[Preview] 380.57 alpha test builds for all models

[GG7]

"Interesting that Amazon has managed to get some of these same units that Best Buy was supposedly selling as an exclusive model."

Pure speculation of course but that's probably why they are labeled 68U's in the US. I'm sure the 1ghz 68P Best Buy thing meant only they could sell them in the US. To get around that AND clear existing stock ahead of the C1's, we have B1's 68U's in the US. Based on all the Telnet stuff I ran to identify the insides these are 68P's.

Are the C1's going to be a bit better than the B1's? Probably. That's how, as we know, this stuff works. These B1's at 150 are an incredible value. I have one for my son-in-law under his Christmas tree. I'll not be let down because I bought a a B1 at 150 when the C1's come out.

Kudos to you for doing all that Telnet work to confirm what is truly under the hood of these B1 units! Much appreciated!

I am totally delighted with the performance I am getting out of this thing already, and I agree that 150 is a steal for this level of router performance! Our Plex media streams have never been faster, and everything else seems to be snappier than before with our old Netgear 4500, including all our wired connections.

Even if the C1 has improvements, I really can't complain about what the B1 unit is delivering for me. My only concern remains the mystery as to why my 2.4 G band gets nerfed if I install the latest ASUS firmware. I worry that since RMerlin is using the same drivers, flashing A4 and even the next public release of Merlin is going to break my 2.4 band too.

Since the November 3rd public release appears to be running very well for me so far, I am inclined to just play it safe and refrain from pushing my luck with a newer version. At least until someone can resolve the 2.4 band's lack of internet connection if I install the latest ASUS firmware for the 68U.

 

[john9527]

Thanks for the link John. I run an all Apple iOS and Mac OSX based LAN here. Looks like you only support Windows and Linux at the moment?

Guess I will just have to rely on the settings files and hope I am not forced to manually configure too often.

The scripts run on the router......all you need to do is use the appropriate method to get them onto the memory stick on the Apple OS's.

 

[GG7]

The scripts run on the router......all you need to do is use the appropriate method to get them onto the memory stick on the Apple OS's.

Cool!

I just scanned through your README. Only non OSX formatting option I have for discs and memory cards/sticks besides exFAT is MS-DOS. Will that work with the router and your scripts?

 

[NomadTech]

That is true, but all say zero. On the 87U the 2.4Ghz was always also zero, but the 5Ghz usually bounced between 13 and 30. Not a big concern, just a curious observation.

Anyone that has a 3200, I'm also curious to know what your wireless TX power output is. If you could telnet in and run "wl txpwr_target_max "

This is what I get :

admin@RT-AC3200-2A70:/tmp/home/root# wl txpwr_target_max
Maximum Tx Power Target (chanspec:0xd826): 18.00 18.00 18.00

This is what I get
/$ wl txpwr_target_max
Maximum Tx Power Target (chanspec:0xe02a): 15.50 15.50 15.50

 

[joegreat]

only when there are new drivers or major changes , most times you do not have to wipe settings and set things up all over . There is a tool to save and reuse NVRAM settings , search the forum

Here the link to the the User NVRAM Save/Restore Utility (R22), which saves and restores the user entered settings.

This allows to do a factory reset after each firmware update and restore the user settings easily!
But the system settings will be set to the firmware you just installed!

This is the best way forward to avoid problems with wrong old NVRAM settings.

 

[GG7]

Thanks for the additional info. I downloaded that R22 package. Just needed a confirmation on what format to use for a USB stick. I read in the readme document that FAT-32 and exFAT were not recommended. It doesn't actually indicate what format you should use for best results. My only other non OSX formatting option is MS-DOS.

 

[bigcid10]

This is what I get
/$ wl txpwr_target_max
Maximum Tx Power Target (chanspec:0xe02a): 15.50 15.50 15.50

I have a 3200 and I get the same numbers 15.50 15.50 15.50
using 380.57_alpha4-gb5eb46f

 

[Deleted member 22229]

I have a 3200 and I get the same numbers 15.50 15.50 15.50
using 380.57_alpha4-gb5eb46f

So what do those numbers mean ?

 

[cockytrumpet]

Cool!

I just scanned through your README. Only non OSX formatting option I have for discs and memory cards/sticks besides exFAT is MS-DOS. Will that work with the router and your scripts?

I'm in the same boat. What I do is run Linux (any distro should do) in a virtual machine. I think virtualbox is free.

 

[deerhound]

I loaded alpha 4 on my RT-AC5300 and all seems to be working well. I am getting a much better experience on Amazon Video and Netflix on my Samsung TV in the den than my old N66u or my old Rt-ac68u. My needs are simple, so no fancy setup just using Smart Connect.

 

[GG7]

I'm in the same boat. What I do is run Linux (any distro should do) in a virtual machine. I think virtualbox is free.

