OpenWRT/Custom firmware for Asus DSL routers

[GNUton]

Hi there,
Lately, I have been asked from several people to have look at the other DSL routers besides the AC68U.
I browsed the Asus support page and this is the situation and actually you can guess the OS that they run by looking at the version number:
- 3.x for routers running AsusWRT
- 1.1.2 firmare based on MediaTek SDK
- 1.x for routers running OpenWRT-BroadcomSDK

MediaTek CPE SDK based firmware
dsl-n10-c1
dsl-n12e-c1
dsl-n12u-c1
dsl-n14u
dsl-n16
dsl-n16u
dsl-n17u
dsl-n55u-c1
dsl-n55u-d1
dsl-n66u
DSL-N16 Version 1.1.2.3_674
DSL-AC52U Version 1.1.2.3_674
DSL-AC56U Version 1.1.2.3_674

AsusWRT
DSL-AC68U Version 3.0.0.4.384_56087

OpenWRT 15.05 broadcom SDK
DSL-AC88U Version 1.10.06_Build591

No idea yet
DSL-AC87VG Version 1.05.18_build305


---- OpenWRT based firmware ---
So I had a look at the GPL tarball for the asus DSL-AC88U.
As for the AC88U, the firmware is based on OpenWRT 15.05 chaos calmer. Unfortunately, it looks more like a raw development environment with tons of build issues than something which has been used to build a real product.
It doesn't contain anything related to the WebUI nor OpenWRT luci either, but it has a web server with Broadcom branded interface. It really looks like something coming from a Broadcom SDK.

I managed to build the code but it spits out just ipkg and not a flashable image. To me, it looks like they have stripped out that from the code.

The ASUS GPL code is btw incomplete and few changing in the openwrt config can easily break the compilation in multiple way. I tried to fix a few of them, but there are still some.
What I like about the firmware is.... OpenWRT. It is really modular and nice. The kernel is ancient (3.4.11) but it is newer than the one in the AsusWRT (2.6). Is 2.6 from 2005?

I found also https://github.com/dragino/openwrt-cc-15.05 really interesting since it has a snapshot and it has most of the software that this router has. Most important things that you can get from the dragino repo are the patches.

BTW if you are interested you can find my code at
https://github.com/gnuton/openwrt-asus/tree/mainline

---- MediaTEK based firmware ---
It's quite nice and complete you can defintely build it and get a flashable image out of it.
The code can be found here https://github.com/gnuton/asus-mediatek-fw/tree/mainline
I started to write a cicle ci config file for it but it's not over.

 

[El Mariachi]

Really good write up @GNUton !

I am sure this post will go well to answering many people's questions as to why certain models can/will be supported by your efforts vs those that can't and won't.

Might be worth adding to your 68U post a "click here" for info on other DSL models to redirect people to this post who don't generally venture out of Merlin's subforum.

 

[GNUton]

I have updated the post a little bit with my latest findings. cheers

 

[Islam Ghunym]

Hi there,
Lately, I have been asked from several people to have look at the other DSL routers besides the AC68U.
I browsed the Asus support page and this is the situation and actually you can guess the OS that they run by looking at the version number:
- 3.x for routers running AsusWRT
- 1.1.2 firmare based on MediaTek SDK
- 1.x for routers running OpenWRT-BroadcomSDK

MediaTek CPE SDK based firmware
dsl-n10-c1
dsl-n12e-c1
dsl-n12u-c1
dsl-n14u
dsl-n16
dsl-n16u
dsl-n17u
dsl-n55u-c1
dsl-n55u-d1
dsl-n66u
DSL-N16 Version 1.1.2.3_674
DSL-AC52U Version 1.1.2.3_674
DSL-AC56U Version 1.1.2.3_674

AsusWRT
DSL-AC68U Version 3.0.0.4.384_56087

OpenWRT 15.05 broadcom SDK
DSL-AC88U Version 1.10.06_Build591

No idea yet
DSL-AC87VG Version 1.05.18_build305


---- OpenWRT based firmware ---
So I had a look at the GPL tarball for the asus DSL-AC88U.
As for the AC88U, the firmware is based on OpenWRT 15.05 chaos calmer. Unfortunately, it looks more like a raw development environment with tons of build issues than something which has been used to build a real product.
It doesn't contain anything related to the WebUI nor OpenWRT luci either, but it has a web server with Broadcom branded interface. It really looks like something coming from a Broadcom SDK.

I managed to build the code but it spits out just ipkg and not a flashable image. To me, it looks like they have stripped out that from the code.

The ASUS GPL code is btw incomplete and few changing in the openwrt config can easily break the compilation in multiple way. I tried to fix a few of them, but there are still some.
What I like about the firmware is.... OpenWRT. It is really modular and nice. The kernel is ancient (3.4.11) but it is newer than the one in the AsusWRT (2.6). Is 2.6 from 2005?

I found also https://github.com/dragino/openwrt-cc-15.05 really interesting since it has a snapshot and it has most of the software that this router has. Most important things that you can get from the dragino repo are the patches.

BTW if you are interested you can find my code at
https://github.com/gnuton/openwrt-asus/tree/mainline

---- MediaTEK based firmware ---
It's quite nice and complete you can defintely build it and get a flashable image out of it.
The code can be found here https://github.com/gnuton/asus-mediatek-fw/tree/mainline
I started to write a cicle ci config file for it but it's not over.

I will be honest. I know nothing about what you say and did not understand any, but I wanted to install OpenWRT firmware on my both DSL-N12E_C1 and DSL-N14U devices so how can you help me with that?