Is there a list of all the apps that can run on Asuswrt-Merlin?

[Rhialto]

I know AB-Solution and some torrent apps but that's about it.
I'm just curious if there are any that could be useful.
What are the most popular ones?
Isn't there a list somewhere?

 

[Omega69]

My first step was entware-ng and after you can install so many things. Try hqt.ro to see some tutorials

Odesláno z mého ONEPLUS A5000 pomocí Tapatalk

 

[Butterfly Bones]

I know AB-Solution and some torrent apps but that's about it.
I'm just curious if there are any that could be useful.
What are the most popular ones?
Isn't there a list somewhere?

Here is a list of entware-ng apps, not sure if they all will run, but I have tried many and all work. I suspect as long as you have entware-ng install then these apps will work.
http://entware.zyxmon.org/binaries/armv7/Packages.html

I found this list here as @Omega69 suggested. Scroll down below install instructions.
https://www.hqt.ro/how-to-install-new-generation-entware/

 

[Rhialto]

wow huge list of little utilities, nothing as end user friendly as AB-Solution for example. At least I'm set. I was curious if I could enhance my router with something cool, my old router could not run apps.

Thanks

 

[thelonelycoder]

wow huge list of little utilities, nothing as end user friendly as AB-Solution for example.

I don't know what you were expecting user-friendly wise but be advised that the AB-Solution user interface is a labor of love.
There is nothing quite like it shell-script wise for a router, or any other device. I spent a LOT of time making it as user friendly as possible, which was the goal of this project.
I do not expect others to do anything remotely similar with their scripts, and neither should you.

 

[Rhialto]

Well all this was unknown to me, I mean running apps on a router. Since it was my first look at it, I was only curious to know what else other than AB-Solution existed. Congrats for offering a very polished user interface, sure help for massive adoption because not everyone is willing to enter lots of commands they are unfamiliar with.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Well all this was unknown to me, I mean running apps on a router. Since it was my first look at it, I was only curious to know what else other than AB-Solution existed. Congrats for offering a very polished user interface, sure help for massive adoption because not everyone is willing to enter lots of commands they are unfamiliar with.

And that is why I made the effort. It made it possible for a lot of users to run an ad-blocker on their router.

 

[Rhialto]

And that is why I made the effort. It made it possible for a lot of users to run an ad-blocker on their router.

 

[heysoundude]

Here is a list of entware-ng apps, not sure if they all will run, but I have tried many and all work. I suspect as long as you have entware-ng install then these apps will work.
http://entware.zyxmon.org/binaries/armv7/Packages.html

I found this list here as @Omega69 suggested. Scroll down below install instructions.
https://www.hqt.ro/how-to-install-new-generation-entware/[/

NOTE: that first link is for ARM based routers. there is another link for those with MIPSEL based routers. Not an expert, but there is a difference and I don't think it's a stretch to say you will likely have problems if you install the wrong entware.

And yes, @thelonelycoder has made his VERY easy for those of us who don't spend very much time in the code. that big thumbs up above this post isn't big enough

 

[Rhialto]

that big thumbs up above this post isn't big enough

Funny you say that because it was much bigger and I took time to make it smaller to not abuse...

 

[heysoundude]

oh no, as I'm concerned, for their services to this community at large, neither @RMerlin or @thelonelycoder should ever have to pay for a beer again.

 

[thelonelycoder]

oh no, as I'm concerned, for their services to this community at large, neither @RMerlin or @thelonelycoder should ever have to pay for a beer again.

All contributors here deserve that virtual or physical beer. I just happened to hijack this thread with my opinion.
To continue the list, there's the Firewall/Ipset fraction that offer their excellent scripts:
@Adamm with Skynet
@Martineau with How to Dynamically Ban Malicious IP's using IPSet (Martineau version)
@redhat27 with Yet another malware block script using ipset (v4 and v6)

 

[thelonelycoder]

Funny you say that because it was much bigger and I took time to make it smaller to not abuse...

Largest size I could find is 1307x1600px.
But my all-time favorite for a thumbs up is still this one:

 

[latenitetech]

I'll throw in my 2 cents on this thread ... most of the "apps" mentioned so far are related to the router's core functionality, that is, routing. That's as it should be. But if you think of this platform as also being an always-on, network connected, small Linux server, then pretty much anything you can run on a small Linux box will also work fine here. That's where the entware-ng package comes in. While at first glance, Entware mostly looks like a collection of utilities, it actually forms the basis to easily support a wide range of Linux applications.

On my RT-AC68U, I'm running 2 media servers both sharing the same large audio/video collection: Minidlna and pyTivo. Minidlna already comes pre-installed on the router, and with some additional tweaking is a very stable and capable media server to DLNA clients. pyTivo is a media server that shares up content to Tivo devices. It's written in python and uses the Entware python interpreter. It too runs flawlessly on the router. And of course, you'd want to run the built-in Samba server to remotely administer your media collection and/or support a small network file server. That too works flawlessly.

