Hi, Please excuse me if my post seems to be have been answered prior. I've found SO many conflicting answers that I really needed some sanity. After 3+ years, I'm replacing my RT-N66 router/APs, running Toastman's builds, to get us to "AC" models. From SNB, the "1900 AC class" is the "mature sweet spot" (I'll use 1 or 2 as as AP's too). However, I've spent the past day+ googling and reading SNB threads attempting to wade through the ASUS RT-AC68 P|R|U|W versions A1|A2|B1|C1|V2 / RT-AC1900 T|P V1|V3 or TM-AC1900(T-Mobile) quagmire in my attempt to be sure I'm buying a router I can load Tomato mods from Toastman, Shibby or the improved ASUS/Merlin mods.
This thread sums the community (and my) frustration.
If the table at the top can be expanded to add the known supported firmware forks, that would be SO helpful to the ASUS purchasing community looking for the best combinations of AC1900 gear and Firmware. Maybe to keep it simpler, just list the versions as version "380.x and above
... Firmware Mod, Firmware Version, Supported?, Add Notes..
... Shibby|Merlin|Toastman, K26ARM, Y | N, C1 is NOT supported
Shibby has come close here -->
http://tomato.groov.pl/?page_id=69
What I'm struggling with is we have no clear table showing what is supported for the RT-AC68xxx or the newest RT-AC1900P.
What I think I understand as of now:
1) For the RT-AC1900|1900P --> Merlin has delivered our ONLY MOD ARM AC firmware. But board differences make it not play nice with any Tomato mods yet.
2) For the RT-AC68U|R --> Merlin, Shibby and Toastman ARM AC builds work. (Except for the C1 version)
3) For the RT-AC68P --> Merlin works but b/c of another board variant in this model, both Shibby and Toastman will not work.
Links...
4) Board variants on RT-AC68P prevent the Tomato ARM FW from working ->
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68p-and-tomato-arm-firmware.20944/
5) AC68URWP all can run the same FW? (Is this ASUS Merlin only or includes Tomato?) -->
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68r-vs-rt-ac68u-confusion.23465/
6) Database of working Tomato firmware shows loads for Shibby and AdvancedTomato (but not Toastman) onto the RT-AC68P/U B1 -->
http://anon.groov.pl/index.php?model=Asus+RT-AC68P/U+B1
7) Updating the T-Mobile "1900" / CFE etc.. for that 1900 model -->
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/up...ile-cell-spot-to-merlin-firmware-guide.28961/
8) Another RT-ACxx discussion ->
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac68u-cpu-spec.31975/
9) A great wiki reference across all models.. it completes the original table? -->
https://wikidevi.com/wiki/List_of_802.11ac_Hardware
So my questions are before I leap with $:
1) Is the newest RT-AC1900P (1.4GHz 2core) supported by current Tomato builds? Which ones? No? Any thoughts on when/if it will be?
2) Is the RT-AC68P (1GHz) supported by only Shibby and Merlin and not Toastman mods?
3) Is the RT-AC68P really = to RT-AC1900P except the latter has the 1.4GHz CPU vs 1.0GHz.. if so then shouldn't the Tomato mods work per the above? (I do not want to brick a new router)
Your suggestions, clarifications, and corrections will be awesome and welcome.
Thanks,
G. Mobley