Asuswrt-Merlin - Project update

[Xentrk]

The RT-AC86U will be released today in the US (newegg link). Can't wait to read the reviews. I think it's gonna be a big deal for those in the market for a new Asus router. I hope to see it soon here in Europe as well. The fast CPU, the WiFi specs, the up to 110 MB/s USB transfer speed that almost maxes out 1Gbps. Wonder if a USB 3.1 Gen 1 device is really needed for that speed compared to 3.0. (when I connect my USB 3.0 enclosure with an SSD to my PC with USB 3.0 I get 4-500 MB/s read/write speeds). And the fact that Merlin already has the device makes me feel extra good about it. Only little downside initially IMO is the ROG design. I prefer the diamond design.

I see it listed on Amazon USA for $224 and AliExpress for $269. Only 12 left in stock on Amazon. Better order soon!

 

[ASadani]

The AC 5300 still in my opinion is the best ASUS out there. (barring the looks). Without the Wifi transmission improvement and Merlin's changes, the router is useless. I have stopped upgrading or touching my router as everything is very stable with vlan id and persistent VPN along with the Range Improvement. I sure would have liked more ports as I have maxed them out but get by with a switch. No biggie.

Would be interesting to see how the port of Merlin goes on RT-AC68U? Would hggomes adopt it as well. Is the question. Even if it is supported. What more are we getting with this new unit. USB 3.1?

This is very similar to the upgraded iPhones. I live in a country where VPN has deep packet inspections and only pptp works perfectly fine. I have a iPhone 6s with ios 9.3.2 with pptp vpn and its perfect. fast. Now even if I upgrade to the new iPhone that is coming out, I'll loose out on the calling capability which is the basis of a perfect phone.

Unless the router offers additional benefits which would be hard pressed to find, I don't see a need for it. Not to mention, I'm not a fan of ASUS's looks. They are quiet ugly in my opinion. Specially this standing one.

 

[RMerlin]

Would be interesting to see how the port of Merlin goes on RT-AC68U?

Assuming you mean the RT-AC86U, still a lot of work to do. It's currently hitting a wall, as Broadcom no longer allows nvram values larger than around 1000 characters, which means I can't manage OpenVPN key/certs through the webui anymore. I need to figure out a different way of managing them without going through nvram (which is now, of course, closed source as well...)

 

[Jack Yaz]

Assuming you mean the RT-AC86U, still a lot of work to do. It's currently hitting a wall, as Broadcom no longer allows nvram values larger than around 1000 characters, which means I can't manage OpenVPN key/certs through the webui anymore. I need to figure out a different way of managing them without going through nvram (which is now, of course, closed source as well...)

Could you allow users to upload key/cert files through the GUI, which would store in JFFS and the server/client profile would reference?

 

[RMerlin]

Could you allow users to upload key/cert files through the GUI, which would store in JFFS and the server/client profile would reference?

File-based uploads (like I do for the webui cert) would be a possibility, but it's nowhere as convenient as being able to paste the data in a textarea field.

I haven't had the time to dig further into this, spent a few hours investigating the inability to save certs last night, only to reach that conclusion before calling it a night.

I thought that after having spent the past few days re-writing my own libvpn library (to replace the closed source version) I would have been nearing the end of re-implementing OpenVPN, only to be hit by this.

That's why I don't provide any ETA for that kind of stuff. Lots of work to do, without counting those kind of "Surprise!!!" that pops in your face along the way.

 

[Jack Yaz]

File-based uploads (like I do for the webui cert) would be a possibility, but it's nowhere as convenient as being able to paste the data in a textarea field.

I haven't had the time to dig further into this, spent a few hours investigating the inability to save certs last night, only to reach that conclusion before calling it a night.

I thought that after having spent the past few days re-writing my own libvpn library (to replace the closed source version) I would have been nearing the end of re-implementing OpenVPN, only to be hit by this.

That's why I don't provide any ETA for that kind of stuff. Lots of work to do, without counting those kind of "Surprise!!!" that pops in your face along the way.

Mmm I love projects like that...though usually for me its a higher up changing their mind last minute, or dropping in a "critical" requirement which means a total code re-write....

