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Author Topic: Alt-F is an alternative firmware  (Read 58151 times)

int

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Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« on: December 03, 2010, 06:46:21 AM »

Now that DLINK released DNS-320 (http://wiki.dns323.info/dns-320) is an update of dns-323 with better cpu (500->800Mhz) and more RAM (32->128MB), dlink will not focus in this old nas.

We need an opensource community Firmware

Alt-F provides an alternative firmware for the DLINK DNS323, that can be either run "on top" of the vendor firmware, or flashed into the hardware.

Alt-F has Samba and NFS; supports ext2/3/4, VFAT, NTFS and ISO9660 filesystems; RAID 0, 1, 5 (with external USB disk) and JBD; rsync, ftp, sftp, ftps, ssh, lpd, DNS and DHCP servers, DDNS, fan and leds control, clean power up and down... and more.

Alt-F also has a set of comprehensive administering web pages, you don't need to use the command line to configure it (screenshots).

Besides the builtin software, Alt-F also supports additional packages on disk, including ffp packages, that you can install, update and uninstall using  the administering web pages.
It is also easy to install, just copy two files to your disk and reboot; on the second reboot you will be back to the usual vendor software (instructions)

Code: [Select]
*****Alt-F-0.1B1 has been released*****

*****Alt-F-0.1B2 released*****
What's new:

-NFS setup web page done.
-Native package manager based on ipkg, and administering web page.
-Added a temporary and experimental package feed with some packages available (some of them were not even tested)
-Fixed fun_plug
[b]Alt-F-0.1B3 released[/b]
What's new:

-Kernel, libraries and apps compiled for execution speed instead of
 space saving (as a result, and because of lack of flash memory space,
 uShare and Transmission are now packages)
-kernel 2.6.33.6
-Filesystem Maintenance web page
-Disk Partition/RAID creation web page
-improved DHCP support
-improved fun_plug for ffp users
-improved Alt-F packages installation and administration

-Available packages:
    -end-user packages with web administration page:
        -Transmission, Fuppes, MediaTomb, miniDLNA, uShare, Firefly,
  cups, hplip, samba-doc,
    -command-line tools:
        -dev-bundle, file, lsof, make, strace, nano, usbutils, unrar
        -mplayer, lame, ffmpeg, sane
    -networking:
        -avahi, netatalk (both untested)
    -filesystems:
 -ntfsprogs
    -databases:
        -sqlite, bdb, gdbm,
    -support libraries and tools:
 flac, expat, libdaemon, libdlna, libexif, libfuse, libid3tag, libmad,
 libogg, libpng, libtheora, libupnp, libusb, libvorbis, libxml2,
 readline, taglib, tiff, pcre

Known Issues:
 -Rev-A1 and rev-C1 hardware boards not yet supported

 -network link auto-negotiation doesn't work. As result Alt-F
  only works when the box is connected to Gbit switches/routers
  or network cards. 100/10Mbps switch or routers won't work.

 -ghostscrip/hplip can fail with an "Unable to get scanline 0/1" error,
  and cups does not noticies it, sending the print job to the printer,
  which prints a black page, wasting all your cartridge ink.
  After configure the printer in cups, DISCONECT THE PRINTER and print
  a test page. If in the State column of cups jobs web page, or using
  "lpstat -p" you see a  "Unable to get scanline 0/1" message,
  CANCEL THE PRINT JOB AND DON'T USE THAT PRINT CONFIGURATION.

 -big MTU (~>3712 bytes) cause a lot of "page allocation failure" error,
  which impairs network performance (NFS at least)

 -nfs generates a lot of "received packet spanning multiple descriptors"
  errors when MTU is not the same on both hosts!

 -partition sizes are not uniformly reported. Sometimes are binary based,
  others decimal based.

 -component RAID disks hotpluging/ejecting might not do the right thing,
  specially for raid0, JBD.

 -some web pages go back in browser history when an error is detected,
  instead of reloading the previous page. The user must refresh the page

 -The Disk Partitioning web page is not able to re-partition disks whose
  partitions that are not in increasing partition-start order, as the
  vendor's partition table are when configured for "standard disks".
  This only happens if the user whish to keep some partition in the
  middle of the disk unaltered. The solution is to re-partition the whole
  disk, loosing all it data.

*****Alt-F-0.1B4 has been released*****
What's new:

    -kernel 2.6.35.4
        -owners of A1 hardware boards should try this.
        -no lzma squashfs backported patch, as it turns the kernel
        unstable; as a result there are less 11MB of RAM available :-(
    -sftp and ftps support
    -ftp administering web page (AWP)
    -wget proxy AWP (untested)
    -disk wizard AWP
    -disk maintenance AWP redesigned, more disk/raid operations supported
    -disk partitioning AWP bugs fixed
    -remote web administration AWP (untested)
    -redesigned side menu and added drop-down menus on AWP
    -SMART AWP
    -Board revision level detection
    -several other fixes and improvements.

