3006.102.6 will introduce support to the new GT-BE19000AI. This router is interesting for various reasons (even if you take aside all the "AI" marketing noise around it).
Hardware:
I am not writing a review, so I will only focus on what's new and unique to this model.
This router uses eMMC instead of NAND flash. The /jffs partition is formatted as ext4 instead of ubifs/jffs2. This flash memory will be much more durable than NAND.
The biggest thing is that this router actually has a second separate CPU/SoC, with its own dedicated OS, storage space and memory. This SoC is the Synaptics SL1680:
www.synaptics.com
This is a quad-core Cortex A73 @ 2.1 GHz, paired with 4 GB of memory (that memory is separate from the 4 GB that the router side itself also has). It also has an NPU, which is currently used for Frigate, the NVR software that is running on that SoC inside a Docker image (more details below in the Software section).
Software:
For a while Asus' product page mentionned "Asuswrt 6.0", but that mention seems to have disappeared. That firmware is still 3006.102, but currently a separate, parallel branch to the Asuswrt code used for the other Wifi 7 models.
This router runs the new Dashboard/UI4 user interface, which first debuted a while ago on their ExpertWifi models. The main UI is Bootstrap-based, with the main pages being natively written using Bootstrap, and a wrapper allowing it to reuse the original advanced settings pages, applying the new white UI style to them.
A new software engine partly replaces the TrendMicro engine. Called ARK Engine, it powers the new Adaptive QoE (their new advanced QoS), and also Parental Control traffic classification.
www.gtbooster.com
BWDPI from TrendMicro is still there to handle the AI Protection features like Malicious Website blocking. They seem to have extended it with ad blocking (that's in addition to the new integrated AdGuard support) and tracker blocking. I haven't investigated that yet. That ad blocking capability has always been present in BWDPI, but back in the day Asus had decided not to expose it to users.
No idea how well this new QoS engine works, I haven't really tested it (my FTTH is too fast to truly test its efficiency at handling multiple parallel streams). I don't like the vague parameters shown to configure it (a slider with a numerical value called "Optimization Tuning", in addition to profiles like with Adaptive QoS used).
The other big feature (and its most important IMHO) is the Docker support. Docker images are run on the Synaptics CPU. The router comes with Home Assistant, AdGuard Home and Frigate NVR built-in (Frigate can leverage the NPU for image recognition). But it also includes Portainer, which allows you to download and install your own Docker images. This to me is what the original USB application support (where Asus only ever implemented DownloadMaster) should have been like. I haven't tested it, but in theory I suppose someone could run his own suite of *arr applications alongside qBittorrent, or applications like Changedetection.io. Since it runs its own separate OS, this won't be as much a security risk as DownloadMaster was. Docker is pretty good at providing security by isolating stuff.
I have no idea what are Asus' plans for UI4. I've seen traces of a dark version in some pages, but I don't know if it's a work-in-progress, or an abandonned plan. A dark theme would be good, that white UI is eye-burning on my OLED laptop while doing testing/dev on the couch at night. No idea either if they intend to apply it on other models than this model and the ExpertWifi line.
Asuswrt-Merlin:
Support for that model is being added with 3006.102.6. A lot of work was required to adapt all the A-M pages to render properly on the new UI4. This means supporting the white theme, and also handling some things that no longer work under the new Ui environment (like the MAC address lookup popup that appear when clicking on a MAC address in the Wireless Log page, for example). Each pages needed to ditch their inline colours styling, or to ensure they are tags that can be replaced on-the-fly by Bootstrap, like Asus did for all their own pages. Roughly two weeks of development got dedicated strictly to this part.
The Synaptics OS/firmware is separate from the Asuswrt firmware, and gets downloaded/updated directly from Asus's servers. Asuswrt-Merlin shouldn't have any impact on this.
Hardware:
I am not writing a review, so I will only focus on what's new and unique to this model.
This router uses eMMC instead of NAND flash. The /jffs partition is formatted as ext4 instead of ubifs/jffs2. This flash memory will be much more durable than NAND.
