[Beta] Asuswrt-Merlin 380.60 Beta is now available

[john9527]

I'm currently on the latest fork by John as I wanted to try it and have tried repeatedly to flash the beta, through the ui as well as the cfe miniweb server. While I'd get success messages per flash, whenever I log into the firmware, I'd find that I'm still on John's fork. I'm currently on an Asus RT-AC68U with CFE v.1.0.2.0 and was wondering if the version has any impact on my (in)ability to flash the beta. Thank you.

Search is your friend...
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/upgrade-from-fork-to-merlin.33148/#post-266210

 

[princi]

Alas - no 380.60 release builds before I go on holiday.

I'm guessing you'll be on 380.62 by the time I get back.

Cheers

 

[R1-Limited]

when will this be availble on the RT-ac66 and other non ARM?
I have flashed to Asus latest might as well get it done, just did not want a mis match of firmware

 

[Blinkyz]

I also had the "Network cable unplugged" message and required a reboot to restore. First time I never seen this.

I also had the "Network cable unplugged" message and required a reboot to restore external connectivity. Running AC56U with beta 2.

Bored!
Facing this message 4 times since Beta 1 and on official Asus 2 times , must reboot
Ac68 with just a vanilla config, no vpn, no etc..... "Network cable unplugged"
Im back to .59 and ill stay there!
Yes factory reset was done
Yes clearing NVRAM also was done.

Nice Holidays to all

 

[RMerlin]

when will this be availble on the RT-ac66 and other non ARM?

Whenever I get the missing closed source components. So, I have no idea.

With the increasing amount of closed source components now in the firmware, people will need to get used to the fact that each separate release might not always be available for all router models. This is outside of my control.

 

[djrm]

I have an AC87u running with 3.0.0.4.380_3459 and not unable to install beta2 (tried twice and seems that it is installed but nothing happen). Is this combination not possible? I have been looking some posts and my understanding was that .59 or aged cannot be installed (without the hard restore) , but from beta1 was possible.
I would appreciate any confirmation.

Thanks in advance.
David

 

[RMerlin]

I have an AC87u running with 3.0.0.4.380_3459 and not unable to install beta2 (tried twice and seems that it is installed but nothing happen). Is this combination not possible? I have been looking some posts and my understanding was that .59 or aged cannot be installed (without the hard restore) , but from beta1 was possible.
I would appreciate any confirmation.

Thanks in advance.
David

Reboot your router with no USB disk plugged in to free up enough RAM.

 

[djrm]

Reboot your router with no USB disk plugged in to free up enough RAM.

I have tried without success at least a power cycle is required instead... So the overall process seems like the normal upgrade, but when router is rebooted the same version remain ...
Any other tip?

 

[garyd9]

First impressions...

Just loaded this on an AC-5300, and I thought I'd give my first impressions (and perhaps a suggestion or two.) This is before reading through the many dozen threads in this section of the forum, so some of this might be documented in some way...

My VERY first impression after clicking around a bit was: Wow, someone finished writing the asus firmware. Seriously, there are so many "little" things done here that just kind of complete the asus firmware - such as the much cleaner "wireless log", "DHCP leases" and other pages in "system log"

Oh, you added the ability to specify hostnames to dnsmasq! Nice. However, it feels kind of like an add-on right now. SUGGESTION: it would be nicer if this somehow integrated with the asus "custom_clientlist" nvram value. It's odd that I have to give something a name twice.

EDIT: After a factory reset, these seem to be more in sync. If I provide a name via the DHCP reservation page, it also shows up in the clients page (instead of "undefined.") Would still be nice if I could assign a name without assigning an IP. (Doing it only via the clients list means that DNS won't resolve it.)

Administration->Performance tuning: Not sure what I'm looking at on this page... perhaps it should just be called "System Temps"? It doesn't seem to allow any actual tuning.

WAN->Internet Connection->Basic Config: In the web UI, when hovering over "Enable internet detect" (the static label, not the edit box), the cursor changes to imply I can click to get help. Clicking doesn't do anything. I don't remember if the asus firmware had the same field or not...

WAN->DDNS: The server for google domains is NOT "www.google-ddns.com". I realize that this string was just taken from the asus firmware, but it's wrong and might confuse anyone that actually uses google's Domains. The proper server is "domains.google.com." As well, I've already sent you a PM with a bug related to that. (Should send 'myip' parameter to prevent problems when IPv6 is active on the device.)

Wireless->Site Survey: Thank you for putting this back in. I have no idea why Asus would have removed it from Tomato when they started.

Tools: Thank you for this as well. On "Tools->Other Settings", there's a thing for "monthly cycle." Should I ask my wife what that's for?

Overall, I'm impressed. hooking into scrips via the jffs fs will allow me to do anything I need to that isn't already provided in the UI. If there's room in the image, it might be nice to have a basic text editor for editing some obvious scripts. It isn't strictly needed, but it might make things a little faster (and easier to screw things up.)

 

[RMerlin]

Oh, you added the ability to specify hostnames to dnsmasq! Nice. However, it feels kind of like an add-on right now. SUGGESTION: it would be nicer if this somehow integrated with the asus "custom_clientlist" nvram value. It's odd that I have to give something a name twice.

