OpenWrt 14.07 for D-Link DAP-1360 (H/W: D1, RTL8196C)

Custom OpenWrt build for D-Link DAP-1360 router based on Realtek RTL8196C SoC. Forked from cgoder/openwrt_rtk SDK with added RTL8196C subtarget support.

Hardware Specifications

Component	Specification
SoC	Realtek RTL8196C (Lexra LX4181, single-core, 389 BogoMIPS)
CPU	MIPS32r2 compatible, no FPU
RAM	32 MB (soldered)
Flash	4 MB SPI NOR (Winbond)
WiFi	RTL8192CD (2.4 GHz 802.11n, 2x2 MIMO)
Ethernet	RTL8196C integrated 10/100 switch (2 ports)
Bootloader	RTL-Boot (NOT U-Boot)
Serial	38400 baud (NOT 115200)

Flash Layout

Offset      Size      Description
0x000000    64 KB     Bootloader (RTL-Boot, read-only)
0x010000    64 KB     MAC address storage, HW settings (0x6000)
0x020000    64 KB     NVRAM configuration, bootinfo (0xC000)
0x030000    1 MB      Linux kernel
0x130000    2.8 MB    SquashFS root filesystem

Prerequisites

Linux Build Environment

OpenWrt requires a case-sensitive filesystem. Use Linux or WSL2.

# Ubuntu/Debian dependencies
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential libncurses5-dev zlib1g-dev gawk \
    git gettext libssl-dev xsltproc wget unzip python2 python3 \
    subversion mercurial rsync

# Verify case sensitivity
touch Test && ls test  # Should fail on case-sensitive FS
rm Test

Disk Space

• Minimum: 10 GB free
• Recommended: 20 GB free (toolchain + build artifacts)

Build Instructions

1. Clone Repository

cd /path/to/work
git clone https://github.com/cgoder/openwrt_rtk.git
cd openwrt_rtk/rtk_openwrt_sdk

2. Initialize Realtek SDK

# Download toolchain and patch SDK
./rtk_scripts/rtk_init.sh prepare
./rtk_scripts/rtk_init.sh patch

Note: The prepare command downloads the Realtek toolchain from cadinfo.realtek.com.tw. If this server is down, you'll need an alternative source.

3. Update Feeds

./scripts/feeds update -a
./scripts/feeds install -a

4. Configure for DAP-1360

# Option A: Use defconfig (recommended)
cp rtk_deconfig/defconfig_rtl8196c .config
make menuconfig  # Review and save

# Option B: Manual configuration
make menuconfig
# Target System → Realtek mips SOC
# Subtarget → rtl8196c
# Target Profile → D-Link DAP-1360
# Target Images → squashfs

5. Build

# Full build
make V=s -j$(nproc)

# Single-threaded (for debugging)
make V=s -j1

Build time: 30-120 minutes depending on hardware.

6. Output

bin/rtkmips/
├── openwrt-rtkmips-rtl8196c-DAP1360-fw.bin    # Final firmware image
├── openwrt-rtkmips-rtl8196c-rootfs.squashfs   # Root filesystem
└── openwrt-rtkmips-rtl8196c-vmlinux.bin.lzma  # Compressed kernel

Flashing

Method 1: Web Interface (if accessible)

1. Connect to DAP-1360 via Ethernet (192.168.0.50)
2. Open web interface (http://192.168.0.50)
3. Navigate to Firmware Update
4. Upload the -fw.bin file
5. Wait for reboot

Method 2: TFTP (if web interface broken)

# Set up TFTP server
sudo apt-get install tftpd-hpa
sudo cp bin/rtkmips/openwrt-rtkmips-rtl8196c-DAP1360-fw.bin /srv/tftp/
sudo systemctl restart tftpd-hpa

# On router (via telnet/serial)
tftp -g -l /tmp/firmware.bin <TFTP_SERVER_IP>
mtd write /tmp/firmware.bin Linux
reboot

Method 3: Serial Console (if bricked)

Requires soldering serial header (3.3V TTL, 38400 baud):

Pin 1: VCC (3.3V) — do NOT connect
Pin 2: GND
Pin 3: TX (connect to USB-TX)
Pin 4: RX (connect to USB-RX)

Default Credentials

Service	IP	Username	Password
Web/SSH	192.168.0.50	admin	admin
WiFi SSID	—	DAP-1360-OpenWrt	—

Configuration Details

Kernel Config (rtl8196c/config-3.10)

Key settings for RTL8196C:

# SoC selection
CONFIG_SOC_RTL8196C=y

# CPU (single-core Lexra)
# CONFIG_SMP is not set
CONFIG_NR_CPUS=1
# CONFIG_CPU_MIPS32_R2 is not set
# CONFIG_CPU_R4K_FPU is not set

