Clean OpenWRT on GL-iNet routers

Hello all users and GL.iNet Staff
My first device from GL-iNet is Slate AX (GL-AXT1800) GL-AXT1800 / Slate AX - GL.iNet and I am very happy with it, of course! More than once, I sent e-mails to the support with suggestions regarding software development or other questions, and there was always an answer, very good support!
What does wlan-ap-v2.6.0 mean in the SDK section in the table from the link below?
Firmware Versions - GL.iNet
I also have a question: is there a chance that this router will one day have native OpenWRT support?

I want to experiment a bit with pure OpenWRT and I had to choose:

  • GL-iNet Beryl (GL-MT1300) [SDK - Native OpenWrt]
  • Beryl AX (GL-MT3000) [SDK - MTK]
  • Slate Plus (GL-A1300) https:/ /www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-a1300/

and I choose Slate Plus (GL-A1300) because I noticed that it has native support for OpenWRT
[Firmware Versions - GL.iNet]
[OpenWrt Firmware Selector]

Is Slate Plus (GL-A1300) a good choice?

I have a question whether it is safe and how to do it...

  1. Uploading the latest clean OpenWRT to Slate Plus (GL-A1300)
  2. If necessary, restore the standard GL-iNet firmware

As long as you use Sysupgrade images all is fine and you can restore the original GL firmware by just upgrading inside your plain OpenWrt or by using uboot Debrick via Uboot - GL.iNet Router Docs 4

Just make sure you always use the sysupgrade image.

Why especially sysupgrade? As I see, other works fine…

Others will reformat the device and install plain Uboot.
With plain uboot it's pretty hard to get back to the GL GUI.

All in all only sysupgrade is more or less supported.

1 Like

I can't say for 100% sure that Slate AX will be fully supported by mainline OpenWRT, however, there have recently been commits to OpenWRT which improve support for it, and there is at least 1 person doing a lot of work to try to make it happen.

There is an extremely long development thread on the OpenWRT forum here: GL-iNet AX1800 new router - OpenWrt support? - For Developers - OpenWrt Forum

If I want to test pure OpenWRT, should I upload the latest sysupgrade image via LuCi? however, if I want to go back to the standard GL-iNet with OpenWRT, I only have LuCi to choose from and I will upload a standard GL image and I will not have any leftovers and unnecessary files? Will the router be like new, just taken out of the box, or will anything else need to be done?

Can someone answer the questions from this thread about pure OpenWRT? Maybe also someone from GL.iNet Staff or other users ?

The question seems to be simple, but the answer could get very complex and can't be answered, if you don't know the whole upgrade of the one or the other system.

Is you do a sysupdate to OpenWRT and you put a file on your SD card, the file will be there after revert to GL-iNet...

Above is explained the uboot won't be touch d during the sysupgrade. Therefore you will have GL-iNet components in your OpenWRT environment. If you don't, as described above, the return will be much more complicated.

If you have a GL-iNet firmware, and do a sysupgrade to OpenWRT, the support goes fully to OpenWRT. If you'll have a low level issue, they will tell to ask GL-iNet support, who will ask to go back to GL-iNet firmware ... At least you will be on your own, until someone with more experience will solve it for all.
Be aware if it.

If I replace the radio of my car, because I want a fancy Android one instead or the OEM crap, the vendor of my car won't answer if it will fit and if I still can control the AC over touchscreen... You asked a similar question.
(Hint: I changed the radio anyways. But I have somewhat of car mechanic background)

So if I install sysupgrade, U-BOOT will remain. Can I upload OpenWRT via GL-INET GUI or is it better to upload it under LuCi? And if I want to restore the standard Gl-iNet GUI, should I upload the normal Gl-iNet software in LuCi or is it better to do it via U-BOOT?

Doesn't matter if you use luci or the GUI for the sysupgrade image. U-boot isn't required as long as either one of those methods work.

The development of the GL-iNet software is going in the right direction, I am very satisfied and the questions about pure OpenWRT are actually out of curiosity.