OpenWRT is available for N56U (full support, including both wireless radios)

Hey everyone,

Just discovered that OpenWRT finally fixed support for RT-N56U and now both radios work. 5GHz was a little tricky to get up and running, but it works now, finally.

https://downloads.openwrt.org/barrier_breaker/14.07/ramips/rt3883/
grab the factory one and flash it in the WebUI

If this helps for anyone, this is the config that worked for me (to get 5GHz going). Don't use LuCi to set up 5GHz radio for the first time!:

/etc/config/wireless

Code:

config wifi-device 'radio0'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option channel '11'
        option hwmode '11g'
        option path 'pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0'
        option txpower '20'
        option htmode 'HT40'
        option noscan '1'
        option country 'CA'

config wifi-iface
        option device 'radio0'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option ssid 'My'
        option encryption 'psk2+ccmp'
        option key 'mywirelesskey'

config wifi-device 'radio1'
        option type 'mac80211'
        option hwmode '11na'
        option path '10180000.wmac'
        option txpower '17'
        option country 'CA'
        option channel '36'
        option htmode 'HT40'
        option noscan '1'

config wifi-iface
        option device 'radio1'
        option network 'lan'
        option mode 'ap'
        option encryption 'psk2+ccmp'
        option key 'mywirelesskey'
        option ssid 'My-5GHz'

Change the config to your needs and run "wifi" command to get the config reloaded.
________________________________________________________
Trunk builds with LUCI included and compiled with -march=74kc instead of -mips32r -mtune=74kc:
http://olegtown.pw/openwrt/
Make sure to check broken_packages directory to check whether a package you need is broken or not.

 

So you still can't set it up via Luci?

 

You can, but 5GHz might not work. I fiddled with the /etc/config/wireless after I setup 5GHz band with LuCi and it didn't work.
Though I used LuCi for everything else and it is fine. It could just be bug in LuCi itself. It is still beta/experimental.

You moght want to install nano and qos modules after you get it up and running. Openwrt wiki explains how to do it.

 

Can directly flash the factory image via Padavan firmware webUI or do I have to return to ASUS Stock?

 

You should be able to. Though I haven't tried. I first tried openwrt latest snapshot which semi-bricked the router. I restored it to factory via asus utility and flashed RC3 instead of snapshot.

 

Yep. It works flashing directly via padavan firmware. But I'm back to padavan for now

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

Well... openwrt is a little more advanced (harder to get started with for a novice) and is a little more like 'real' linux distro with its own package manager and thousands of packages you can pick from to install. For example I now have openwrt running on a 2GB USB flash drive, have L2TP/IPSec VPN server running, finally a WebUI for qos. I might come up with something else to run on it. It looks like there is some VLAN functionality too, so you might be able to separate networks by ports (in comparison to padavan's/stock lame iptv tagging only), but I haven't looked into that yet. OpenWRT blows the socks off any optware.

But at the same time if you are not looking to expand the standard functionality of your router there really is no point.

 

Any chance that this firmware will support the n65u as well? I see no mention of it at all on the OpenWRT site. Are they similar enough or would they have to add specific support for it?

 

Can't say for sure, but likely not. N65 has a dedicate 2.4 CPU with its own ram which runs a binary blob provided by manufacturer. This is good in a sense that 2.4 doesn't load main CPU in any way, but it sucks for opensource community. This is exactly the reason Padavan't firmware doesn't have kernel 3.4 available for this device.
I reverted back to Padavan's since the WiFi driver is terrible. I could only achieve 4mB/s throughput while with Padavan's (and my own builds) I get 12mB/s over 5Ghz band.

 

I just tried openwrt rc3 out, overall I'm pretty impressed.

I flashed from padavan's to openwrt and vice versa with no issues.

I did see 5ghz radio not working as already mentioned (when setup via Luci)

The one downside was when I ran a speed test with openwrt firmware at speedtest.net my lan (cabled connection) was significantly slower than with Padavan's firmware from 980 mbs down to 108 mbs.

