Home Networking Blog Site

[Xentrk]

I am doing a soft launch of my blog site today. The focus of the blog site will be home networking, privacy and security. In the near future, I will post some scripts I have written on GitHub and make those available and provide the instructions on the blog site. I also welcome input from forum members on topics you would like to see.

Current blog posts include

• Why I use TorGuard as my VPN Provider
• Asuswrt-Merlin Firmware Upgrade
• TorGuard OpenVPN 2.4 Client Setup for Asuswrt-Merlin Firmware
• Router Firmware Supported By TorGuard
• OpenVPN Server Setup Instructions for Asuswrt-Merlin
• GL.iNet GL-AR300M Mini Smart Router Review
• How to setup the TorGuard OpenVPN Client on the mini GL-iNet Router
• OpenVPN Performance
  
• How to Convert a DD-WRT Router in an Access Point

I appreciate the help I have received on this forum and hope the blog site will be a benefit to others, and an additional resource to SNBForums and the Asuswrt-Merlin Wiki.

 

[SMS786]

I am doing a soft launch of my blog site today. Here is the link to the post about performing the firmware upgrade. The site still needs some work. I have a lot to learn about WordPress. But people have been asking me for this article so I went ahead and posted it. I have many more topics planned for future posts.

Looks thorough..great job. Wish I had these resources during my noobish days...

 

[Xentrk]

Looks thorough..great job. Wish I had these resources during my noobish days...

Thanks for the feedback. It is encouraging to hear. When I got into this over two years ago, it was thru the help of others who posted on this forum and their own blog sites that got me this far. Eventually, I may do a YouTube channel. But that will be a way off. I have a lot of content I want to write first.

 

[skeal]

Thanks for the feedback. It is encouraging to hear. When I got into this over two years ago, it was thru the help of others who posted on this forum and their own blog sites that got me this far. Eventually, I may do a YouTube channel. But that will be a way off. I have a lot of content I want to write first.

100% everyone should read this! It would cut down a lot of traffic.

 

[martinr]

100% everyone should read this! It would cut down a lot of traffic.

I’ve bookmarked it into the browser’s Favourites bookmarks to make sure I keep it in my sights.

 

[DaveMishSr]

I am doing a soft launch of my blog site today. Here is the link to the post about performing the firmware upgrade. The site still needs some work. I have a lot to learn about WordPress. But people have been asking me for this article so I went ahead and posted it. I have many more topics planned for future posts.

Outstanding work. Now the trick will be getting users to make use of this terrific resource.

 

[john9527]

@Xentrk @RMerlin

It may be worthwhile to break your blog site news into it's own thread (post 742 on)


Done. -rm

 

[kman]

@Xentrk, the blog posts are awesome! One question - how can you save your preexisting entware/ab-solution when upgrading from 380.xx to 384?

 

[skeal]

@Xentrk, the blog posts are awesome! One question - how can you save your preexisting entware/ab-solution when upgrading from 380.xx to 384?

That should be saved on your usb drive if it was installed that way. In the firmware upgrade process you unmount the usb drive so it is not effected by the flash. You probably want to back up /jffs directory as the scripts are kept there.

 

[kman]

Thank you @skeal and @Xentrk ... I simply overlooked the jffs portion in the blog instructions.

Just upgraded from 380 to 384 on AC68U. Everything working great and @Xentrk instructions were AWESOME! Followed them to the tee and no issues.

Just one note about the restoring of DHCP client. I couldn't figure out a way to copy from nano so I had to use WinSCP and open the file then copy the content and paste it here:

nvram set dhcp_staticlist=”values_previously_saved”

 

[Netbug]

Visited your site in past two days or so, i was wondering who's blog it was, very nice, simple and clean, really nice font to. Excellent blog.

If i were to change something that would be on blog homepage, it's all text and i think to the side of each blog entry excerpt a thumbnail i think would break up the text a bit to look a bit more pleasing on the eye and inviting, this is not criticism just a suggestion

 

[Xentrk]

Visited your site in past two days or so, i was wondering who's blog it was, very nice, simple and clean, really nice font to. Excellent blog.

If i were to change something that would be on blog homepage, it's all text and i think to the side of each blog entry excerpt a thumbnail i think would break up the text a bit to look a bit more pleasing on the eye and inviting, this is not criticism just a suggestion

Yes, I agree with you and those changes will be coming within a few weeks. I want the landing page to be more appealing. I am calling this a soft launch for now. I had to travel to US for a family matter and ran out of time to finish everything I wanted. Some people were asking for the upgrade instructions so I decided to go live for their benefit.

Now that I am on the road, I am getting some good hands on experience with my Gl-iNet AR300M travel router. I run OpenVPN and ad blocking on it. Coupled with a fire stick, it makes for essential kit when on the road and living out of a hotel. I’ll share details in a blog post when I return.

I also had time to test penetrating the great firewall of China using TorGuard during my layover. I had issues getting it to work on my wife’s Mac and want to retest it on the return flight.

 

[Netbug]

well it's a great blog you have as i said, certainly one for the bookmark

There's no rush, i used to web develop a few years ago and never rushed my projects, i wanted to enjoy them so did it as and when, life's for living. Sounds like you are having great fun testing your travel router kit. I look forward to reading your blog in the future, have been having a read already

 

[mrex]

I am doing a soft launch of my blog site today. The focus of the blog site will be home networking, privacy and security.

and the the irony... F-secure is blocking the access to the blog saying that the site is harmful.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Xentrk]

and the the irony... F-secure is blocking the access to the blog saying that the site is harmful.




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I will look into that. Thank you.

 

[Xentrk]

I just published two new blog posts on the GL-iNet AR300M mini Smart Router. You can read the posts by selecting the links below:

GL.iNet GL-AR300M Mini Smart Router Review
How to setup the TorGuard OpenVPN Client on the mini GL-iNet Router

What makes this an essential piece of my travel kit is the OpenVPN client feature of the router which provides a secure connection to the internet when traveling and using public or hotel networks. When paired with a VPN service and a streaming media device, the GL-AR300M provides the ability to access streaming media from the comfort of your hotel room, no matter where in the world your travels take you!

 

[Xentrk]

I recently published two blog posts.

The first post is how to convert a DD-WRT router into an Access Point. More than likely, you have an older router stored away that can be flashed with DD-WRT and put to new use as an Access Point. It is slightly different than Asus routers.

https://x3mtek.com/how-to-convert-a-dd-wrt-router-into-an-access-point/

Of interest to most VPN users is OpenVPN performance. We had a lot of fun discussing this topic in the router thread after I provided OpenVPN performance metrics of my pfSense build and compared it to my Asus RT-AC88U router. Others members contributed metrics too. I did my best to summarize the discussion in the post below. If you are interested in improving VPN performance, then this post is for you!

https://x3mtek.com/openvpn-performance/