GT-Be 98 European Version. We need more Merlin-Gnuton :)

[Unisoft]

You guys buy expensive products with single person 3rd party firmware support and express disappointment when updates don't come in expected time frame or frequency. Life happens and 3rd party support may stop permanently for multiple reasons. There is no promises or guarantees. It's a best effort support and many of you were aware before the purchase.

Correct. Been with Merlin's releases for years and never a problem, releases always been in very reasonable time frames. I can understand the older models being done "as when" by Gnuton. Just a statement from them to everyone waiting, would be something as we all thinking it has ended, though we would have believed GNuton would have at least confirmed that. Have to be stock firmware soon I guess, which would be missing key features, and then re-evaluate Asus as a whole.

So Tech9, what router that has all the features of the Asus BE98 would you recommend then - this includes add-ins via AMTM such as an ad blocker (Diversion) and firewall control similar to Skynet, DNS over TLS, DNSSec support, VLANS, WiFi7 with WPA3, DNS Director, AV/AI Protection, NTP Time Server, WIFI Scheduling, VPN to commercial VPN like Shark Surf and exceptions for devices?
Not interested about Asus specific services such as AICloud.

You have scoffed at Asus for a long time on here, interested to know what you think is better. Do not worry if it's business, as I have a managed 10gbps switch anyway from QNAP, as long as its under £800.

 

[Sundraw]

No.

1) I cannot just blindly compile things and send it to someone else without the ability to flash, run and test things. This is why every single model that I support, I have the device in hand to be able to test and debug. In 12+ years the only exception to this has been the RT-AC3100, and that's because it was flat out an RT-AC88U without the extra Realtek switch. That is not the case with the GT-BE98, it's a very different device, with different radios.

2) One of the reasons for offloading some models to Gnuton is my lack of time to support every single models on my own. Each model has its own GPL that needs to be obtained, merged in, and tested/debugged. It's not just a matter of flipping a switch and compiling an extra file.


What does this have to do with Gnuton? He does not develop or sell any hardware, none of this has to do with him.


As previously indicated, my decision not to support this model had nothing to do with money. I can get devices from Asus directly, as I do with every device that I support. I actually have two new devices on the way from Taiwan this very weekend. It's a matter of available time, and the device not being certified by Industry Canada. Any device sent to me would potentially be blocked at the customs. And if it did get through, operating such a radio device would be a violation of Canadian regulations.

I meant custom firmware development for hardware. Since you interface directly with Asus, I think it's something important and not just a casual project. On the other hand, I can't find a line on your website/GitHub or a disclaimer that says, “I do this in my spare time, and I can stop whenever I want.” Unless it has to be found in some forum post... I understand that there are restrictions in Canada, but you could add some other contributors to the project, which is invaluable to many of us. Your firmware is essential for many of us, so we need a team that is more involved in development and releases. Many of us buy Asus exclusively to use Merlin, and I think using Merlin is good for you too. And I think that in the territories where the “non-pro” version is sold, there have been a lot of buyers...

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Correct. Been with Merlin's releases for years and never a problem, releases always been in very reasonable time frames. I can understand the older models being done "as when" by Gnuton. Just a statement from them to everyone waiting, would be something as we all thinking it has ended, though we would have believed GNuton would have at least confirmed that. Have to be stock firmware soon I guess, which would be missing key features, and then re-evaluate Asus as a whole.

So Tech9, what router that has all the features of the Asus BE98 would you recommend then - this includes add-ins via AMTM such as an ad blocker (Diversion) and firewall control similar to Skynet, DNS over TLS, DNSSec support, VLANS, WiFi7 with WPA3, DNS Director, AV/AI Protection, NTP Time Server, WIFI Scheduling, VPN to commercial VPN like Shark Surf and exceptions for devices?
Not interested about Asus specific services such as AICloud.

You have scoffed at Asus for a long time on here, interested to know what you think is better. Do not worry if it's business, as I have a managed 10gbps switch anyway from QNAP, as long as its under £800.

You're probably not going to like his answer because it won't be Asus.

 

[Tech9]

So Tech9, what router that has all the features of the Asus BE98 would you recommend then

Well... if you want an Asus AIO router with RMerlin's support you check the models he supports and see what is available in your region. The closest device to GT-BE98 (Pro) available globally is RT-BE96U. It has the same CPU/RAM, 2x 10GbE ports and true tri-band Wi-Fi 7. Then you still hope Asus won't change the mood about this project and the single person running it has the will and ability to continue.

 

[nagyimre1980]

I need a 4-band router. Two of them on the 5GHz band, like the GT-AXE16000.
That's exactly why I also wanted to buy a GT-BE98.
What I don't understand: The GT-AXE16000 and GT-BE98 use the same bands. So illegal frequency usage isn't possible. Why doesn't ASUS sell this worldwide?

