Table of Contents

Initial Setup

Obviously you need to connect it to your Wide Area Network (WAN) and then connect to the it via Local Area Network, if this doesn't make sense then read the instructions.

Installing LuCi & File Sharing

I've used OpenWRT for some time so installed the LuCi interface from the GL-iNet WebUI along with the filesharing and media sharing packages (both under Applications > File Sharing) as at some point I'm likely to plug a hard drive/additional storage into the USB port.

Other Packages

snippet.bash
# opkg install nano

No `etckeeper` which is a shame as its a nice way of backing up your systems core configuration files, maybe when a system upgrade is available as its

SSH

I couldn't SSH in initially, even after installing LuCi and checking the configuration. I repeatedly got the following error…

snippet.bash
ssh -p 222 root@192.168.8.1
Unable to negotiate with 192.168.8.1 port 222: no matching host key type found. Their offer: ssh-rsa

The solution (found here) was to instead use…

snippet.bash
ssh -p 222 -oHostKeyAlgorithms=+ssh-rsa root@192.168.8.1
BusyBox v1.28.3 () built-in shell (ash)
 
     MM           NM                    MMMMMMM          M       M
   $MMMMM        MMMMM                MMMMMMMMMMM      MMM     MMM
  MMMMMMMM     MM MMMMM.              MMMMM:MMMMMM:   MMMM   MMMMM
MMMM= MMMMMM  MMM   MMMM       MMMMM   MMMM  MMMMMM   MMMM  MMMMM'
MMMM=  MMMMM MMMM    MM       MMMMM    MMMM    MMMM   MMMMNMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM  MMMMM          MMMMM     MMMM    MMMM   MMMMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM   MMMMMM       MMMMM      MMMM    MMMM   MMMMMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM     MMMMM,    NMMMMMMMM   MMMM    MMMM   MMMMMMMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM      MMMMMM   MMMMMMMM    MMMM    MMMM   MMMM  MMMMMM
MMMM=   MMMM   MM    MMMM    MMMM      MMMM    MMMM   MMMM    MMMM
MMMM$ ,MMMMM  MMMMM  MMMM    MMM       MMMM   MMMMM   MMMM    MMMM
  MMMMMMM:      MMMMMMM     M         MMMMMMMMMMMM  MMMMMMM MMMMMMM
    MMMMMM       MMMMN     M           MMMMMMMMM      MMMM    MMMM
     MMMM          M                    MMMMMMM        M       M
       M
 ---------------------------------------------------------------
   For those about to rock... (Chaos Calmer, a828782+r49254)
 ---------------------------------------------------------------
root@GL-AX1800:~# 

Hey presto I was in and could edit files which greatly simplified updating the static IP addresses I use on my home network.

Static IP Addresses

I've a bunch of Raspberry Pi's that all have static IPs and various other devices, its tedious copying everything over via the WebUI, but its possible to copy the /etc/config/dhcp file over from my existing OpenWRT install (on a Linksys WRT1900ACS).

Upgrading

Disappointing that because of the chipset (Qualcomm) the support for WiFi6 is limited under OpenWRT (see comment) which seems a strange choice when one of the selling points is that its a WiFi6 enabled router!

As and when an update to the newer OpenWRT becomes available I will of course be updating but for now this makes me hesitant about putting this in place as my main router.

Resetting

Links

Official