Known Issues:

    -Rev-A1 (try it an report) and rev-C1 hardware boards not yet supported

    -network link auto-negotiation doesn't work. As result Alt-F
     only works when the box is connected to Gbit switches/routers
     or network cards. 100/10Mbps switch or routers won't work.

    -ghostscrip/hplip can fail with an "Unable to get scanline 0/1" error,
     and cups does not noticies it, sending the print job to the printer,
     which prints a black page, wasting all your cartridge ink.
     After configure the printer in cups, DISCONECT THE PRINTER and print
     a test page. If in the State column of cups jobs web page, or using
     "lpstat -p" you see a  "Unable to get scanline 0/1" message,
     CANCEL THE PRINT JOB AND DON'T USE THAT PRINT CONFIGURATION.

*****Alt-F-0.1B5 has been released*****
What's new:

        -finally works with 100Mbps and 1Gbps switches or routers
        -support for rev-C1 boards through backported 2.6.36 patch
        -fan support for rev-C1 board, using a post by Benjamin Herrenschmidt
         (Thanks to Alexey Boyko for collaboration with all rev-C1 testing)
        -squashfs-lzma is back, thanks to openwrt.org forward patch
        -kernel 2.6.35.7, nfs-utils 1.2.3, kexec to 2.0.2,
        -No job is finished until the paperwork is done:
                -descriptive help support with some help pages already written
                -tooltip support with demos in some pages
        -disaster recovery:
                -no password asked when connecting through the serial port
                -back button opens telnetd without password on port 26, or clears flash
        -DHCP/DNS web page splited and Hosts page created
        -simplified samba configuration web page (swat is still there)
        -several improvements and bug fixes

*****Alt-F-0.1B6 has been released*****
What's new:
-kernel 2.6.36.2, nfs-utils back to version 1.2.1
-terse report from vaughnd12 confirms that rev-A1 boards are now working.
(tanks to Philster76 and KRH for initial testing)
-partitioning and filesystem web pages spliced and RAID web page created
-Filesystems, RAID, and Partitioner web pages are now simpler
-Disk Partitioner and Wizard now unconditionally aligns partitions on 4K boundaries
-Disk Partitioner now has an advanced mode
-Directory Browser web page with enhanced (but slow) browsing and
with directory copy/cut/move/create/delete capabilities
-Directory Ownership and Access Permissions web page
-backup support and Backup Manager administering web pages (preliminary)
backups local directories and directories mounted by NFS/CIFS
-Remote syslog support and administering web pages (contribution from Augusto Bott)
-Firmware updater web page now enables recovering original vendor's settings from backup
(untested if effective, there are some differences between backup and original)
-Status web page only shows what exists
-Spaces allowed in paths in /etc/fstab and /etc/exports (use\040as\040space)
and processed by smb and nfs web pages. NFS complains but works.
mounts by filesystem labels still replace spaces with underscores.
-Speed improvement in web pages that deals with disk
-Countless improvements and bug fixes.

Opensource project
Website: http://sites.google.com/site/altfirmware/
Code and bug page: http://code.google.com/p/alt-f/
« Last Edit: December 30, 2010, 12:05:25 PM by int »
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Chill

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  • Posts: 43
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2010, 10:09:27 AM »

Will this run firefly?
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jamieburchell

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  • Posts: 947
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2010, 11:04:07 AM »

fyi: The 323 has Gigabit networking.
I also think the Alt-F web interface could look much better. It's much worse than even D-Link's dated interface.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2010, 11:05:47 AM by jamieburchell »
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If your little 323 is not working right,
You've racked your brains and been up all night
Take a deep breath and wipe away the sweat,
Login as web admin and try a factory reset!

Chill

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  • Posts: 43
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #3 on: December 05, 2010, 05:24:31 AM »

If this is anything like DD-WRT or Tomato then I dont see any reason for this not to gain popularity. What features Alt-F would excel against the stock firmware?
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Biscotte

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  • Posts: 41
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #4 on: December 05, 2010, 11:57:56 AM »

int - are you the guy that is putting this alternative together? 
Either that or it seems you have swallowed the blurb on the alt-f site and regurgitated it here. 

As the custodian of the software, I ask you the same questions as above: 
''Will this run firefly?''
''What are the real advantages over the stock firmware?''
And as posted above, agreed, the alt-f interface looks about as tortuous as the synology one, which i have given up trying to get to grips with. 

Yes it would be nice to have usb raid and so on, but mostly I would not be sad without it. 
Similarly ext4 - I'm just getting to grips with reformatting a number of very large discs to ext3 - several days each, plus days copying the data back . . .
And others

Genuinely, I would like to hear an assortment of feedback

Biscotte
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int

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Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #5 on: December 05, 2010, 12:02:04 PM »

int - are you the guy that is putting this alternative together? 