I might give that a try. So, I take it that MS-DOS doesn't fly as a stick format either? Meaning there is no way to format a stick on OSX that will work with this?

And how does the new JFFS save feature in A4 effect this whole NVRAM settings save issue?

I'm still not clear as to whether the NVRAM is completely separate from what is saved in the JFFS partition, or if the NVRAM settings are indeed in there and would be saved using the new feature in the firmware.

Would sure be nice if it became that easy to backup your stuff and roll it into any new FW update without any chance of harm to the update.

EDIT: For some reason, several of my later replies are being held up for review by a moderator? I responded to several posts below, but they are not showing up because of this.

 

[john9527]

I might give that a try. So, I take it that MS-DOS doesn't fly as a stick format either? Meaning there is no way to format a stick on OSX that will work with this?

I did a little checking, and it looks like MS-DOS format on OSX is really FAT32.....that will work. Only thing you lose is that the file permissions will be permanently set to allow all access to everyone (i.e. you can't change the permissions in Linux)

 

[cockytrumpet]

I might give that a try. So, I take it that MS-DOS doesn't fly as a stick format either? Meaning there is no way to format a stick on OSX that will work with this?

And how does the new JFFS save feature in A4 effect this whole NVRAM settings save issue?

I'm still not clear as to whether the NVRAM is completely separate from what is saved in the JFFS partition, or if the NVRAM settings are indeed in there and would be saved using the new feature in the firmware.

Would sure be nice if it became that easy to backup your stuff and roll it into any new FW update without any chance of harm to the update.

OS X doesn't natively support the ext file system, which is what is required. There might be 3rd party tools, but I can't speak to that.

NVRAM holds many many settings, none of which are stored in JFFS. Some one smarter than me, correct me if I'm wrong. https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-me...-I-restore-my-settings-to-a-different-router? saves the NVRAM variables that aren't so subject to change between builds. This solves problems with saving variables that cease to exist or change between builds.

 

[GG7]

I did a little checking, and it looks like MS-DOS format on OSX is really FAT32.....that will work. Only thing you lose is that the file permissions will be permanently set to allow all access to everyone (i.e. you can't change the permissions in Linux)

Oh!

Thats great news! Thanks for checking into that for me! Before this latest OSX version, the Disk Utility listed the PC formats as Fat-32 and exFAT. I was actually surprised to not see Fat-32 in there and MS-DOS listed instead. Makes sense now that they are basically one in the same. (Good ol Apple!)

Now I need to dig through some drawers and find one of those old ancient 100 MB sticks I don't have use for anymore and format it up for this purpose.

Thanks again!

 

[GG7]

OS X doesn't natively support the ext file system, which is what is required. There might be 3rd party tools, but I can't speak to that.

NVRAM holds many many settings, none of which are stored in JFFS. Some one smarter than me, correct me if I'm wrong. https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/wiki/Can-I-restore-my-settings-after-a-factory-reset?--Can-I-restore-my-settings-to-a-different-router? saves the NVRAM variables that aren't so subject to change between builds. This solves problems with saving variables that cease to exist or change between builds.

Looks like we can use FAT-32 for this after all, just have to settle for global permissions, which is fine for my installation.

Some of my posts are being held back pending moderation? Not sure what is up with that. Maybe I am posting too much in here? Guess its time to step back?

 

[john9527]

And how does the new JFFS save feature in A4 effect this whole NVRAM settings save issue?

I'm still not clear as to whether the NVRAM is completely separate from what is saved in the JFFS partition, or if the NVRAM settings are indeed in there and would be saved using the new feature in the firmware.

JFFS and NVRAM are totally separate. On the alpha releases, to back up both NVRAM and JFFS takes two steps....one to save the configuration (NVRAM) and one to save JFFS.

 

[cockytrumpet]

I did a little checking, and it looks like MS-DOS format on OSX is really FAT32.....that will work.

Ok, I stand corrected.

 

[john9527]

Ok, I stand corrected.

Only if google sent me to sites that are telling the truth

 

[jdpg2]

Found one minor issue with Alpha 4 on my 5300. On the DHCP server page, I use manual IP assignments, and the MAC addresses are fine and persisted but all of the host names are blank after I do a router reboot. Not sure if this is because I didn't do a factory reset when I upgraded from the latest ASUS firmware to the Alpha 4 build. I will try to do a full reset tomorrow am and post back.

 

[jerry6]

latest alpha still sends my AC66 into space ,power light on first lan1 light flashes , then lights go out , then all the lights go on then back to lan one flashing lan 2 3 on steady with power light steady , rinse and repeat over and over , until i do a factory reset by holding the wps button and and powering off

Yikes !! it's not recovering , went to recovery once I hit router setup page it goes back into loop