[Announce] Community Firmware for Squeezebox Radio/Touch/Controller and LMS 8

[dzenc]

Thanks! Loading it on my Radio right now... Feedback shortly...

EDIT: And... Seems to be working! Playing music now... Will upload my scripts momentarily...

[dzenc]

OK, I've attached a tarball. Unpack this into /lib, it will create a directory "send-to-baby"

From there, make sure you are connected over ethernet, and unload the existing drivers using:

# /etc/init.d/wlan stop

Then run the local start script to load the new driver:

# /lib/send-to-baby/wlan-83 start
root: wlan: starting
Setting eth1 macaddr: 00:04:20:2C:19:4C
Image path: /lib/send-to-baby
Load Board Data from /lib/send-to-baby/calData_ar6102_15dBm.bin
Updating MAC address
BMI Set App Start (address: 0x9140f0)
BMI Bit-Wise (OR) modify Register (address: 0x500410, orig:0x8, new: 0x9, mask:0x1)
BMI Write compressed Memory (address: 0x502070, filename: /lib/send-to-baby/athwlan.bin.z77)
BMI Write Memory (address: 0x52d6c8, filename: /lib/send-to-baby/data.patch.hw2_0.bin)
BMI Write Memory (address: 0x500418, value: 0x52d6c8)
BMI Done
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
rfkill: Cannot get wiphy information
Selected interface 'eth1'
root: wlan started

From there, you can disconnect ethernet and use the UI to connect to your wifi network...

[dzenc]

Fingers crossed. This new driver + firmware has kept my worst-behaving Radio connected for several hours now, which is longer than it usually stays connected, but not yet definitive, because it's also been very unpredictable in the past wrt how often it drops out.

Should know more tomorrow... Let's see if it holds up for a good 24 hours. If it holds up, it may be worth getting more people to try it.

[Paul Webster]

Exciting and unexpected

[dzenc]

12 hours in and it's still good. It occurred to me after a few hours of testing that I should stick a 2nd Radio next to it for comparison, running the the old driver. So I put 2 of my other Radios physically next to the one running the new driver. And, no shock, both old driver Radios have since turned red and lost connection. And the one with the new driver is still running strong... I'll keep you posted...

[ralphy]

That's encouraging news!
I haven't installed it yet as I don't have the issue here. So I would only be testing stability.
I will cleanup the bitbake recipe for the newer driver this week and can create a test firmware release if needed.

[staresy]

Good work, fingers crossed.

Am happy to run a beta firmware if it's of use. I have five radios across two physical locations, two of which exhibit the WIFI issue, so I could verify stability and WIFI robustness.

[dzenc]

That's encouraging news!
I haven't installed it yet as I don't have the issue here. So I would only be testing stability.
I will cleanup the bitbake recipe for the newer driver this week and can create a test firmware release if needed.

Awesome. I'd definitely give that a try when it's available.

My Radio has been up now for over 24 hours continuously(!!), in which time each of the old-driver-Radios lost wifi twice (I reconnected them each after they lost it the first time).

I've attached the patch which contains the updates to the SDK83 loadAR6000.sh. Note that applying this patch will still leave it named loadAR6000.sh and /etc/init.d/wlan wants it to be named with an extra 'l' on the end (loadAR6000l.sh), so I leave it to you to resolve that, either by renaming the script or patching /etc/init.d/wlan...

I just went and installed it more permanently on my Radio, so it survives reboot, and rebooted.

For reference, here is a listing of my /lib/atheros directory -- Notably, it doesn't need the files "eeprom.bin" or "eeprom.data" (because it's loading "calData_ar6102_15dBm.bin" instead)

# cd /lib/atheros
# ls -l
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 163160 May 22 09:36 ar6000.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 98324 May 22 09:36 athwlan.bin.z77
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 11448 May 22 09:36 bmiloader
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 768 May 22 09:36 calData_ar6102_15dBm.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1336 May 22 09:36 data.patch.hw2_0.bin
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 14212 May 22 09:36 eeprom.AR6002
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 12187 May 23 10:07 loadAR6000l.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 73476 May 22 09:36 wmiconfig

-Dan

[yosherl]

Hey, that is pretty cool news moving forward. I can also try "alpha" testing. Knowledge on linux / ssh / etc etc is there, so I could also try to "upgrade" one of my two baby devices.
Just to make sure, dzenc - I only need to follow the instructions in https://forums.slimdevices.com/forum...47#post1639247 and copy / execute that things onto the device with the community firmware?