If you're into home automation (and in particular, using legacy X-10 devices), the heyu server works great. It's not quite as plug-and-play, but using the Entware native compiler, it builds quite easily and then runs flawlessly as a native process. Then if you want to remotely administer your heyu-controlled devices with your smart phone, the domus.Link interface can readily be added using the lighttpd web server from Entware. Enable a VPN server on the router and now your smartphone can administer your heyu devices anywhere in the world. Use the built-in sendmail utility (part of busybox) to have heyu send emails or text messages to alert you to important home automation events.

My examples are no where near as easy to install and use as AB-Solution, but they give you an idea of the kind of additional apps you can successfully run here if you're willing to learn and tinker. You really can't break the thing unless you're planning to mess with the firmware. Everything I've done is on top of AsusWRT-Merlin, just using the capabilities provided by Entware and the fantastic set of 'hooks' Merlin adds that allows all of this add-on capability. Have fun and share back any great creations you get working in your Merlin-based sandbox!

 

[heysoundude]

All contributors here deserve that virtual or physical beer. I just happened to hijack this thread with my opinion.
To continue the list, there's the Firewall/Ipset fraction that offer their excellent scripts:
@Adamm with Skynet
@Martineau with How to Dynamically Ban Malicious IP's using IPSet (Martineau version)
@redhat27 with Yet another malware block script using ipset (v4 and v6)

indeed, sir. quite right and correct. same "free beer" passport stamp for them too!

 

[thelonelycoder]

I'll throw in my 2 cents on this thread ... most of the "apps" mentioned so far are related to the router's core functionality, that is, routing. That's as it should be. But if you think of this platform as also being an always-on, network connected, small Linux server, then pretty much anything you can run on a small Linux box will also work fine here. That's where the entware-ng package comes in. While at first glance, Entware mostly looks like a collection of utilities, it actually forms the basis to easily support a wide range of Linux applications.

On my RT-AC68U, I'm running 2 media servers both sharing the same large audio/video collection: Minidlna and pyTivo. Minidlna already comes pre-installed on the router, and with some additional tweaking is a very stable and capable media server to DLNA clients. pyTivo is a media server that shares up content to Tivo devices. It's written in python and uses the Entware python interpreter. It too runs flawlessly on the router. And of course, you'd want to run the built-in Samba server to remotely administer your media collection and/or support a small network file server. That too works flawlessly.

If you're into home automation (and in particular, using legacy X-10 devices), the heyu server works great. It's not quite as plug-and-play, but using the Entware native compiler, it builds quite easily and then runs flawlessly as a native process. Then if you want to remotely administer your heyu-controlled devices with your smart phone, the domus.Link interface can readily be added using the lighttpd web server from Entware. Enable a VPN server on the router and now your smartphone can administer your heyu devices anywhere in the world. Use the built-in sendmail utility (part of busybox) to have heyu send emails or text messages to alert you to important home automation events.

My examples are no where near as easy to install and use as AB-Solution, but they give you an idea of the kind of additional apps you can successfully run here if you're willing to learn and tinker. You really can't break the thing unless you're planning to mess with the firmware. Everything I've done is on top of AsusWRT-Merlin, just using the capabilities provided by Entware and the fantastic set of 'hooks' Merlin adds that allows all of this add-on capability. Have fun and share back any great creations you get working in your Merlin-based sandbox!

I'm a point and click guy, always have been.
And I can never remember all the commands for my linux and Windows DOS prompts except for the ones I daily use.

I prefer a GUI whenever one is available.
This is an unpopular opinion here with all the power users. But lets be honest, without the enhancements RMerlin makes to the router UI his project would never be such a success. It's point and click for about 99% of it's userbase (my estimate).

Look at what Apple did to BSD. Suddenly it's a usable unix variant for the masses. And most of the OSX users don't know or care what lies underneath the shiny GUI.
It brought Unix/Linux (with Ubuntu)to the masses, and the marketshare rose for the first time above the 1% mark for Linux.
That would have never been the case if it were still only a command line OS as many still want it to.
Imagine answering your phone with a command like this:
$ android-gsm-v.39.3.445 -vS | loudspeaker.local < microphone.local up

I obviously got carried away here but that is the reason I coded AB-Solution and also why it's such a huge success.
The manual predecessor of AB was popular but severely limited the user base due to the many commands to type and manual configuration.

I don't mean to offend the hard core coders here but if you want to spread your passion to as many people as possible you have to make things easy for them. Some call AB-Solution bloatware. I say power to the masses.