It used to be the case, but no longer, because the two fields have different limitations. A valid hostname for instance cannot contain a space, but a device description can. So, there was no way to conciliate the two, short of separating them.

Administration->Performance tuning: Not sure what I'm looking at on this page... perhaps it should just be called "System Temps"? It doesn't seem to allow any actual tuning.

The original page from Asus was one where you could control the speed of the fan (back during development when the RT-N66U had a fan) or control power output. With the RT-AC68U, it also controlled the Turbo button, which was also dropped during development. With those settings dropped, there was only the temperature monitoring left, with a now irrelevant page title.

I could probably rename the page, I'm just worried about the potential problems it might generate down the line, so I never really gave it much thought. I even considered removing that page completely for a while, as the forums kept getting flooded with worried posts about router temperatures, with people assuming it was too hot without being aware of the engineering specifications of the chips involved.

WAN->Internet Connection->Basic Config: In the web UI, when hovering over "Enable internet detect" (the static label, not the edit box), the cursor changes to imply I can click to get help. Clicking doesn't do anything. I don't remember if the asus firmware had the same field or not...

I haven't changed any of the help fields, neither added any, due to potential clashes with Asus's dictionary files (merging modified versions of them would be really difficult, and simplifying the process of merging new GPL is increasingly important with all the changes Asus did these past few years). Might be something that was broken in a recent Asus release, I'll have to test it.

If there's room in the image, it might be nice to have a basic text editor for editing some obvious scripts.

There's "vi". Not very novice-friendly, but I never added nano because of its extensive requirements (it requires termcap/ncurse with everything associated to it). For now the best is to plug a USB flash drive, and setup Entware. You can then install nano (or your preferred alternative) from Entware.

Overall, I'm impressed. hooking into scrips via the jffs fs will allow me to do anything I need to that isn't already provided in the UI.

The possibility to customize most of the router service's configurations or insert custom scripts at various points is what I consider Asuswrt-Merlin's biggest original feature, which sets it apart from most other third party firmwares. The rest are just tweaks or minor features that can be found in most third party firmwares.

 

[RMerlin]

I have tried without success at least a power cycle is required instead... So the overall process seems like the normal upgrade, but when router is rebooted the same version remain ...
Any other tip?

Try a different browser.

 

[cuekay]

Search is your friend...
http://www.snbforums.com/threads/upgrade-from-fork-to-merlin.33148/#post-266210

thank you so much. This worked! I had a vague memory of having needed an intermediary step but didn't know what terms worked best. Also, thank you so much for your buttery smooth fork! And while the search engine may be friends of more capable folks, but it certainly isn't my friend. I think I'm in need of a book on the art and science of using the search engine with lots of generalizable examples.

Also, beta 2 has been fantastic! I'm not sure how a firmware can improve in stability and features while using up the least amount of RAM I've ever seen used for my device (steady at ~50MB). I'm glad I didn't succumb to fear wrt hacking my CFE miniwebserver with the hex editor.

 

[R1-Limited]

Whenever I get the missing closed source components. So, I have no idea.

With the increasing amount of closed source components now in the firmware, people will need to get used to the fact that each separate release might not always be available for all router models. This is outside of my control.

I understand more than you may think. Thank you, I will wait, I just figured I would ask.

 

[djrm]

Try a different browser.

That was the trick box updated successfully and testing now

Thanks a lot for your help RMerlin

 

[vibroverbus]

Further feedback on AC3200 60.beta2

Does seem like some startup tasks are taking different times than on prior firmware, specifically when the USB mounts, and when/how some default files get created. As posted before, broke some things in my previously stable working script environment since I like to put a few files on USB for some reasons. Most things I have been able to easily sort out by catching errors and changing various script logic.

However I have had couple instances where the USB automount never actually happens. This then causes probs in my config like making dnsmasq fail.

I have a scheduled nightly reboot and it is after this that rarely the USB doesnt mount, while seems like after a hard boot, always works fine. This system was super stable prior to beta so definitely something is slightly different causing an occasional failure to mount USB. I found a reference that USB mounts are all handled by the kernel, is there anyway to kick the system to restart USB automounting if it is stuck? If this needs to be another thread thats fine.

Otherwise did have the WAN drop twice and not be able to re-initialize without a reboot, but that was at very random times, and hasn't happened in a long time. Perhaps unrelated to beta.

 

[el pescador]

Flashed this today and no issues.
Just a minor issue which i know is asus's fault.

the movistar options in special options doesnt work properly if you set the tv decoder to static and hold the original details.
If you ignore that and just set it up under manual in the iptv tab after skipping the wizzard setup it works fine.

I flashd a slightly older stock version on the ac66u just incase my ac88u had issues with this....thats how i know its defo asus's problem.

 

[Logi]

Any timeline on when Beta 3 will be released? Thanks

 

[L&LD]

I haven't seen a reason for a Beta 3, maybe the final is close?

 

[Logi]

Well, my router RT-AC5300 has been online for 13 days with not a single issue, I agree, maybe we are close to the final release.

 

[nitro001]

I haven't seen a reason for a Beta 3, maybe the final is close?

Support for the earlier models like my AC66R when Asus actually provides the correct binaries would warrant a new Beta for testing on these units.