It's unlikely to work I'm afraid. TP-Link firmware seems to consist of standard Linux and opensource components, the hardware drivers, and TP-Link's own layer on top. The TP-Link telnet interface offers a limited subset of the router's functions, I think the Windows based setup CD accesses the telnet interface (or did on other TP-Link models).
It's not unexpected that there's no shell access, it's TP-Link's decision, the took the same line with their other recent modem/router models.