[OpenWrt-Devel] lantiq DSL drivers / firmware info

[Martin Blumenstingl]

Hello,

I recently purchased a TP-Link TD-W8970 on which I have installed OpenWrt.
My goal is to use it as my main "DSL router", so it has to connect to
the internet.
For the reference: at the moment I'm using a "AVM FritzBox" for this
purpose, which is connected directly to the phone jack (the web
interface tells me it's using "B43", which should be Annex B).

Unfortunately the situation regarding the drivers and the
(corresponding) firmware files is not as good as it could be.

There is no list of firmware files (I understand that those cannot be
distributed) which could serve as a reference.
Thus I decided to read the driver's source code and build a list of
firmware files that I have stumbled across: [0]
Feel free to send me the details how to get more versions into this
list (please be aware that I need a link to a public hosted file that
*everyone* can download).
Reading all this information from binary files is not what I wanted,
so I wrote a small script that does the job: [1]

While I was at it I researched if there was a newer driver version
that the one we currently have in OpenWrt (v4.11.4).
There was an update to v4.11.11 like 9 months ago, which was reverted
because it was not working for everyone.
Since I was not sure if the old driver could handle newer DSL
firmwares I searched if I could find anything newer than v4.11.11 -
and I found v4.15.2 in BT Home Hub 5A's sources (unfortunately with
all build files stripped off).
I published the updated drivers (with build files hacked back in) /
userspace utility on github: [2], [3], [4], [5]

Noteworthy changes:
- Danube support was stripped (ARX100 is now the first supported platform)
- Vectoring support (might still require other kernel patches)

The patch to get the new drivers into OpenWrt can be found here: [6]
(Please note that you need to create the tarballs yourself and put
them in the dl/ directory).
This updated driver works "as good" as the old one: I get to status
0x300 (HANDSHAKE) but not further (but that is probably "my own
problem").

In the end I also have a question:
Is there any list of recommended DSL settings per ISP?
For example it seems that for VDSL you have to use PTM, with the
correct Annex B firmware, etc. - but can that information be found on
the wiki?
If not then I'll look into creating a page in the next few days (which
YOU, valued reader, need to fill with info :-)).

Please let me know if anyone is experimenting with my updated DSL driver.
Also I'd like to hear if the firmware page is helpful and/or if you
have firmware versions that work for you (which should obviously
listed there as well).


Regards,
Martin



[0] https://xdarklight.github.io/lantiq-xdsl-firmware-info/
[1] https://github.com/xdarklight/lantiq-xdsl-firmware-info
[2] https://github.com/xdarklight/drv_mei_cpe
[3] https://github.com/xdarklight/drv_dsl_cpe_api_vrx
[4] https://github.com/xdarklight/lib_ifxos
[5] https://github.com/xdarklight/dsl_cpe_control_vrx
[6] https://gist.github.com/xdarklight/58fe9807594d5366e068/download
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