RT-56U firmware upgrade options

[toothandnail]

I have an Asus RT-56U which I've been using for several years. Shortly after I bought it, I installed Padavan firmware. I updated it a couple of times, but haven't touched it in quite a while. Its currently running version 3.4.6-064. Other than some basic port forwarding, I'm not using many of the features available. Its been reliable, so I've not really had much need to upgrade.

Recently I've hit a bit of a problem. I can no longer SSH into the router. I run Arch Linux as my primary OS, and it tends to be pretty cutting edge. Latest versions of OpenSSH have disabled many of the older encryptions due to security concerns. As a result, any attempt to SSH to the router gets me this error:

fang@altair ~]$ ssh admin@192.168.1.254
Unable to negotiate with 192.168.1.254 port 22: no matching key exchange method found. Their offer: diffie-hellman-group1-sha1,kexguess2@matt.ucc.asn.au

So maybe its time to finally get round to upgrading the router firmware. I was wondering if there are any problems likely in making such a big upgrade, and also whether Padavan or Merlin might be the best options for the router?

Any suggestions welcome.

 

[L&LD]

Which router are you talking about specifically? The RT-N56U or the RT-AC56U?

 

[toothandnail]

Which router are you talking about specifically? The RT-N56U or the RT-AC56U?

Sorry - had to check the box since I've not looked at it for a long time. Its the RT-N56U.

Paul.

 

[L&LD]

On the RT-N56U, RMerlin firmware is not supported.

You could try either the latest Padavan firmware available, or, the latest official Asus firmware to see if either of them address the issues you are now having.

 

[toothandnail]

On the RT-N56U, RMerlin firmware is not supported.

Ah. Thanks. I must have misread the information - thought it was supported.

You could try either the latest Padavan firmware available, or, the latest official Asus firmware to see if either of them address the issues you are now having.

I've never used the standard Asus firmware, generally been quite happy with the Padavan firmware. I guess I'll try the latest build. I was a bit concerned that there might be problems upgrading it, given how long I've run it without any change.

Paul.

 

[swetoast]

Went from the RT-N56U towards the RT-AC56U

stability wise not as good the RT-N56U is a rock with Padavan since it doest base of AsusWRT so if your only concern is SSH with the old padavan firmware run SSH from Entware isntead of Padavan then you should be just fine.