[OpenWrt-Devel] [PATCH 1/2] ath79: add support for Netgear WNDR4300

[Adrian Schmutzler]

Hi Michal,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Michal Cieslakiewicz [mailto:michal.cieslakiewicz at wp.pl]
> Sent: Freitag, 11. Oktober 2019 19:15
> To: Adrian Schmutzler <mail at adrianschmutzler.de>
> Cc: openwrt-devel at lists.openwrt.org
> Subject: Re: [OpenWrt-Devel] [PATCH 1/2] ath79: add support for Netgear WNDR4300
> 
> On Fri, 11 Oct 2019 14:58:03 +0200
> "Adrian Schmutzler" <mail at adrianschmutzler.de> wrote:
> 
> > Hi,
> >
> > > > Have you checked that there are no usable addresses in 0x1002 and
> > > > 0x5006?
> > > >
> > > Yes, there are wireless addresses inside calibration data at
> > > offsets you provided, and they are both equal to LAN MAC.
> >
> > Okay, so for &wmac that would mean it should correctly read the
> > address from calibration data even if you do not specify it. Thus,
> > you should be able to remove the mtd-mac-address for wmac and still
> > have the correct MAC address.
> >
> > For 0x5006 this is more interesting, as it implies that the vendor
> > puts a "wrong" MAC address into the calibration data. However, since
> > you have verified it, it seems appropriate to overwrite the address
> > in calibration with mtd-mac-address in this case.
> >
> > Note that if you remove the mtd-mac-address for wmac, you will need
> > to change the label-mac-device alias to &eth0 then.
> >
> > Best
> >
> > Adrian
> >
> 
> Hello Adrian,
> 
> IMHO the valid place for Netgear routers to get MACs from is 0x0-0xc
> (beginning of art partition). This is the first Netgear model I came
> across that has a real hardware address inside calibration area,
> usually there are 0xff's there. I always look into vendor's u-boot
> sources to find hints about configuration and all WN[D]Rs I had access
> to point at 'the start of the art' :-).
> Even though vendor u-boot does not put Wifi into use, it defines where
> wmac address is for u-boot commands like 'wmacset' etc.
> We should consider leaving it as it is now, as long as we decide to
> honour u-boot as the valid option/tool for changing device
> configuration.
> It looks like Netgear has its own way of handling these things...
> Anyway, I'll gladly read what you as a developer think about all this.
> 
> Best regards
> Michal

I am just reluctant to overwrite a MAC address with itself.

However, I understand your point and cannot provide any superior insights to what you've presented here. So, keep your current setup if you prefer it.

Still, I would change the ambiguous label-mac-device to eth0, so it's unaffected if someone changes wmac MAC address setup later.

Best

Adrian
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