B1300 now and future

Technical Support for Routers
1

Hi,

i have bought a b1300, and it seems great, but then i learn that is is using openwrt 15.5.1 last update is Dec 2017… i know you have made changes to it and i think somewhere in the forum i think i read that there is a new kernel coming…

and i can live with that, but i did buy the router to use a little IOT software on it and that is not possible at least not in the them of using software there is more or less updated… like the MQTT server is from 14 Feb 2016(packages)…

i know you can’t do anything about qualcomm and their drivers… (are they at some point doing a newer version?? openwrt??)

I could install OpenWRT with opensource drivers but it seems they are not that good unstable(what would i miss in therms of features/speed??)

i see you have an firmware 3.0 in the pipeline… how would install that… i have read the docs, but there is noting there that say i can use the upload firmware web interface… so i have not done it yet…

to the last question… if i wanted to buy your hardware and have openWrt 18.6.+… and the fastest performer and features… what should i buy?

2

There will be a new B1300 firmware release with the new v3 UI, kernel 4.4.60 but still using openwrt 15. I don’t know about the packages but i guess it would be possible to upgrade most of them since the new kernel is most important, compared to the system features and layout. I don’t know what GL’s plan about that is at the moment.

You will be able to update to v3 using the GL UI, just selecting a local file at first, while the firmware is under testing.

The fastest router with most features after the B1300 is the AR750s Slate. With that router you will always be able to have the latest openwrt.

3

If you really want to try open source you can go with latest openwrt.

Open source WiFi driver works great on B1300, although not as great as Qualcomm WiFi driver.

But you can merely notice the differences if you use a smartphone.

4

I have updated to the newest firmware 3.x for my b1300, but still the packages are the same… this is not good(as they are still based on OpenWRT 15.x i guess)…so software is not secure

I will try using the clean openWRT… in my opinion you should not make hardware that require old software to work… i was buying my b1300 to get an router that is more less updated to at least 2018… but is 2015… yes the wifi works great… but b1300 is not an IOT gateway/hub or even a device that should have access to default packages that is that old.

please use your effort in making the opensource driver for the chipset better, then keep on spending time on old software.

5

As I said, the opensource wifi driver is working great already. There is no way to make it works as great as Qualcomm’s proprietary wifi driver.

1 Like
6

You missed the point, alzhao.

You picked a design that had KNOWN problems with making it work great with everything. Your product’s selling point? Is that you provide a nice (Which it’s impressive with the v3 UX) look and feel on top of a solid product that is based in the core of the latest OpenWRT or almost so.

THIS?

It’s embarrassing and infuriating. You’re forcing people to choose an OLD version of software with KNOWN security and operation problems (I cannot use my Verizon USB dongle with the B1300, whereas I can with the Black Atheros based units, just for starters. It doesn’t work as a G3 Dongle, nor do most of the modern 4G and upcoming 5G solutions. And…you currently, because of the old software you’re using, can’t do anything other than USB tether with a phone or work with OLD modem units. However, the older, lower speed devices you sell for slightly less…they work like they’re supposed to with almost everything out there. Their drawback? 2.4GHz only N. No AC. And don’t tell me that you can’t get AC working with something else. That’d be a lie.)

In the end, this is a bait and switch guys.

7

You should take a look at Asus and other top router brands. They all run old linux versions and toolchains. This is not GL’s fault, its Qualcomm that hasn’t updated their tools.

You should remember that you are getting OpenWRT and you can flash the latest version if you want, but the router ships using the Qualcomm drivers which have better performance than the stock OpenWRT ones.

If you don’t like the S1300 then don’t buy it. Go buy a router that costs 2 times more, probably doesn’t run OpenWRT and STILL has old linux, and half a fraction of the ram.

8

Other brands are even worse is the excuse ?
Serious ?

9

You should understand that all companies are dependent on the chip makers software tools and build chains, no way to get around that.

And yes, GL already offers more than other brands, was worth mentioning.

10

Just to clarify, the reason official FW is stuck in v15 of OpenWrt is because the binary drivers only work with that older version (ie its kernel)?

There’s no way to use these binaries on a later kernel etc?

11

Exactly. Qualcomm instead of making their changes open source, they made a lot of changes to OpenWRT and call it QSDK. They then supply something similar to the GL Imagebuilder, semi precompiled firmware, with their drivers and other changes compiled in, and the rest open source. GL then does their further changes to release the firmware.

Unfortunately performance and more advanced features such as mesh are QSDK dependent.

QSDK is stuck on 15.05 but they do release cherry picked changes from upstream when issues are found, but not often. Gl further updates packages to more recent on each version (and if you have any special requirement).

There are people working on recreating the performance and mesh in Vanilla OpenWRT but that is not ready yet.

12

I didn’t know about this. I was thinking of using the latest OpenWRT version, but this means that I won’t be able to use mesh if I upgrade? :frowning:

13

@sfx2000 should be up to date on how mesh is going on Vanilla OpenWRT, but i think no. I haven’t seen any releases stating it was added.

For mesh you need to stick with the GL firmware.

1 Like
14

@Johnex Thanks for your input - really clarifies things

I have a B1300 and I don’t use mesh. I use a ethernet and powerline backhaul. Is there any wway to get Gl-inet 3.02 + OpenWRT 19.07 on it?

I am very keen to get 8011.2r on my B1300 for improved roaming performance, a feature which seems to only be on OpenWRT 19.07