 

[RMerlin]

Could you allow users to upload key/cert files through the GUI, which would store in JFFS and the server/client profile would reference?

I was finally able to completely bypass nvram storage for key/certs, seems to take care of at least the truncating issue. Still need to test the whole OpenVPN implementation, as there's a lot of architectural changes involved in the switch to my new library.

 

[HRearden]

It is nice to see features like VLAN support, IPsec (especially if there is an Opportunistic Encryption mode), Lets Encrypt in the new feature list. Native DNScrypt option would also be nice.

Thank you for your project. I enjoy playing with my router because of your added features.

 

[RMerlin]

VLAN support is only for some specific models, I believe mostly the BRT-AC828 at this time.

 

[nephilim]

2) Those models wouldn't be entirely abandoned, as @john9527 is very actively developing for these two models. While his firmware does not have exactly the same feature set as mine, it's generally rather close for these two specific models. It also already offers better wifi performance for these models (especially the RT-N66U).

I am running my N66U in repeater mode with 380.68_2 fw (connected to an AC68-U). Should I expect a notable performance gain when switching to the latest 374.43 LTS release?

 

[RMerlin]

I am running my N66U in repeater mode with 380.68_2 fw (connected to an AC68-U). Should I expect a notable performance gain when switching to the latest 374.43 LTS release?

Everyone's environment is different, so you'd have to try to determine what kind of performance difference it will make for you.

 

[RMerlin]

I've just made the Asuswrt-Merlin.382 git repository public, as the code cleanup is pretty much done by now (meaning no more history rewrites expected on that initial GPL commit).

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.382

Note that this code is still not in a state I'd recommend running, as there are a number of untested things, plus some known issues for which I'm waiting for Asus to fix upstream (some they fixed in the 382.16xxx release but their GPL archive is corrupted, others haven't been fixed yet). So don't ask me to provide test builds, I won't until the code reaches a minimum level of stability.

A lot has been done over the past 3 weeks, yet there's still a lot left to do.

 

[RMerlin]

One important change I forgot to mention: I decided to move the toolchain to a separate repo, as it's mostly static content anyway, and it will also improve performance while working on the code repo (making the repo a fair tad smaller).

 

[DrTeeth]

Hi Merlin,

Thanks for your update. Whilst I am using John's firmware for my N66U, I will probably buy a new Asus router when your new firmwares become available. Which model I get will completely depend on what you make available.

Cheers

DrTeeth

 

[ASadani]

Merlin. Please don't stop supporting the RT-AC5300. I just got it few months ago and its super stable.

 

[RMerlin]

Merlin. Please don't stop supporting the RT-AC5300. I just got it few months ago and its super stable.

As long Asus keeps actively supporting it, it shouldn't be a problem for me.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[vdemarco]

Hi Merlin,

Thanks for your update. Whilst I am using John's firmware for my N66U, I will probably buy a new Asus router when your new firmwares become available. Which model I get will completely depend on what you make available.

Cheers

DrTeeth

I have a AC66U, i will get the new 86 router when the new firmware is out.

 

[thelonelycoder]

One of us is busy with AM382, More or Less...

RMerl on GitHub:

 

[minwoomod]

Hi Merlin，

When can you release firmware? even beta
I have a AC86U, the official firmware have many bug .
such as cable is very fast, but wifi instability,
after restart in control center, the machine will crash,
connect any usb devices will use a lot of mamory,
unable remout usb device after move it

 

[thelonelycoder]

Hi Merlin，

When can you release firmware? even beta
I have a AC86U, the official firmware have many bug .
such as cable is very fast, but wifi instability,
after restart in control center, the machine will crash,
connect any usb devices will use a lot of mamory,
unable remout usb device after move it

Note that this code is still not in a state I'd recommend running, as there are a number of untested things, plus some known issues for which I'm waiting for Asus to fix upstream (some they fixed in the 382.16xxx release but their GPL archive is corrupted, others haven't been fixed yet). So don't ask me to provide test builds, I won't until the code reaches a minimum level of stability.

A lot has been done over the past 3 weeks, yet there's still a lot left to do.

In other words be a good sport and wait until he releases it.
Answering questions such as yours only take time away from doing what you want him to do!