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[ANNOUNCEMENT] Asuswrt-Merlin 386_x devices are no longer supported

RMerlin

Asuswrt-Merlin dev
Staff member
As of now, I am officially dropping support for all devices that were still on the 386_x firmware. This includes devices such as the RT-AC68U or RT-AC88U - every device that was still on the 386_x firmware. That means I will no longer be actively developing or supporting these devices. This includes bug and security fixes. While I reserve the right to possibly issue an exceptional update if there is a situation critical enough to justify it, people should not be expecting it to happen, and would be, as I say, exceptional. Such a release would be entirely at my discretion.

These devices won't stop working tomorrow morning. You have a few options:

  • Ensure that you don't expose any service from it to the Internet (especially the web interface or AiCloud). OpenVPN/IPSEC should be safe enough, but keep your eyes open for any potential future security issue that may be discovered in these services
  • Many of these devices (such as the RT-AC68U) are supported by alternative firmware, such as FreshTomato
  • Nothing is preventing a developer from forking the repo, and taking upon himself to maintain these older devices himself, like John did for a few years with the 802.11N devices.
  • Replace it with a more recent device. If that old device was still enough for your needs, then that means you don't need to replace it with a $700 model. Look at the long list of available models, a $150 model may possibly be sufficient. Don't overpay.

Some of these devices are now 12 years old - the RT-AC68U was launched in 2013. They've had a good run, and their hardware is generally no longer up to snuff for a lot of modern needs. An RT-AC68U can still be fine if you just want an access point to connect your mobile phone from the backyard, for example. Just make sure you keep things as secure as possible with its configuration.

For a while I considered releasing a final 386.15 release with AiCloud entirely removed from it, but for the time being I will leave it as it is. Just be aware of the risk if you still intend to continue using that service.

I will leave this post sticky'ed for a while to make sure it gets enough visibility.
 
AI Cloud and AI Mesh

It's AiCloud and AiMesh - Asus marketing names, nothing AI related.

And why remove AiMesh? So the older routers can't be used as nodes anymore? :rolleyes:
 
AiMesh is not removable anyway, as it`s baked into the precompiled code.
 
Was a great run for those devices, Still have my RT-AC68U albeit it's been boxed away for past 7 or so years, my RT-AC86U is showing it's age and looking to upgrade, sadly no wifi 7 devices in uk that have merlin support except RT-BE88U. Many thanks for all the years of updates.

@RMerlin obviously hard to say but do you think or know if you will support any UK models in the future?
 
I am sad to find out my Asus RT-AC86U will not receive any update. Both RT-AX86S and RT-AC86U have the same CPU, a Broadcom BCM4906. I wonder what it takes to adapt the 3004.388 firmware (currently running on the RT-AX86S) for the RT-AC86U.
 
I wonder what it takes to adapt the 3004.388 firmware (currently running on the RT-AX86S) for the RT-AC86U.

Asus has to do this upstream first and this will never happen for various reasons.
 
thanks for the years of support , you have gone beyond what can be expected support wise , 12 years is a long run . You and your FW is a reason I have used and sold Asus to many family and friends over the years
 
Asus has to do this upstream first and this will never happen for various reasons.
I am convinced it is not Asus' interest to do that. My point was if I had some programming skills what parts of the 386 code & binary blobs I had to use in the 3004.388 code to make it work on the RT-AC86U.
 
Will have to pour one out in remembrance of the end of an era using Asus-Merlin firmware on a RT-AC68U. :D

raw


Not even sure I'll bother with FreshTomato on those RT-AC68U's.
 
I suppose this gives me a reason to finally replace my last AC68U with one of my AX routers and then purchase a BE router.
 
@RMerlin obviously hard to say but do you think or know if you will support any UK models in the future?
What's a "UK model"? Asus does not release country-specific models.
I am sad to find out my Asus RT-AC86U will not receive any update. Both RT-AX86S and RT-AC86U have the same CPU, a Broadcom BCM4906. I wonder what it takes to adapt the 3004.388 firmware (currently running on the RT-AX86S) for the RT-AC86U.
Just because the CPU is the same does not mean the rest is. Completely different wifi chip for starter, so different software SDK as well, different switch, different drivers... They are two totally different devices.
 
What's a "UK model"? Asus does not release country-specific models.
He means apart from the RT-BE88U he mentioned the other models you support, the RT-BE96U, GT-BE98_PRO and RT-BE86U aren't sold in the UK. The WiFi 7 models sold here are the RT-BE92U, GT-BE98, TUF-BE6500, RT-BE58U, TUF-BE3600, ZenWiFi BT8 and ZenWifi BD4.

Correction: the RT-BE86U is sold in the UK it's just that it's not categorised as a WiFi 7 device on Asus' UK website.
 
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It this RT-BE88U from a 3rd party seller? I see it on Amazon UK:

1736710452326.png


I don't know if the price is right...
 
It this RT-BE88U from a 3rd party seller? I see it on Amazon UK:

View attachment 63437

I don't know if the price is right...
That one looks like a German import. But I do now see the RT-BE88U on the Asus UK store as is the RT-BE86U. For some reason they haven't tagged them as WiFi 7 devices. :rolleyes:
 
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But I do now see the RT-BE88U on the Asus UK store.

Better source, perhaps. There are U-NII-3 band differences between UK and EU as far as I know.
 
So the older routers can't be used as nodes anymore?

I think it is more of a pragmatic view - these devices are multiple generations back, and with Wifi6/7 now current, having one of these legacy devices in an AIMesh may impact overall performance...
 

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