ipq806x: add support for TP-Link Talon AD7200

[Daniel Golle]

On Mon, Oct 12, 2020 at 11:59:17AM +0200, Bas Mevissen wrote:
> On 2020-10-12 11:40, Bjørn Mork wrote:
> > Bas Mevissen <abuse at basmevissen.nl> writes:
> > 
> > > Nice work, but does it make sense to add a device that is already
> > > EOL'ed by the manufacturer? I guess the installed base is also rather
> > > small.
> > 
> > Definitely!
> > 
> > IMHO, it should me enough that there is one user with enough interest to
> > actually do the work, submit it and - hopefully - maintain it for a
> > while.
> > 
> 
> The latter, maintenance, is my biggest question mark. Technically keeping
> the sources compile is the smallest task. You need someone to actually use
> recent builds all the time and preferably in multiple use cases to catch
> regressions. Otherwise, it might give a false impression that the device is
> supported and working.
> 
> > In addition,
> >  - each supported device serves as a template and example for
> >    similar devices, simplifying support for other products.
> 
> It is not really an unique product. It looks like it was (just) created to
> be a showcase at CES2016.

To me it makes sense to support this device because it's easier to do
than MikroTik or ubnt devices with 802.11ad which have their special
quirks for EEPROM extraction and such (but yet those are very
interesting targets imho!). Starting with a TP-Link device which more
or less implements a plain reference design is a very good start for
802.11ad in Openwrt.


> 
> >  - OpenWrt support is good for the environment by increasing the usable
> >    lifetime of a device
> 
> True in itself. I have a very old TP-Link TL1043ND V1.x running (for which
> support will be removed soon because it gets very difficult to keep them
> going with current software sizes).
> 
> >  - you can still buy this device new, despite the EoL announcement
> > 
> 
> But should you? I would be very reluctant with buying EOL devices,
> especially when being a "first" and with the price still up.
> 
> I think that OpenWRT should be careful not to spend resources on devices
> that have no large install base nor any chance of getting it. In that
> respect, I would prefer to prioritize on low RAM / low flash devices instead
> as they are everywhere and mostly running outdated insecure software. With
> things like ZRAM and an external flash drive, there life span could be
> meaningfully extended.
> 
> > 
> > Bjørn
> 
> Bas.
> 
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