Well, yes. I suppose I am suggesting that.
After all, what’s the difference between:
routerboard-3.7-mipsle.npk
and
routerboard-3.7-RB500.npk
apart from the fact that the latter tells you exactly where you should be putting it.
As for when you have a lot more products, what are YOU going to do when you have mipsl processors in you RB1200 range and your RB800 range?
if the package is the same for like 10 products, what will it be like? routerboard-3.7-rb112-rb133-rb150-rb153-rb500.npk ?
As for when you have a lot more products, what are YOU going to do when you have mipsl processors in you RB1200 range and your RB800 range?
nothing, mipsle packages will work for all mipsle products. i think that’s the thing that you don’t get it yet. we have 4 package types. x86, mips-le, mips-be and ppc. whenever a new mips-le product will come out, mips-le packages will work with it. what you suggested is even more complicated - make a new package name for this product type. we’ll end up with a whole bunch of packages
routerboard-3.7-rb1xx/5xx.npk ?
Yes, you’re right about what I didn’t get. How could I have got it when afaIk this is the first time Mikrotik have explained it?
So you only have 4 package types, but get us to select from 11 (eleven!) menu entries on the download page?
Why not just four download buttons called (if you must):
mipsle (RB series a, b, c)
mipsbe (RB series x,y,z)
ppc (whatever this is for)
x86 (Intel/AMD and other x86)
With an “The whole shebang in a pink ribbon” button for those who want it all?
Then we unwashed peasants out in the fields trying to run a wireless network with our ‘Idiot’s Guide to TCP/IP’ in one hand and No. 8 wire in the other would at least know where what went.
the second post in this thread says that there are many boards which use the same packages.
I think we’ve established that.
What I’m still trying to get across to you is that YOUR system of downloads requires ME to either download exactly the same >23MB file twice - once for my RB100s and once for my RB500s - unzip and place exactly the same >23MB file in two different folders on my hdd, upload the one for my RB100s to an RB500 router and use auto-upgrade on my CPEs, then wipe the RB500 memory and upload exactly the same file from the RB500 folder to the RB500 and then upgrade that ;
OR
I have to have a list beside my keyboard cross-referencing all the different boards on my system with their processor types, find out from your system menu which processor the download is for, download them to folders identified by processor types, work-out which folder refers to which device so I can upload the appropriate one, and a week later when I have a new device all shiny from its packaging, look up for the documentation what processor it uses so I can know what folder to pull its upgrade from.
I can’t help feeling there is a better way.
Maybe it would help if you could explain the rationale behind MT’s device naming system - if there is one. After all, if I go to Routerboard.com there are at least 3 boards all claiming to be the perfect answer to my CPE needs - the RB133c, the RB411 and Crossroads. All, I’m sure, have their pros and cons but any one of the three would meet my requirements perfectly well and sitting down to choose between them - especially if I was committing a business to a future direction, which I’m not - would be quite difficult.
It’s well known in the marketing world that if you offer a customer too many choices with no substantial differences between them there is a tendency for them to get paralysed - like a donkey mid-way between two piles of hay - and either not buy at all or go somewhere else where there is less choice!
Why are you downloading 23mb files? The combined package is only around 9mb. Also, why would you have to download the same file twice? If the filename says mipsle, it is for 5xx and 133, etc… you don’t have to download it twice… its the SAME FILE!
Do this… Go through the list… Create the following folders:
1xx,5xx,crossroads – put mipsle in this folder
4xx —put mipsbe in this folder
2xx,x86 — put x86 in this folder
3xx,6xx,1xxx —put ppc in this folder.
There, now you have all the firmwares you’ll need. When a new version comes out, just download ONE of each file and put in the respective folder… no need to download a seperate file for 3xx, 6xx, 1xxx..
Yes it may be a little confusing, but this system makes it pretty easy.
Dunno. It was off the top of my head that the most recent download I did was 23MB, but on checking see that was Mikrotik-3.4.iso which came in at 24.5MB. I agree that all_packages-mipsle-3.7.zip is a mere 16.3MB. And even with the wonders of ADSL brought to me by wireless through Mikrotik routers, that still takes me a while, and costs me.
