New shell scripts: adblock.sh and adblock_multi.sh - to assist in blocking popup adverts by means of "dns poisoning". It is basically obsolete if you can use Firefox and adblock plus - but otherwise (e.g., if using IE) it is very useful. Advantages (a) it only needs to be implemented once - on the router - and all clients would benefit from the ad blocking, etc (b) it works with all browsers such such as IE which don't have adblock (c) some of the hosts in the hosts block lists do some of what tinyproxy could have achieved, re: parental control. For this purpose, adblock.sh downloads and converts one of a number of common internet resources ("small", "medium", "large", or "xlarge") of ad servers to be blocked. The largest of these uses a lot of cpu cycles on the router (about 20%) - but since the router's cpu is largely idle most of the time, this is not a major issue. The smallest consumes only about 5% cpu cycles. Run adblock.sh with no parameters to see the syntax. adblock_multi.sh is a shell to adblock.sh, allowing it to download more than one of the internet lists at once (e.g., "adblock_multi.sh exit small large"). Note that, for routers with low memory (i.e., 8mb RAM), you should never use "large" or "xlarge". In fact, "small" might be the only one that such routers will be able to cope with. If you try to download more lists than your free memory can cope with, your router WILL crash!
NOTE: you MUST always run "adblock.sh exit" to remove the adblock features from memory, before any attempt to upgrade the firmware.

16. New environment variable: adblock - use this to schedule adblock_multi.sh to run when a WAN connection is made. The values should be the parameters that you wish to pass to adblock_multi.sh (e.g., setenv adblock "exit medium xlarge"). On routers with 8mb RAM, you should only supply "small" - do NOT try to use the medium/large/xlarge lists on such routers.

17. New utility: pixelserv - a tiny webserver that serves up a single pixel to any request. It can be used in conjunction with the adblock features.

18. New shell script: uptime - parses and displays the system uptime information.

19. New shell script: memavail - reports the amount of RAM that is available to be used.

20. New environment variable: extra_dns - to add DNS servers from a selection ("All", "OpenDNS", "Google", "UltraDNS", "DNSResolvers", or "BT") in dnsmasq format. You can set "extra_dns" to any of these, to a combination of them, or to "All", and you can use either their full names, or the first letter of their names - e.g., setenv extra_dns "O U D B" - will select DNS servers from OpenDNS, UltraDNS, DNSResolvers, and BT; setenv extra_dns "A" or setenv extra_dns "1" will select all of them.

21. New environment variable: extra_resolvers - to add ALL the DNS servers specified above, in resolv.conf format. These servers are prepended to /etc/resolv.conf. In the TWNETW1350A firmware, only the first three will be used.

22. New environment variable: static_dns - this is useful mainly for those with DHCP (as opposed to pppoa/pppoe) connections, who do not have the "Use Peer DNS" button in the firmware's web interface. Set it to 1 to prevent the dhcp server from overwriting your static DNS entries.

22. The ssh server (dropbear) has been upgraded from v0.51 to v0.52 in line with upstream package source. A default idle timeout of 120s has also been enabled, to prevent disconnected instances of dropbear from hanging around wasting memory and preventing further logins (maximum 2 simultaneous allowed). To avoid the timeout please enable a keepalive of say 30s in your ssh client (supported by putty and winscp, for example). The dropbear code has been patched to accept this null packet keepalive - the default code acts only on data transfer.

23. The upnp daemon has been upgraded to v1.4 20091102 in line with upstream. Additional optional configuration items include the ability to not show the Internet server in Windows "My network places", by specifying a null presentation_url.

24. New hook to run a user-supplied script (/var/tmp/onclose.sh) when before rebooting or shutting down the router via the reboot or shutdown commands. When either command is executed, it will search for "/var/tmp/onclose.sh", and, if it is found, it will be executed immediately. After this, the normal house-cleaning on reboot/shutdown will continue.

25. Wide display support enabled for the "ps" command. This is triggered by running "ps -ww". The downside of this is that "ps aux" will now generate an error. So you can only run "ps" with no parameters (which will behave as it would when you used to run "ps aux"), or run it with "-w" (132 column width) or "-ww" (2048 column width. Users who have written scripts with "ps aux" will need to change their scripts to just call "ps" (busybox ignored the "aux" anyway). The command "ps -ww" will display everything (up to a width of 2048 characters). It would however need to be used with great discretion, because all the username and password, etc., passed to pppd will be displayed in its full glory (i.e., you don't really want to post the output of "ps ww" on the forum!).