(For me, the issues with Wifi started 5 months ago definately very close after AVM released 7.50 firmware for their Fritzboxes and everybody updated probably in the neighborhood (including me). Before, everything was working fine on WiFi for >10 (!) years.. yuck)

[dzenc]

Hey, that is pretty cool news moving forward. I can also try "alpha" testing. Knowledge on linux / ssh / etc etc is there, so I could also try to "upgrade" one of my two baby devices.
Just to make sure, dzenc - I only need to follow the instructions in https://forums.slimdevices.com/forum...47#post1639247 and copy / execute that things onto the device with the community firmware?

Correct, you only need to follow the instructions in that post. If you do so, unpacking the tar file onto the Radio, and executing the commands as instructed, it will unload the old driver and start the new driver, and that will persist until the next reboot, at which point you will be back running the old driver. Everything needed is in that tar file.

[P Nelson]

That's encouraging news!
I haven't installed it yet as I don't have the issue here. So I would only be testing stability.
I will cleanup the bitbake recipe for the newer driver this week and can create a test firmware release if needed.

I have the wifi6 (AX) interference issue on my Radios, so I can also provide another test. However, I will need some clear instructions on how to do the install. I will also have to remove Wlanpoke.
I assume dzenc is not using Wlanpoke with the newer firmware dzenc.

Paul

[dzenc]

I assume dzenc is not using Wlanpoke with the newer firmware dzenc.

Correct, I'm not running wlanpoke.

[zordaz]

I have the wifi6 (AX) interference issue on my Radios, so I can also provide another test. However, I will need some clear instructions on how to do the install. I will also have to remove Wlanpoke.
I assume dzenc is not using Wlanpoke with the newer firmware dzenc.

Paul

Same here. Esp. howto remove wlanpoke. I have enough devices to do some alpha testing as well.

[dzenc]

Thank you guys for volunteering to test! I look forward to hearing how it works for you. Since Ralphy has indicated he'll get a beta firmware build out later this week, which will include the updated driver, I would suggest waiting for that, because I think that will be the easiest way to install it. ( Thanks, ralphy )

Also, a quick update on my testing: It's been almost 48 hours now; the old-driver-Radios are dropping connections at a rate of about 2-3 times/day each; the new driver has yet to drop a connection. From my perspective, this seems to have resolved my wifi connectivity issues, at least at this one problematic location. Fingers crossed.

[ralphy]

Awesome. I'd definitely give that a try when it's available.

My Radio has been up now for over 24 hours continuously(!!), in which time each of the old-driver-Radios lost wifi twice (I reconnected them each after they lost it the first time).

I've attached the patch which contains the updates to the SDK83 loadAR6000.sh. Note that applying this patch will still leave it named loadAR6000.sh and /etc/init.d/wlan wants it to be named with an extra 'l' on the end (loadAR6000l.sh), so I leave it to you to resolve that, either by renaming the script or patching /etc/init.d/wlan...

I just went and installed it more permanently on my Radio, so it survives reboot, and rebooted.

For reference, here is a listing of my /lib/atheros directory -- Notably, it doesn't need the files "eeprom.bin" or "eeprom.data" (because it's loading "calData_ar6102_15dBm.bin" instead)

# cd /lib/atheros
# ls -l
-r--r--r-- 1 root root 163160 May 22 09:36 ar6000.ko
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 98324 May 22 09:36 athwlan.bin.z77
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 11448 May 22 09:36 bmiloader
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 768 May 22 09:36 calData_ar6102_15dBm.bin
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 1336 May 22 09:36 data.patch.hw2_0.bin
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 14212 May 22 09:36 eeprom.AR6002
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 12187 May 23 10:07 loadAR6000l.sh
-r-xr-xr-x 1 root root 73476 May 22 09:36 wmiconfig

-Dan

Thanks for the patch. The eeprom.AR6002 binary might not be needed either if eeprom.* are not used. Initially, I might still include all of the eeprom* files so we don't loose track of them.

Please tar up all the files from the atheros directory on your working radio and send them to me? I want to be sure we are working from the same files. Thanks.