 

[Tech9]

I need a 4-band router

Apart from Asus marketing you have to match the needs, availability and possible feasibility of your project and corresponding hardware. GT-BE98 Pro has 2x 6GHz radios with one on channels approved by FCC only for the US only. AFC eventually - currently US only. GT-BE98 has 2x 5GHz radios and in the EU one of them is always in DFS and not guaranteed to work everywhere. So if you did some research in advance you would perhaps find any so called "quad-band" router (in reality tri-band quad-radio) is actually not a good idea in your location. It may work today and stop tomorrow. I personally would never buy such AIO device.

 

[nagyimre1980]

I live in the countryside, in a village—there's nothing around here, no radar, no airport, just forest with lots and lots of trees.

 

[Tech9]

In current geopolitical situation countryside may not help when the military scans the sky with several MW radar station. So don't be surprised when your gaming spider cuts off the 5GHz-2 radio. This is relying on luck networking.

 

[Neoony]

Not sure if someone already linked (just skimmed through the thread)
But GT-BE98 is already supported in gnuton and works fine for me

Release 3006.102.4_1-gnuton1 · gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng

GNUton's Asus Merlin changelog Date: June 11, 2025 Release: 3006.102.4_1-gnuton1 ADEED: Support for GT-BE98

github.com

Only one time I had it suddenly factory reset, I dont know why (I explained more in their discussions)
Didnt happen since

 

[Tech9]

just skimmed through the thread

You had to actually read the thread.

 

[RMerlin]

I think it's something important and not just a casual project.

Neither of us are getting paid to do this, neither of us are hired or sponsored by a company to do this, and both of us have fulltime jobs outside of this. It remains very much a hobbyist projects in facts regardless of how you feel about it.

On the other hand, I can't find a line on your website/GitHub or a disclaimer that says, “I do this in my spare time, and I can stop whenever I want.” Unless it has to be found in some forum post

I'm not going to hire a lawyer to write you a contract stating full terms in all the details... I've always been very frank about it, multiple times on these forums. The rest is inherent to any other open source project that isn't sponsored by an organization.

you could add some other contributors to the project

Open source projects like this one dont recruit participants: people have to volunteer to contribute to it on their own. My code has always been up there on Github, people with the required interest and skill have to come forward on their own. That's what happened when John stepped forward to handle older models. Or when Gnuton stepped forward to add more models that I wasn't supporting. Or when Themiron contributed a number of fixes and changes related to dnsmasq and other things over a period of time. Or the occasional contributors who bring in fixes, like one person who regularly backports OpenSSL security fixes for 1.1.1.

It's not as if I can start posting a job offer out there, and hire a few people to work on this.

Why doesn't ASUS sell this worldwide?

Every time you market a device for sale in a certain region, you have to get that device tested and certified by regulatory bodies. If you don't feel that a product makes business sense in a certain region, then you might not want to have it go through the whole certification process, which is most likely both time consuming and expensive. Plus the logistic costs of having an additional SKU in your regional inventories.

 

[Unisoft]

Neither of us are getting paid to do this, neither of us are hired or sponsored by a company to do this, and both of us have fulltime jobs outside of this. It remains very much a hobbyist projects in facts regardless of how you feel about it.


I'm not going to hire a lawyer to write you a contract stating full terms in all the details... I've always been very frank about it, multiple times on these forums. The rest is inherent to any other open source project that isn't sponsored by an organization.


Open source projects like this one dont recruit participants: people have to volunteer to contribute to it on their own. My code has always been up there on Github, people with the required interest and skill have to come forward on their own. That's what happened when John stepped forward to handle older models. Or when Gnuton stepped forward to add more models that I wasn't supporting. Or when Themiron contributed a number of fixes and changes related to dnsmasq and other things over a period of time. Or the occasional contributors who bring in fixes, like one person who regularly backports OpenSSL security fixes for 1.1.1.

It's not as if I can start posting a job offer out there, and hire a few people to work on this.


Every time you market a device for sale in a certain region, you have to get that device tested and certified by regulatory bodies. If you don't feel that a product makes business sense in a certain region, then you might not want to have it go through the whole certification process, which is most likely both time consuming and expensive. Plus the logistic costs of having an additional SKU in your regional inventories.

It's because you've been so much better than stock Asus firmware, that people want your firmware. You have been very reliable in producing updates, even though this is not your main job. From what I know, the routers are the same, except one has a different model number with flags to not enable turning on and configuration of the extra 6ghz band. Should the 6ghz upper band be allowed, which is expected in UK, then an update could re-enable. Or is it, the physical hardware has been removed on GT-BE98 and that even if it becomes allowed later by regulation, it cannot be re-enabled? Unless it was a legal requirement to remove the hardware support, rather than just prevent enablement by software, that would seem a silly decision by Asus, because a number of countries had not decided the outcome when they started shipping. After all, both models were the same price which you would normally expect the model that is virtually the same less one bit of hardware would be cheaper.

 

[Ouss23]

Hi every body I'm so excited, Gnuton is back as I see​

https://github.com/gnuton/asuswrt-merlin.ng/releases/tag/3004.388.10_0-gnuton0_alpha1​

waiting for GT-BE98​

 

[Ouss23]

Upgrade node DSL-AX82U 3004_388.10_0-gnuton0_alpha1. no issues. thanks to @GNUton & all team.