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CatWrt - Customized OpenWrt Smart Gateway

#CatWrt#Openwrt#软路由#硬路由#固件296
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CatWrt is a customized OpenWrt smart gateway project that is popular among university students and open-source developers. It emphasizes community knowledge sharing and does not include commercial projects, promoting the use of free software for private applications. The project is based on Lean's LEDE repository and is open-source, ensuring no backdoors or monitoring software are included. CatWrt supports various hardware, including x86 and ARM devices, and offers a range of features such as system updates and application installations via opkg. The community is focused on students, fostering a collaborative learning environment. Updates are released periodically, and users can seek help through community channels.

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CatWrt

Customized OpenWrt Smart Gateway

Install Application | CatWrt Blog | ❤️ Support Miaoer

Project#

  • 👍 Favored by university students and open-source community developers, exchanging OpenWrt knowledge within the community

✅ Verified students: Wuhan University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Central South University, Hangzhou University of Electronic Science and Technology, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, and other universities...

  • 🪅 No commercial charging projects, fully embracing free software, easily deploying private applications

  • 🆙 Pursuing powerful performance and reliability, efficiently enjoying OpenWrt, usability ++

  • 📦 CatWrt software source, using opkg for native installation, learning Linux starts here...

Note:

  1. The project has not collaborated with official university activities; data comes from community users providing university information (infringement will be deleted).

  2. The project is free software, used only for academic exchange, strictly prohibited for commercial use, all operations belong to the user.

CatWrt#

x86_64#

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Applicable to: x86 "soft routers", physical installation, virtual machine installation, containers (lxc, Docker).

Only supports: x86_64/AMD64/64-bit; does not support: x86_32/386/32-bit

Stable version: v24.9 / Release: CatWrt.v24.9.amd64

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Container version:

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Wireless#

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CatWrt Wireless firmware for routers includes MT7621 and Filogic 8x0, both are MediaTek platforms.

CatWrt-v23.8 applicable to: TP-link TL-XDR 4288/6086/6088, Xiaomi Redmi AX6000, Xiaomi WR30U, jcg q30, GL.iNet mt3000~~, H3C nx30Pro~~ large partition version (LEDE/QWRT) hard router firmware.

CatWrt-v24.9.mt7621 applicable to: Xiaomi/Redmi AC2100, New Router 3, and other models...

Stable version: v23.8.mt798x / v24.9.mt7621 || Release: CatWrt.v23.8.mt798x / CatWrt.v24.9.mt7621

ARM#

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Applicable to: FriendlyARM R5s, Electric Rhino r66s

Stable version: v22.12 / Release: CatWrt.v22.12.arm

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Usage#

Update System#

In CatWrt v23.2, we introduced the update check feature. Enter cattools in the CatWrt Terminal to obtain it, and manually upgrade as follows.

Here, we demonstrate with the v23.9 version x86 system EFI boot. Enter the following code in the terminal to update the system with one click. Specific update notes are determined by the version blog.

sysupgrade -v https://github.com/miaoermua/CatWrt/releases/download/v24.9/CatWrt.v24.9.amd64-squashfs-combined-efi.img.gz

Install Applications#

CatWrt supports a large number of open-source software installations. Please refer to the following blogs flexibly for your needs. After applying the software source, use the package manager opkg to complete the installation.

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Open Source#

CatWrt is an OpenWrt distribution compiled based on the open-source Lean's LEDE repository; you can check the links left in the release blog and the source code address described when this repository is updated.

The project is free software, and the compilation process is completely trustworthy. By communicating with the community, you can compile a completely consistent CatWrt yourself; the firmware contains no backdoors or closed-source software that can monitor or hijack your TLS/SSL. CatWrt has displayed and open-sourced all modifications to LEDE, and SSL security is the last barrier of the Internet. Security and cleanliness are what firmware should achieve.

Refer to miaoermua/catwrt_base during compilation, complying with the GPL2.0 protocol. Secondary development needs to indicate the source.

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Q&A#

Is it called CatWrt, not OpenWrt?
  • Q: Why is it called CatWrt, and why compile manually;

  • A: CatWrt is simply named because it has become a habit. Cat is short for Miaoer, and it is not recommended to spread or change the name to something like Miaoer firmware; this is absolutely not allowed! Currently, we are using LEDE for compilation, and there may be opportunities to create CatWrt NEXT based on upstream immortalwrt source code in the future. For now, it can be said that it is just an OpenWrt distribution with a different name, and you can also refer to it as LEDE/OpenWrt; regarding manually compiling CatWrt, it has always been manually compiled and tested before release to minimize stability issues, and we will provide the compiled software source. Automated compilation is either not feasible or has a high threshold and has competitors.


    • Emphasizing students?
  • Q: Why emphasize students.

  • A: Because we are students, we have the opportunity to play with these OpenWrt or other Linux distributions. Additionally, we emphasize students because we only open our CatWrt firmware for mutual exchange and learning among students.


    • Ecology?
  • Q: Why create an ecology?

  • A: Because being independent leads to stability, and everyone can discover and fix problems through mutual exchange and learning. We publish some content to share and help more people, and firmware issues can be addressed through Q&A. Moreover, the firmware will keep up with new things; for example, if something similar to IPTV comes out, we will update related applications. This is what sets us apart from others and can help users learn OpenWrt and even Linux, which is beneficial for the entire open-source community.


    • Why go through the effort to create firmware?
  • Q: Why go through the effort to compile a firmware separately? Isn't it better to use existing ones?

  • A: Because the firmware available on the market varies greatly; one version may be stable while the next may not be. Primarily, we need it for ourselves, and secondly, some people pay us to support device compatibility. Of course, you can also send your device for support.


    • How to not profit?
  • Q: How to profit;

  • A: We do not profit from the firmware; it is purely for personal use and sharing. For example, network solutions and other services may require additional payment, which is part of the ecology.


    • Update speed?
  • Q: How is the update speed;

  • A: Updates are irregular, generally occurring when there is time or with new drivers and hardware. x86 remains the mainline, updating about 2-3 times a year.


    • Help#

    Firmware support is not perfect, and bugs are inevitable. If you encounter problems, please leave a comment below or join the group for inquiries. If you are using my firmware, you can consult simply; if it is paid, that would be even better. If you are using someone else's firmware, I won't respond!

    Feel free to leave messages to encourage ( ´･･) ﾉ (._.`)

    This article is synchronized to xLog by Mix Space. The original link is https://www.miaoer.net/posts/network/catwrt

    Footnotes#

    1. https://www.miaoer.net/posts/network/CatWrt.v24.9.amd64 ↩

    2. https://www.miaoer.net/posts/network/1panel-deploy-catwrt-rootfs ↩

    3. https://www.miaoer.net/posts/network/catwrt-v22.12-arm ↩

    4. https://www.miaoer.net/posts/blog/cattools ↩

    5. https://www.miaoer.net/posts/network/catwrt-install-application ↩

    6. https://www.miaoer.net/posts/network/catwrt-applist ↩

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