ASUS says RT-AC1750_B1 doesn't support HFS+ USB Drives, would Merlin firmware solve this problem?

[Karolinska]

Hi.

Recently, I just purchased a RT-AC1750_B1 wireless router. Rumours says it's exactly the same as RT-AC66U_B1 and all third party firmwares of RT-AC66U_B1 are supported on RT-AC1750_B1.

But on this site (https://event.asus.com/2009/networks/disksupport/), I found HFS+ external drives are not supported on RT-AC1750_B1, but RT-AC66U_B1 does support it.

Is RT-AC1750_B1 really the same as RT-AC66U_B1, or it's a "stealthy cutdown version"? Can I use Asuswrt-Merlin firmware on RT-AC1750_B1? I got a HFS+ mobile drives and I feel panic about this.

Thanks.

 

[AndreiV]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac1750-and-merlin.38888/

The search facility works well here ))

 

[Karolinska]

https://www.snbforums.com/threads/rt-ac1750-and-merlin.38888/

The search facility works well here ))

Yeah, but it's kinda weird if they are actually same model, one support HFS+ and one doesn't.

 

[RMerlin]

Yeah, but it's kinda weird if they are actually same model, one support HFS+ and one doesn't.

Licensing reasons. Asus has to pay for a Tuxera licence (the provider of the HFS+ driver), it's possible that they aren't paying for all different models.

While it might work with my firmware, it could also stop working at any time if Asus starts enforcing specific models with a future GPL change. Therefore, I wouldn't rely on it - if Asus says it's not supported, then don't take for granted that it will keep working in the future.

 

[Karolinska]

Licensing reasons. Asus has to pay for a Tuxera licence (the provider of the HFS+ driver), it's possible that they aren't paying for all different models.

While it might work with my firmware, it could also stop working at any time if Asus starts enforcing specific models with a future GPL change. Therefore, I wouldn't rely on it - if Asus says it's not supported, then don't take for granted that it will keep working in the future.

Thanks for your reply! I got 3 questions:

1. So… CURRENTLY, the Asuswrt-Merlin RT-AC-68U firmware works fine on my model, I just need to "pretend" it's a RT-AC66U_B1?

2. By the way, I heard router with specified version of firmware can't directly install the third-party firmware on it, the only way is to use the restoration tool. Is that true? Should I worry about it?

3. If ASUS starts enforcing specific models, can I keep using the Asuswrt-Merlin firmware which I already installed and just ignore the official firmware upgrade? As far as my observation, seems ASUS released this model just in order to distinguish the product between different sales platforms in some countries/regions. It's not an ISP co-branding product (like TM-AC1900) so I guess there will be barely no legal problem?

Thanks.

 

[RMerlin]

1. So… CURRENTLY, the Asuswrt-Merlin RT-AC-68U firmware works fine on my model, I just need to "pretend" it's a RT-AC66U_B1?

No need to pretend, the firmware is 100% identical, same with Asus. However the firmware might enable/disable certain features based on the exact model. While right now I don't do anything to disable HFS+, that could change at any point in the future.

2. By the way, I heard router with specified version of firmware can't directly install the third-party firmware on it, the only way is to use the restoration tool. Is that true? Should I worry about it?

Asuswrt-Merlin is certified to flash on top of the stock firmware. The need for the restoration tool is only for forks (like John's) or other third party firmware that haven't been certified.

Note that sometimes, Asus may change the required signature with a new stock firmware. When that happens, older versions of my firmware might no longer flash directly, until I issue an update with the new validation data.

3. If ASUS starts enforcing specific models, can I keep using the Asuswrt-Merlin firmware which I already installed and just ignore the official firmware upgrade? As far as my observation, seems ASUS released this model just in order to distinguish the product between different sales platforms in some countries/regions. It's not an ISP co-branding product (like TM-AC1900) so I guess there will be barely no legal problem?

I always merge Asus's changes back onto my code as they release new versions, to keep up-to-date with their new fixes and development. Therefore if they change something related to a specific model at some point in the future, that change will also be rolled back onto my firmware. That's what happened with the TM-AC1900 validation for instance, their rollback/validation change was integrated into my firmware when I updated to their latest available source code and binary components.

 

[Karolinska]

No need to pretend, the firmware is 100% identical, same with Asus. However the firmware might enable/disable certain features based on the exact model. While right now I don't do anything to disable HFS+, that could change at any point in the future.



Asuswrt-Merlin is certified to flash on top of the stock firmware. The need for the restoration tool is only for forks (like John's) or other third party firmware that haven't been certified.

Note that sometimes, Asus may change the required signature with a new stock firmware. When that happens, older versions of my firmware might no longer flash directly, until I issue an update with the new validation data.



I always merge Asus's changes back onto my code as they release new versions, to keep up-to-date with their new fixes and development. Therefore if they change something related to a specific model at some point in the future, that change will also be rolled back onto my firmware. That's what happened with the TM-AC1900 validation for instance, their rollback/validation change was integrated into my firmware when I updated to their latest available source code and binary components.

Thanks. By the way, it seems that the official firmware already support the dual-WAN function, but I never find anything about dual-WAN in user manual (almost every model, not only RT-AC66U_B1). So… why?

 

[Martineau]

Thanks. By the way, it seems that the official firmware already support the dual-WAN function, but I never find anything about dual-WAN in user manual (almost every model, not only RT-AC66U_B1).

So… why?

Asus like other vendors prefers to provide online documents...although whilst dated 2016, the basics are still valid...

Introduction to Dual-WAN, and links to installation tutorial

 

[RMerlin]

Asuswrt changes too rapidly, so most of the documentation is only available online, the manual only covering the very basics. Otherwise, they would need to print new manuals almost every year.