I know that now. But the filename only says it’s mipsle. I know now it’s for the 5xx and the 1xx because I asked a silly question on this forum about RouterOS downloads.
Let’s say I add a 600 and some 411s to our network. Now that I know how the system works I can at least have a look at the actual filenames of the packages the MT download so see if the 600 and the 411s take the same file, or maybe the 411 takes the same file as the 1xx/5xx series. Or maybe the 600 does. And so adjust my downloads accordingly. And either make a note of it somewhere that I’ll find it again or hope that I can remember next time a new release comes out that the 411 takes the same file as the 133. Or was it the 600? Damn, I’d better check. Where did I put the brochures?
But ask yourself honestly - is it obvious from the MT download page that you can stick the RB500 system files on the RB100? And if it isn’t explained there where else is the information? And even if the files we download for the RB100 system have the same name as the files on offer for the RB500 how many folk are going to have the confidence to say, ‘Oh, they must be the same, then’, and how many are going to say, ‘Oh, they have the same name. Mikrotik obviously expects me to keep them clearly marked and separate so that I don’t accidentally load the RB500 files onto a RB100.’
But wouldn’t it be easier if Mikrotik did what you are I are both now suggesting? That is just have four download buttons and say, “this one is for 1xx, 5xx, crossroads”, “this one is for 4xx”, etc. Then I can download the mipsle file staight into my ‘1xx/5xx/crossroads’ folder without having to KNOW or worry what processor it has.
That, surely, wouldn’t be confusing at all, and is even easier.
Okaaaay. More clarification please?
Have just downloaded my first v3.7 all-packages for the RB100 series - mipsle apparently.
I won’t ask why -ns- on the v2-9 packages is now -mpsle- as I don’t want to know, but can anyone tell me:
what the mpls.npk package does. Is it essential?
what does the calea package do?
what does the multicast package do?
Is there any information about these packages anywhere?
does the ‘combined packages’ package RouterOS-mpsle include all the 'all_packages" packages except Dude and User-Manager? and/or hotspot? Unhappily the “includes optional packages: content” link doesn’t work in my browser.
does anyone else think that a newcomer faced with his first attempt to scale the obfustications of the Mikrotik download page might possibly conceive of the notion that you first have to download and install the new RouterOS package and then add selectable packages like ntp, ppp and wireless to it?
won’t ask why -ns- on the v2-9 packages is now -mpsle- as I don’t want to know
because back then, when 2.9 was released, we only had two routerboard models.
- what the mpls.npk package does. Is it essential?
- what does the calea package do?
- what does the multicast package do?
if the names mean nothing to you, you won’t need them
- does the ‘combined packages’ package RouterOS-mpsle include all the 'all_packages" packages except Dude and User-Manager? and/or hotspot? Unhappily the “includes optional packages: content” link doesn’t work in my browser.
click on “content” next to the all-packages download link, and it will show you what’s inside.
- does anyone else think that a newcomer faced with his first attempt to scale the obfustications of the Mikrotik download page might possibly conceive of the notion that you first have to download and install the new RouterOS package and then add selectable packages like ntp, ppp and wireless to it?
out of hundreds of thousands of people, you are the first
Likely, but then again if I knew what they were maybe I’d think, ‘Hey, that’s just what I need.’
Any reason for the secrecy?
click on “content” next to the all-packages download link, and it will show you what’s inside.
I did actually say that clicking on the “content” next to the all-packages download link doesn’t work in my browser - Firefox 2.0.0.11.
out of hundreds of thousands of people, you are the first
Perhaps I’m just the first to ask about it, Normis. After all, I did say it was a silly question. But wouldn’t it have been nicer to have just answered my silly questions rather than putting me down? After all, the title of this forum is “Beginner Basics”.
I thought that was probably the case, but I’m also looking for the reason my two attempts to upgrade v2.9 RBs have resulted in crashed boards.
