Ubiquiti PicoStation2

This device is NOT RECOMMENDED for future use with OpenWrt due to low flash/ram.
DO NOT BUY DEVICES WITH 4MB FLASH / 32MB RAM if you intend to flash an up-to-date and secure OpenWrt version onto it! See 4/32 warning for details.

1) This device does not have sufficient resources (flash and/or RAM) to provide secure and reliable operation.
This means that even setting a password or changing simple network settings might not be possible any more, rendering the device effectively useless. See OpenWrt on 4/32 devices what you can do now.

2) OpenWrt support for this device has ended in 2022.
19.07.10 was the last official build for 4/32 devices.

Picostation 2s are supported by Chaos Calmer under the “ath25” target. Older versions, from Barrier Breaker and previous, referred to the chipset as “atheros”.

Chaos Calmer (15.05): https://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ath25/generic/openwrt-15.05-ath25-ubnt2-pico2-squashfs.bin

Barrier Breaker (14.07): https://downloads.openwrt.org/barrier_breaker/14.07/atheros/generic/openwrt-atheros-ubnt2-pico2-squashfs.bin

Attitude Adjustment (12.09): https://downloads.openwrt.org/attitude_adjustment/12.09/atheros/generic/openwrt-atheros-ubnt2-squashfs.bin

It should be possible to use the ubiquiti web interface to install the firmware binaries.

When flashing those images, the Ubiquiti web interface *may* show a warning about unsupported third-party firmware. This warning can be ignored.

The devices come with a handy tftp server for uploading images without a web ui (or in case of certain “bricked” states). It's the same as: nanostation, but for redundancy, the process is:

Requirements

  • Ethernet cable connection between PC and NanoStation. A switched connection or a bridged connection seems to work fine.
  • Network settings of PC: 192.168.1.254/255.255.255.0
  • TFTP client on PC
  • NanoStation firmware file from Ubiquiti (not an OpenWrt image)

Procedure

  1. Turn off the device
  2. Press the reset button
  3. Turn on the device
  4. Release the reset button ~10 seconds (but not longer) after turning the device on. You will know it's ready when the LEDs change.
  5. Ping 192.168.1.20. If it works, you're ready to upload an image, if not, go back to step 1.
  6. tftp the image in binary mode to 192.168.1.20 as 'flash_update'.
tftp 192.168.1.20
tftp> bin
tftp> put openwrt-atheros-ubnt5-squashfs.bin flash_update
Sent 1965199 bytes in 28.8 seconds
tftp> quit

or in Windows Dos prompt

tftp -i 192.168.1.20 put openwrt-atheros-ubnt5-squashfs.bin flash_update

7. Signal LEDs might be blinking during the upgrade. On a Nano5L, the power lights go back and forth. 7. Wait ~7 minutes before restarting or until the power lights stop their back and forth blinking. 7. Restart. The device should be back to its old configuration (OpenWrt doesn't overwrite or modify the NVRAM settings).

8. telnet to 192.168.1.1 and set a password with

passwd

generic.sysupgrade

If you have already installed OpenWrt and like to reflash for e.g. upgrading to a new OpenWrt version you can upgrade using the sysupgrade command line tool. It is important that you put the firmware image into the ramdisk (/tmp) before you start flashing.

LuCI Web Upgrade Process
  • Browse to http://192.168.1.1/cgi-bin/luci/mini/system/upgrade/ LuCI Upgrade URL
  • Upload the “sysupgrade” image file to LuCI
  • Wait for reboot
Terminal Upgrade Process
  • Login as root via SSH on 192.168.1.1
    ssh root@192.168.1.1
  • Use the following commands to upgrade:
    cd /tmp/
    wget https://downloads.openwrt.org/chaos_calmer/15.05/ath25/generic/openwrt-15.05-ath25-ubnt2-pico2-squashfs.bin
    sysupgrade -i /tmp/openwrt-15.05-ath25-ubnt2-pico2-squashfs.bin

To restore original firmware back you can't use mtd or sysupgrade but you have to use tftp method.

First put Picostation in recovery mode via reset button on power on, and then flash original flash image via tftp.

Basic configuration After flashing, proceed with this.
Set up your Internet connection, configure wireless, configure USB port, etc.

Instruction set MIPS MIPS 4KC
Vendor Qualcomm Atheros
System-On-Chip AR2316 (MIPS)
CPU/Speed 180MHz
Flash size 4 MiB
RAM 16 MiB
Wireless SoC-integrated: Atheros AR2316 2.4GHz 802.11b/g
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  • Last modified: 2020/12/20 20:17
  • by danitool