OpenWRT questions

[Evan Leibovitch]

Hi there.

It looks like there are some are some OpenWRT experts (or at least
expereinced users) here, and I'm hoping that someone can help he out of an
impasse.

I purchased a TP-Link TL-WR703N wifi router on eBay for $20. It seems to be
able to do what I need -- as a light, power-sipping travel router -- and I
really only need two functions:

   1. A portable wifi router, to allow multiple wireless devices to use the
   Internet in a hotel room if all that's provided by the room is a wired
   connection (it would fetch a DHCP address from the hotel, but masquerade
   and provide DHCP addresses to wireless devices)

   2. A repeater that will magnify weak wifi signals (again, useful in a
   hotel room if they have wifi but it's weak)

There are other things I may want to do with it later (especially with the
USB port) but the above are the main two priorities.

The factory ROM is in Chinese only, but the device appears to be fully
supported by OpenWRT <http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/tp-link/tl-wr703n>. I've
successfully installed the OpenWRT ROM and have the LUCI web interface
working. However, I appear to be at an impasse in making it perform the
above tasks.

Where I'm stuck is in understanding just which of the possible
configuration "recipes" <http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/howto/clientmode> is
required. For bridging the wired LAN into a wifi hotspot, do I need a "routed
client <http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/recipes/routedclient> (with
masquerade)", a "routed client with
relayd<http://wiki.openwrt.org/doc/recipes/relayclient>"
(also mentioned here <http://trac.gateworks.com/wiki/relayd>), or something
else? What's the best way to set this up? Can I use LUCI or am I stuck
doing this in CLI?

Also, how I implement the repeater? Ideally I would like the device to act
as a repeater if wired Ethernet is not attached, and LAN-to-wifi router
when attached.

And finally, does anyone have any suggestions, warnings or gotchas about
using this device/OS?

Thanks!

-- 
Evan Leibovitch
Toronto Canada

 Em: evan at telly dot org
Sk: evanleibovitch
Tw: el56
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