# USB (2.0 only)
CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD=y
CONFIG_USB_OHCI_HCD=y
# CONFIG_USB_XHCI_HCD is not set

# WiFi
CONFIG_RTL8192CD=m
CONFIG_SLOT_0_92C=y
CONFIG_SLOT_1_92C=y
CONFIG_BAND_2G_ON_WLAN0=y

# Flash
CONFIG_RTL819X_SPI_FLASH=y
CONFIG_RD_LZMA=y

Package Selection (defconfig_rtl8196c)

Minimal build for 4MB flash:

Included:

• base-files, busybox, dropbear, firewall, iptables
• netifd, opkg, uci, procd, ubus
• kmod-ipt-core, kmod-ipt-conntrack, kmod-ipt-nat
• kmod-cfg80211, kmod-mac80211, wpad-mini
• luci, luci-base, luci-theme-bootstrap
• luci-app-firewall, luci-proto-ppp
• ppp, ppp-mod-pppoe

Excluded (to save flash/RAM):

• IPv6 packages (kmod-ip6tables, odhcp6c, odhcpd)
• mtd, uboot-envtools (not needed at runtime)
• luci-i18n-* (translations)
• luci-app-* (extra apps except firewall)

Space Budget

Component	Size
Boot/MAC/config	192 KB
Kernel	~1,000 KB
Rootfs	~2,345 KB
Total	~3,537 KB
Remaining	~559 KB

Project Structure

openwrt-14.07-dap1360/
├── README.md                        # This file
├── BUILD.md                         # Quick build reference
├── Dockerfile                       # Docker build environment
├── docker-setup.sh                  # Docker container setup script
└── rtk_openwrt_sdk/
    ├── rtk_deconfig/
    │   └── defconfig_rtl8196c          # DAP-1360 defconfig
    ├── target/linux/rtkmips/
    │   ├── Makefile                     # SUBTARGETS includes rtl8196c
    │   ├── rtl8196c/                    # RTL8196C subtarget
    │   │   ├── target.mk               # CPU_TYPE:=mips32
    │   │   ├── config-3.10             # Kernel config
    │   │   ├── kconfig/
    │   │   │   └── 96C-config-3.10     # Menuconfig variant
    │   │   └── profiles/
    │   │       ├── 120-AP.mk           # Generic AP profile
    │   │       └── 130-DAP1360.mk      # DAP-1360 profile
    │   ├── rtl8198c/                    # RTL8198C subtarget (reference)
    │   ├── image/
    │   │   ├── Makefile                 # Image build rules
    │   │   └── lzma-loader/            # Boot decompressor
    │   ├── files/
    │   │   ├── drivers/net/wireless/rtl8192cd/  # WiFi driver
    │   │   ├── drivers/net/rtl819x/    # Ethernet/switch driver
    │   │   ├── drivers/mtd/maps/       # Flash mapping
    │   │   └── arch/mips/realtek/      # Board support
    │   └── patches-3.10/               # Kernel patches (35 total)
    └── tools/rtk-tools/                 # cvimg-rtl8196c image tool

Differences from RTL8198C

Feature	RTL8196C (DAP-1360)	RTL8198C (reference)
CPU cores	1 (Lexra LX4181)	2 (MIPS32r2 24Kc)
SMP	Disabled	Enabled
USB	EHCI/OHCI (2.0)	XHCI (3.0)
WiFi bands	2.4 GHz only	2.4 + 5 GHz
Kernel offset	0x30000	0x60000
HW settings	0x20000	0x20000
I-cache	16 KB	64 KB
D-cache	8 KB	32 KB

Known Issues

1. WiFi driver integration — RTL8192CD compiles as module, may need manual loading
2. Serial baud rate — 38400, not 115200 like most routers
3. RTL-Boot — Cannot use U-Boot commands, different flash protocol
4. cvimg tool — Must be built with -DCONFIG_RTL_8196C (handled by SDK)

Recovery

If device is bricked:

1. Soft brick (web accessible): Flash stock firmware via web interface
2. Hard brick (no access): Use serial console + TFTP
3. Complete brick: Use JTAG or flash chip programmer

Stock Firmware

Download from D-Link support: 2017.10.13-15.40_DAP_1360D1_3.0.0_release.bin (3.12 MB)

Note: This firmware is for hardware revision D1 only.

References

• OpenWrt 14.07 Documentation
• cgoder/openwrt_rtk

License

OpenWrt is licensed under GPL v2. Realtek SDK components are subject to their own licenses.