Not sure if anyone else had the same issue, prob just a setting somewhere not sure or a standard issue like this

Updated: and last comment from here
seems like I'm gonna stay with Padavans as I have 1gb fiber optic internet connection makes no sense to use openwrt at this stage for me with a reduced lan speed.

 

with that kina wan connection speed you need NAT offloading, which AFAIK is not opensourced by any of the manufacturers. OpenWRT is strictly opensource with some bits provided as binary blobs if licensing allows. Though, without hardware NAT offloading you should be seeing around 200Mbit/s of throughput, not 100.

 

I'd switch to OpenWRT, but lack of NAT offloading is stopping me. It's not only about having a high speed internet connection. With OpenWRT, I hardly get 3MB/s when I copy something from LAN to Wifi. With Padavan firmware, I get > 10MB/s.

 

There is no NAT LAN<->WIFI. I get 18MB/s sustained on 5GHz band to my laptop from GoFlex Home on wired gigabit.

If it helps this is what I have in my settings:
Network -> WiFi -> radio1 (or radio0) -> Advanced Settings

Country Code: NO - Norway (it is not my country, but seems to be the least restrictive country)
Distance Optimization: 30
Fragmentation Threshold: 2346
RTS/CTS Threshold: 2347

Also what may play a role is that I am not using WPA2 but rather WPA2-Enterprise-PEAP with freeradius2 running on the router.

 

Hmm. The speeds I told you, were for an SMB share accessed on my android phone via the ES File Explorer app. Get 3MB/s on openwrt, and 10MB/s on padavan. Also, I'm using WPA2. But that shouldn't matter, right? I had WPA2 even on padavan.

But yes, you're right. NAT means that two networks should be involved. NAT shouldn't come into play LAN to LAN.

Will try to switch back and investigate more when I have some time.

Sent from my A0001

 

I for the life of me cannot get OpenWRT to install on my RT-N56U. I've tried via stock ASUS firmware version 3.0.0.4.376_3879 using webUI, I've tried from moonman's modded padavan version webUI. I have also tried setting up my wired Desktop to 192.168.1.11 and TFTP the BB version (openwrt-ramips-rt3883-rt-n56u-squashfs-factory.bin). My router just boots up to a power LED and no response. I am only able to TFTP back to stock afterwards. Would have been awesome to have OpenWRT on router . Has anyone come across issues like this when migrating to OpenWRT??

 

Flashing from padavan always worked for me. Though use the stable build, not the trunk one.

Sent from my A0001

 

What is the current state of OpenWRT on the RT-N56U? I am trying to understand from this old quote whether you mean that the WiFi driver is terrible on the N56U under OpenWRT, or something else. Also, since I am so used to seeing the frequent updates you had on your Padavan-based builds, I would have expected that there might be more activity here about new builds since then...or perhaps you no longer use this router?

 

The post you quoted is about a different router N65 and not N56.

Don't know why there is less activity here now. I still use this router, and I do compile openwrt trunk once in a while for it, with the link in openwrt wiki for this router. My internet is down until at least July 13th since I just moved so the link to my openwrt builds is dead until then (i do host it on my own internet connection due to package requirements).

I should probably update OP with my builds too, but can't do till my connection is up and running.

 

There isn't less activity, I still use this router and has no support for any other firmwares, I've gotten so used to OpenWRT that I love it now. Although I picked a bad day to sysupgrade since I can't access packages. I'll have to restore a backup

 

I haven't switched to OpenWRT. I am on one of Moonman's last Padavan-based builds. I have been waiting for the right timing when it wouldn't be a disaster if I had to spend some time fixing the network. I thought that was going to be tonight, but I am not sure that I want to do it when I cannot access his latest builds. I am sure that I will grow accustomed to it, but I don't really understand the whole "sysupgrade" process, having never done it...