[384.16_Alpha Builds] Testing all variants

[juched]

@juched using [mention]name[/mention] doesn't accomplish anything.

You may want to just use '@' plus 'name' to get someone's attention instead.

Must be a Tapatalk thing as I used the feature to link the name and it did that. However it seems to work like it shows the @ during composing a message and after submisson it changes the content.
[mention]L&LD [/mention]
Is

[mention]L&LD [/mention]

 

[Ozymandias]

My RT-AX56U is showing a JFFS size of 47.00MB I assumed the size would be 64MB. Is 47MB correct?

 

[L&LD]

@juched, in that case, I would seriously consider not using Tapatalk.

 

[heysoundude]

@juched, in that case, I would seriously consider not using Tapatalk.

How about reporting a (the?) bug to them instead? It’s a rather key functionality on forums/boards, so a fairly significant threat to their business.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[L&LD]

@heysoundude, of course, that is a better response. I just don't like 'apps'.

 

[heysoundude]

That’s a discussion for another forum [emoji57]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JWoo]

Just commenting on the RT-AX58U and Asus Merlin. I have been on alpha 2 since it came out 3 days ago. This is a really solid release and the router is performing well. Given the focus of the forum, it won't be a surprise that several forums and news outlets are stating that the most important appliance in the home is the ROUTER. Yeah we knew that. On the wish list: I wish the dudes at Asus would release the GPL source code on the 3.0.0.4.384.8563 build as it has a patch for CVE-2019-15126. On the appreciation side, thanks @RMerlin you done good! This is a solid release and making a real difference for us.

In addition to all the cool features and functions added in on top of the AsusWRT build, I really am a fan of Stubby. As you all may know, in the US many cable companies are now using cable company supplied routers for WIFI hotspots and the subscriber cannot turn this off. Yuk. That's an example, but illustrates why having your own router and using functions like Stubby for DoT are so important so our ISP can't easily spy on us.

Now if I can explain to my sister & brother why the router is so important. My brother calls his router "the blue thing". Come on man!

 

[Makaveli]

Now if I can explain to my sister & brother why the router is so important. My brother calls his router "the blue thing". Come on man!

That will be a tough sale for non technical people.

With the ISP provided combo unit they can just call the support line for assistance.

If they go with a solution you recommend will you be the one providing support?

That is usually the biggest question.

P.S glad you are liking Merlin on the router, its a great firmware and a fantastic community.

 

[JWoo]

Much of the ISP support is not very good and is often offshored. For my extended family, I am already Tier 1 support for that reason. The ISPs charge 5 USD - 12 USD per month to rent a router. So for sure it also pays for itself to self perform and provide your own unit if you can do it.

 

[RAH-66]

GPL of ASUS RT-AX88U for firmware 3.0.0.4.384.7977
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-AX88U/GPL_RT_AX88U_30043847977.zip

GPL of ASUS RT-AX92U for firmware 3.0.0.4.384.7977
https://dlcdnets.asus.com/pub/ASUS/wireless/RT-AX92U/GPL_RT_AX92U_30043847977.zip

 

[Rik Stigter]

I have tried to install my AX58U in several modes:

1. As a AIMesh node: cannot. I tried to use the stock-firmware as well, but no succes. That may have something to do with the AC86U I was using as my AIMesh router (running 384.15) though, that system keeps giving me all kinds of weird problems (WAN/VPN related). It worked with my AX88 (but that is currently out of production use because it too developed problems. I'll be testing that one again later on).
   
2. As a wireless Repeater: no problems
3. As a wireless router: no problem so far; at the moment I'm actually running it as my main router, but with no addons (yet) other than ASUS AIProtection

I'll try and answer some of your other questions in the coming days as I'll build up the router step by step (and in no hurry).

Update

Installed:

1. USB SSD for Swap and Entware, etc.
2. 2GB Swap on 1st partition
   
3. Samba shares on 2nd partition (cannot replicate slow performance mentioned elsewhere, speed about norrmal)
   
4. Skynet
5. Diversion (https thus Entware)
6. scMerlin (for ease of use)

Still runs flawlessly. Next: VPN-client

PS. RMA'd my AC86

 

[TheManJan]

I installed latest Merlin firmware after using Asus firmware on my RT-AX88U and I'm surprised to see that measuring with Oakla speedtest the speed on 2.4 and 5 GHz is about half the speed I had...

I installed Merlin over the latest Asus firmware without a factory reset...is that the cause...Or should I adjust some parameters voor more speed...

Hoping to get advice...thanks in advance.

I saw that possibly manually setting control channel to 36 should help.... Is that so?


Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-T580 met Tapatalk


Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-T580 met Tapatalk

 

[Adamm]

I installed latest Merlin firmware after using Asus firmware on my RT-AX88U and I'm surprised to see that measuring with Oakla speedtest the speed on 2.4 and 5 GHz is about half the speed I had...

I installed Merlin over the latest Asus firmware without a factory reset...is that the cause...Or should I adjust some parameters voor more speed...

Hoping to get advice...thanks in advance.

I saw that possibly manually setting control channel to 36 should help.... Is that so?


Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-T580 met Tapatalk


Verstuurd vanaf mijn SM-T580 met Tapatalk

Always factory restore when switching between stock and Merlin firmware.

 

[Rik Stigter]

Update

Installed:

1. USB SSD for Swap and Entware, etc.
2. 2GB Swap on 1st partition
   
3. Samba shares on 2nd partition (cannot replicate slow performance mentioned elsewhere, speed about norrmal)
   
4. Skynet
5. Diversion (https thus Entware)
6. scMerlin (for ease of use)

Still runs flawlessly. Next: VPN-client

PS. RMA'd my AC86

I'm beginning to love the RT-AX58U!

Installed:

1. VPN i.e. OpenVPN (NordVPN with instructions from https://nordvpn.com/tutorials/asustwrt-merlin/openvpn/ I've been using that setup for al long time, specifically the 'Custom Config' entries)
2. spdMerlin (to check regularly on the VPN connection).

So far no problems whatsoever. I haven't had a system this stable since the end of October.

Because of the 'simpler' CPU (no AES) the speeds of the VPN connection are slower than what I'm accustomed to, but that is a minor issue as far as I'm concerned. From the (theoretical but usually quite accurate) 250/25 Mbit/s that my ISP claims they are delivering I'm getting 42/24 on the VPN connection. Not bad at all!

Great work from Eric (https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/).

Time for another donation...

 

[Elmer]

Using alpha2, and not sure what happened, but the wireless connectivity (number of units connected - not signal strength increase) of my AX88 is better than it has ever been. Really like the gui upgrades as well. Great work. Thanks.

 

[swejuggalo]

Using alpha2, and not sure what happened, but the wireless connectivity of my AX88 is better than it has ever been. Really like the gui upgrades as well. Great work. Thanks.

What configuration? I use Smart Connect and with automatic channel on 5Ghz I get less then the normal max speed between phone and router.
But full speed if manually setting the channel.
Kind of different to get 192 or 866 in send/receive speed.


RT-AX88U - just one of the latest Merlin firmwares and nothing else -

 

[Rik Stigter]

I'm beginning to love the RT-AX58U!

Installed:

1. VPN i.e. OpenVPN (NordVPN with instructions from https://nordvpn.com/tutorials/asustwrt-merlin/openvpn/ I've been using that setup for al long time, specifically the 'Custom Config' entries)
2. spdMerlin (to check regularly on the VPN connection).

So far no problems whatsoever. I haven't had a system this stable since the end of October.

Because of the 'simpler' CPU (no AES) the speeds of the VPN connection are slower than what I'm accustomed to, but that is a minor issue as far as I'm concerned. From the (theoretical but usually quite accurate) 250/25 Mbit/s that my ISP claims they are delivering I'm getting 42/24 on the VPN connection. Not bad at all!

Great work from Eric (https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/).

Time for another donation...

The final steps, for now and for some (DNS-) privacy and security:

1. Enable DNSSEC
2. Enable DoT, with strict profile and a Cloudflare-, a Quad9- and a Sinodun-server for spread.

I still like Unbound a lot, but have decided for this setup for now because this is internal to Merlin-firmware.
After the initializing of these settings (2 cores go up to 100% for a minute or so) the system returns to quiet, stable performance.

PS. Memory usage is normal: of the 512 MB currently 458 MB is used and just 1508 byte from SWAP. All this with ca. 20 clients attached, both wired and wireless.

 

[bbunge]

The final steps, for now and for some (DNS-) privacy and security:

1. Enable DNSSEC
2. Enable DoT, with strict profile and a Cloudflare-, a Quad9- and a Sinodun-server for spread.

I still like Unbound a lot, but have decided for this setup for now because this is internal to Merlin-firmware.
After the initializing of these settings (2 cores go up to 100% for a minute or so) the system returns to quiet, stable performance.

PS. Memory usage is normal: of the 512 MB currently 458 MB is used and just 1508 byte from SWAP. All this with ca. 20 clients attached, both wired and wireless.

I feel you should stick with one DNS provider for DoT. Use two of their IP addresses for redundancy. or alternate IPV4 and IPV6 if you use IPV6. I also feel it is best to disable the round robin upstreams in Stubby (currently the only way to do this is with a stubby.postconf script). I've used just Quad9 for months on FIOS with great success. Also manage a couple of networks on Comcast using Quad9. On my former DSL Cloudflare worked better. As they say...your results may vary!

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Just wanted to chime in and say been using A-2 for the AX58U since release and other then some sys log spam it has been working quite well. Thanks Merlin.

 

[Rik Stigter]

I feel you should stick with one DNS provider for DoT. Use two of their IP addresses for redundancy. or alternate IPV4 and IPV6 if you use IPV6. I also feel it is best to disable the round robin upstreams in Stubby (currently the only way to do this is with a stubby.postconf script). I've used just Quad9 for months on FIOS with great success. Also manage a couple of networks on Comcast using Quad9. On my former DSL Cloudflare worked better. As they say...your results may vary!

I never had any problems mixing DNS providers and in theory it shouldn't really matter, or does it? So could you please explain why that is your feeling?

I'll be switching to Unbound in the near future anyway, as I've said, as it was developed by some of my former colleagues, but I'm interested in hearing your reasons.