Documentation?

[rljames]

With much credit and Thanks! to Merlin, the capabilities and stability of my early 2013 v3.0.0.4 AC66U Router has improved tremendously.

On the other hand, good detailed Documentation covering many of the improvements is either lacking or non-existent. Even the original, and still listed as "current", 12-Jun-12 User Manual posted on the ASUS Support webPage is not great. And it's very difficult to confidently get the most out this great ASUS Router line without decent information.

For instance, the "Wireless -> General -> 5GHz, Extension Channel" configuration has no coverage in the UM. And the config item label "context" help reads "Extension Channel - To locate the 40MHz channel in combination with the control channel". Seems, to me at least, a little brief and not especially useful. This is just one of MANY more complicated, involved settings.

Not trying to start a specific feature discussion here, just wondering if somewhere there is a "Collective" of information on all the great firmware improvements implemented over the years?

 

[Calisro]

Sounds like a volunteer to enhance the wiki.

 

[rljames]

If I had the smarts to contribute to creating documentation I wouldn't need it. Seriously, glad to help but not sure what I can technically contribute without the underlying information. (And to be honest, actually didn't realize there was a Wiki...)

 

[Calisro]

Ask questions on this forum. People are generally happy to help.

 

[rljames]

You're absolutely right - This is a great and much needed forum. And I sincerely appreciate the help offered any time I need it.

But,with decent documentation maybe people can better help themselves and the traffic in this forum could be reduced. Or, even better, more experts to help others.

 

[RMerlin]

I document every new feature in the included README, and there's also a Wiki. DNSFilter, IPTraffic, policy-based routing... It's all in there.

AFAIK, my project is among the most well-documented router firmware replacements, so I'm not sure what else you are looking for.

 

[Calisro]

You're absolutely right - This is a great and much needed forum. And I sincerely appreciate the help offered any time I need it.

But,with decent documentation maybe people can better help themselves and the traffic in this forum could be reduced. Or, even better, more experts to help others.

The problem is that everyone has differing backgrounds in technology. Documentation for one person won't be adequate for another person because they have different backgrounds. "adequate documentation" is a subjective topic. Routers are complex pieces of equipment and google is a better source of 'documentation' than a manual. just my 1 penny.

 

[rljames]

AFAIK, my project is among the most well-documented router firmware replacements, so I'm not sure what else you are looking for.

The Asuswrt-Merlin webSite and related Wiki are great. Well done and covering important firmware development process oriented issues such as Changelog, source code, etc.

I'm more interested in operational documentation. For instance, the "Wireless -> Professional" tab page has several configuration settings not listed in the User Manual. The VPN page is entirely different. And, AFAIK, the "Dual WAN" option is not covered at all.

 

[RMerlin]

The Asuswrt-Merlin webSite and related Wiki are great. Well done and covering important firmware development process oriented issues such as Changelog, source code, etc.

I'm more interested in operational documentation. For instance, the "Wireless -> Professional" tab page has several configuration settings not listed in the User Manual. The VPN page is entirely different. And, AFAIK, the "Dual WAN" option is not covered at all.

That's because those are developed by Asus, not by me. I'm not going to document and maintain that documentation every time they change something -and that's assuming I even understand myself how their settings work. It's their job, not mine.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

 

[rljames]

That's because those are developed by Asus, not by me. I'm not going to document and maintain that documentation every time they change something -and that's assuming I even understand myself how their settings work. It's their job, not mine.

I understand and agree - Never suggested that providing details on ASUS features were your responsibility. Nevertheless, information is lacking and I simply asked if there was some documentation somewhere that I was missing...

 

[RMerlin]

I understand and agree - Never suggested that providing details on ASUS features were your responsibility. Nevertheless, information is lacking and I simply asked if there was some documentation somewhere that I was missing...

Asus is progressively adding more FAQs to their website, many of them have links inside the webui itself. That'd be one place I'd start, check the bottom of the webui pages.

I would also recommend checking the documentation for the newer models (such as the AC87 and AC3200), as these documents are more up-to-date, and will cover newer features that didn't exist back when the original models came out. For instance, Dual WAN is probably documented in the AC3200 manual, but not in the RT-N66U.

And if someone has many free hours to spare, they're also welcome to add more documentation to the Wiki, which is open to anyone with a Github account. For instance the OpenVPN settings - I had intended to write something, but could never manage to free up the 5-10 hours of time (nor to find the motivation to do so) that would be required to study all the individual settings, and publish the documentation. The original OpenVPN implementation was written by Keith Moyer, so I never really studied all those settings in detail. And despite having an open item about that documentation on the issue tracker (when I had one), no one else stepped up to take care of it.