The biggest thing is that this router actually has a second separate CPU/SoC, with its own dedicated OS, storage space and memory. This SoC is the Synaptics SL1680:
SL1680 Embedded IoT Processor | Product Brief
Explore the Synaptics SL Series SoCs, featuring the SL1680: an AI-native, Linux and Android compatible processor optimized for IoT workloads. With quad-core Arm Cortex-A73 CPU, multi-TOPS NPU, advanced GPU, and multimedia accelerators, it supports 4K video, advanced graphics, and AI...
www.synaptics.com
This is a quad-core Cortex A73 @ 2.1 GHz, paired with 4 GB of memory (that memory is separate from the 4 GB that the router side itself also has). It also has an NPU, which is currently used for Frigate, the NVR software that is running on that SoC inside a Docker image (more details below in the Software section).
Software:
For a while Asus' product page mentionned "Asuswrt 6.0", but that mention seems to have disappeared. That firmware is still 3006.102, but currently a separate, parallel branch to the Asuswrt code used for the other Wifi 7 models.
This router runs the new Dashboard/UI4 user interface, which first debuted a while ago on their ExpertWifi models. The main UI is Bootstrap-based, with the main pages being natively written using Bootstrap, and a wrapper allowing it to reuse the original advanced settings pages, applying the new white UI style to them.
A new software engine partly replaces the TrendMicro engine. Called ARK Engine, it powers the new Adaptive QoE (their new advanced QoS), and also Parental Control traffic classification.
ARK Engine | AI Network Visibility Solution | GT Booster
AI network visibility solution that gives context to your traffic intelligence.
BWDPI from TrendMicro is still there to handle the AI Protection features like Malicious Website blocking. They seem to have extended it with ad blocking (that's in addition to the new integrated AdGuard support) and tracker blocking. I haven't investigated that yet. That ad blocking capability has always been present in BWDPI, but back in the day Asus had decided not to expose it to users.
No idea how well this new QoS engine works, I haven't really tested it (my FTTH is too fast to truly test its efficiency at handling multiple parallel streams). I don't like the vague parameters shown to configure it (a slider with a numerical value called "Optimization Tuning", in addition to profiles like with Adaptive QoS used).
The other big feature (and its most important IMHO) is the Docker support. Docker images are run on the Synaptics CPU. The router comes with Home Assistant, AdGuard Home and Frigate NVR built-in (Frigate can leverage the NPU for image recognition). But it also includes Portainer, which allows you to download and install your own Docker images. This to me is what the original USB application support (where Asus only ever implemented DownloadMaster) should have been like. I haven't tested it, but in theory I suppose someone could run his own suite of *arr applications alongside qBittorrent, or applications like Changedetection.io. Since it runs its own separate OS, this won't be as much a security risk as DownloadMaster was. Docker is pretty good at providing security by isolating stuff.
Code:
Linux aiboard-ANPU 5.15.140 #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Dec 17 10:00:22 UTC 2024 aarch64 GNU/Linux
ID=poky
NAME="Poky (Yocto Project Reference Distro)"
VERSION="4.0.17 (kirkstone)"
VERSION_ID=4.0.17
PRETTY_NAME="Poky (Yocto Project Reference Distro) 4.0.17 (kirkstone)"
DISTRO_CODENAME="kirkstone"I have no idea what are Asus' plans for UI4. I've seen traces of a dark version in some pages, but I don't know if it's a work-in-progress, or an abandonned plan. A dark theme would be good, that white UI is eye-burning on my OLED laptop while doing testing/dev on the couch at night. No idea either if they intend to apply it on other models than this model and the ExpertWifi line.
Asuswrt-Merlin:
Support for that model is being added with 3006.102.6. A lot of work was required to adapt all the A-M pages to render properly on the new UI4. This means supporting the white theme, and also handling some things that no longer work under the new Ui environment (like the MAC address lookup popup that appear when clicking on a MAC address in the Wireless Log page, for example). Each pages needed to ditch their inline colours styling, or to ensure they are tags that can be replaced on-the-fly by Bootstrap, like Asus did for all their own pages. Roughly two weeks of development got dedicated strictly to this part.
The Synaptics OS/firmware is separate from the Asuswrt firmware, and gets downloaded/updated directly from Asus's servers. Asuswrt-Merlin shouldn't have any impact on this.