I'm nothing to do with this project, I'm only supporting an alternative giving publicity here.
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jamieburchell

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Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #6 on: December 05, 2010, 12:21:54 PM »

Quote
''What are the real advantages over the stock firmware?''

Probably a community backing, an upgraded Linux kernel and the ability to run additional add-ons. Lots of which you can already do with FFP. Alt-F can run with FFP or as an alternative firmware.

More info on the Alt-F website.

Please note that alternative firmware or modifications may brick your unit and are unsupported by D-Link.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2010, 12:33:11 PM by jamieburchell »
Logged
If your little 323 is not working right,
You've racked your brains and been up all night
Take a deep breath and wipe away the sweat,
Login as web admin and try a factory reset!

garyhgaryh

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  • Posts: 133
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #7 on: December 05, 2010, 10:45:37 PM »

Can I find the rev of my dns323 on the web page (I can't turn the unit upside down to find out so I was thinking perhaps it's listed somewhere in the UI).

Does anyone have Alt-F installed? I have a usb hub connected to the usb port on my dns323.  I have a printer and a battery backup connected to that port.  Would I be able to plug in a usb 2.0 external drive and back up the nas directly? If I can get USB 2.0 xfer speed during backup (20-30 Mb/sec), it beats backing up on a gigabit network getting only 6.64 Mb/sec transfer rate.  Takes over 24 hrs to back up my nas this way.  If I had an external drive connected, I can back up the entire NAS in about 6 hrs instead.
Gary
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PatrickHuard

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  • Posts: 7
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #8 on: December 11, 2010, 08:30:18 AM »

I gave a try to the firmware with the temporary install. I couldn't write anything on the disk? I decided to remove it and once it was back to original firmware I had to install FFP to delete the files Alt-F left on my drive with Telnet =|
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wilburyan

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  • Posts: 6
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #9 on: December 12, 2010, 06:42:26 AM »

easy way to tell what revision I have?

edit: nevermind... was just too lazy to go downstairs and check the bottom.  2nd question... C1 support coming soon? :)
« Last Edit: December 12, 2010, 06:50:02 AM by wilburyan »
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krenkey

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  • Posts: 57
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #10 on: December 12, 2010, 08:49:32 AM »

I have it installed runs great just need some patience and some linux background. Adding a usb drive is as easy as plugging it into the usb port and adding it to the smb page and boom you have external usb support dunno why dlink couldnt do that
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int

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  • Posts: 4
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #11 on: December 30, 2010, 12:02:37 PM »

*****Alt-F-0.1B6 has been released*****

What's new:
   -kernel 2.6.36.2, nfs-utils back to version 1.2.1
   -terse report from vaughnd12 confirms that rev-A1 boards are now working.
    (tanks to Philster76 and KRH for initial testing)
   -partitioning and filesystem web pages spliced and RAID web page created
   -Filesystems, RAID, and Partitioner web pages are now simpler
   -Disk Partitioner and Wizard now unconditionally aligns partitions on 4K boundaries
   -Disk Partitioner now has an advanced mode
   -Directory Browser web page with enhanced (but slow) browsing and
    with directory copy/cut/move/create/delete capabilities
   -Directory Ownership and Access Permissions web page
   -backup support and Backup Manager administering web pages (preliminary)
    backups local directories and directories mounted by NFS/CIFS
   -Remote syslog support and administering web pages (contribution from Augusto Bott)
   -Firmware updater web page now enables recovering original vendor's settings from backup
    (untested if effective, there are some differences between backup and original)
   -Status web page only shows what exists
   -Spaces allowed in paths in /etc/fstab and /etc/exports (use\040as\040space)
    and processed by smb and nfs web pages. NFS complains but works.
    mounts by filesystem labels still replace spaces with underscores.
   -Speed improvement in web pages that deals with disk
   -Countless improvements and bug fixes.
Logged

Micky_G

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  • Posts: 1
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #12 on: January 01, 2011, 02:08:52 PM »

I have a Hardware rev. C and for me it doesn't work. I tried several times, but when the Box restarts it is not reachable for me. Maybe there is an issue with the C Hardware ? Does anybody know ?
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int

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  • Posts: 4
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #13 on: January 01, 2011, 05:12:43 PM »

I have a Hardware rev. C and for me it doesn't work. I tried several times, but when the Box restarts it is not reachable for me. Maybe there is an issue with the C Hardware ? Does anybody know ?

The information that I have is that the alf-f support rev-C if the only custom firmware that supports that.

See: http://forum.dsmg600.info/viewtopic.php?id=5460
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Giammi_1963

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  • Posts: 13
Re: Alt-F is an alternative firmware
« Reply #14 on: January 02, 2011, 11:19:00 AM »

Hi to everybody, thanks a lot for support our device, d-link should not stop to support our device.
Just a question, if I install this alternative firmware, I'll lost all my data ? I read that it support an USB hard drive, but I may only make a back-up, no incremental or other ?
Sorry for my english
Regards
Gianni
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