I’m trying both to be loyal to Mikrotik as I think it’s a good product, but also be faithful to the folk who entrust me with their money to use to buy wireless gear so’s they can join the network, and it’s not likely to stop growing for a long time. If you honestly think I ought to be spending their money on another manufacturer’s product perhaps you should say so here.
well it does work in my firefox, and all the others around here …
You’re absolutely right, it does work. It only works if you click on the ‘content’ part of it and there’s no underlining as there is on the other clickable links nor change of cursor style to indicate that it is a clickable link different from the rest of the line, but once again I’ve paid the price of not being 100% aux-fait with the way Mikrotik does things.
Are you really saying that ‘hundreds of thousands of people’ have successfully upgraded Miktotik Routerboards from v2.9 to v3?
I’ve never had any trouble upgrading any v2.9 board to a higher v2.9, but I’ve twice tried to upgrade v2.9 boards to v3 and have ended up with crashed boards. Clearly there’s a reason for this, and two possible reasons I wanted to rule out are:
I was using a version of the OS intended for RB500s on an RB 100, or
It was first necessary to upgrade the OS from RouterOS v2.9.x to v3.x and then put the required packets from all_packets on - the kind of thing you often have to do in Linux.
I didn’t think either was actually the case but I wasn’t 100% sure so I asked a silly question in a Basic Beginners forum, and have been disparaged and discourteously dismissed by Mikrotik Tech when it would have been easier and a lot more helpful had he actually addressed and answered the questions.
Forgive me if I’m going to give serious thought as to whether I wouldn’t be better switching to products from a different manufacturer for the further development of our network.
Are you really saying that ‘hundreds of thousands of people’ have successfully upgraded Miktotik Routerboards from v2.9 to v3?
more or less
… probably more - because we did all our RB’s with V3 and once 3.7 was in it all works VERY nicely thank you!!!
Uptime like you won’t believe - more time to “break” things in our Lab…
I’d suggest that even if ‘hundreds of thousands’ of routers have been successfully upgraded this was done by a few professional, full-time network administrators - tho’ I’d put my money on most of the hundreds of thousands of Mikrotik routers out there still running an upgraded version of the v2-9 they came with. After all if it’s working why risk breaking it with an upgrade that doesn’t add anything essential?
The only MT router I have access to on a commercial operator’s network is still running v2.9.27 and doing its job perfectly well.
I wouldn’t let anyone except an administrator touch your routers … it’s a security risk after all
In this we agree totally, Normis. Problem is, I AM the system administrator.
We had an experienced administrator help us set up our network and he recommended Mikrotik because he said it was the best. So we backed his assessment with our money. Now he’s changed jobs and cannot help us, and here in New Zealand experienced administrators - especially Mikrotik ones - are rare and precious, and can earn big money in the big cities so what chance does a piddling little rural and very isolated community far from the big cities and with no money, and which chose Mikrotik because it was told it was the best, do then?
I’m trying to do my best, Normis, unpaid and for the community. Every day I maybe learn a little more but I have no help here, no-one to ask, nothing to fall back on but Mikrotik’s impenetrable documentation. That’s why I sometimes have to ask silly questions on a Mikrotik Beginner’s Basics forum.
And why it really, really doesn’t help to be told that if I don’t know the answer to something I’ve no business to be asking.
[quote=“SweetSunday”]
- what does the calea package do?
- what does the multicast package do?-
[quote=“normis”]
if the names mean nothing to you, you won’t need them
[/quote]
[/quote]
Can’t a gal be curious?
MPLS package provides support for MPLS routing protocol:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Routing#MPLS
CALEA package provides support for the CALEA USA government required sniffer format:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Calea
MULTICAST provides support for Multicast routing:
http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/Multicast_Routing_in_RouterOS_3.x
Search is a great invention of the computer age.
Yes it is. And wouldn’t Googling ‘multicast’ be an informative exercise!
And I did Google ‘calea’ and knew it didn’t apply to me, but ‘mpls’ when associated with a package for a mipsle processor sounds like it might be important.
My point, though, Normis is that I shouldn’t have to Google to find out what these Mikrotik packages do on my Mikrotik router. I’d suggest Mikrotik should make that information available to their customers.
But thanks for the information. Now I can sleep peacefully.
Dude you were so pissed 
now relax.
Peace