26. Text files with the mtd calculations for each firmware image now added to each firmware release. Each firmware image has a corresponding "_mtd.txt" file, which shows the correct mtd partition settings for that firmware image. The text files are in unix format (for very good reasons), and so to view them under Windows, you will require a text editor that understands unix line endings.

Downloading
The links to our firmware require you to be registered and logged into the site to see and use them. This is to make sure we can provide you with support easily (in this forum) if you need it. When logged in they appear below this post.

Sourcecode
Now also available to download via the forum when logged in

BE SURE TO READ ALL THE DOCUMENTATION IN THE FIRMWARE DOWNLOADS BEFORE TRYING ANYTHING WITH THIS FIRMWARE. Otherwise, YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN.
Attachments
routertech_firmware_20100105_docs.zip
Comprehensive documentation. Be sure to read all of it before upgrading or asking for support.
(198.66 KiB) Downloaded 873 times
routertech_firmware_20100105_mtd_logs.zip
RouterTech Firmware 2.92 MTD partition settings for each firmware image.
(6.28 KiB) Downloaded 491 times
routertech-ar7rd-adam2-1port-firmware-20100105.zip
1-Port non-wireless (Adam2 bootloader).
(8.72 MiB) Downloaded 890 times
routertech-ar7rd-pspboot-1port-firmware-20100105.zip
1-Port non-wireless (pspboot bootloader). Suitable for the SART2-4112/GART2-4112, the ADSL2MUE, the new "R" series Solwise 600E, and other 1-port PSPBOOT-based AR7RD routers.
(8.73 MiB) Downloaded 677 times
routertech-ar7rd-pspboot-4ports-firmware-20100105.zip
4-Port non-wireless (pspboot bootloader). Suitable for the SART2-4115/GART2-4115, the new "R" series Solwise 600ER and 605ER, and other 4-port PSPBOOT-based AR7RD routers.
(8.74 MiB) Downloaded 444 times
routertech-ar7wrd-1350A-pspboot-firmware-20100105.zip
Wireless (psp bootloader) with the TNETW1350A wifi chip. Suitable for the "R" series Solwise SAR 600EW, Solwise SAR605EW, PTI 8505G, newer SWART2-54125 series, and other compatibles. NOT suitable for the DLink 2640T.
(6.48 MiB) Downloaded 595 times
routertech-ar7wrd-adam2-firmware-1port-20100105.zip
*NEW* 1-port wireless (Adam2 bootloader). Suitable for the Actiontec GT701WG and other 1-port ADAM2-based AR7WRD routers using the TNETW1130 wireless chip (DO NOT USE WITH ROUTERS USING THE TNETW1350A WIRELESS CHIP).
(5.85 MiB) Downloaded 343 times
routertech-ar7wrd-adam2-firmware-4ports-20100105.zip
Standard 4-port wireless (Adam2 bootloader). Suitable for the original Solwise SAR600EW series, DLink G604T, and other 4-port ADAM2-based AR7WRD routers using the TNETW1130 wireless chip (DO NOT USE WITH ROUTERS USING THE TNETW1350A WIRELESS CHIP).
(5.86 MiB) Downloaded 1280 times
routertech-ar7wrd-pspboot-firmware-20100105.zip
Standard Wireless (pspboot bootloader). Suitable for the original SWAMR 54108/54125/SWART2-54125/GWART2-54125 series, and other 4-port PSPBOOT-based AR7WRD routers using the TNETW1130 wifi chip (DO NOT USE WITH ROUTERS USING THE TNETW1350A chip).
(5.86 MiB) Downloaded 641 times
routertech-ar7rd-adam2-4ports-firmware-20100105.zip
4-Port non-wireless (Adam2 bootloader)
(8.73 MiB) Downloaded 366 times
routertech-v2.92-GPL-ROHS-firmware-sources.tar.bz2
ROHS Sourcecode 2.92 (for the 1350A wireless firmwares).
(56.6 MiB) Downloaded 145 times
routertech-v2.92-GPL-firmware-sources.tar.bz2
Standard Sourcecode 2.92
(50.75 MiB) Downloaded 211 times
Kieran
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