amtm amtm - the Asuswrt-Merlin Terminal Menu

[thelonelycoder]

The Entware server is up again but missing files. Best to wait until they mark this issue as solved on GitHub, they probably need to replicate the repository first.

 

[heysoundude]

I was just Telegramming with the entware admins- they say it’s good to go


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Cristian Ungureanu]

Hi!

First of all, thanks a lot for your hard work and dedication for this project!
I am trying to install Diversion on my Asus AC-RT86U, but I got stuck into a weird situation.

The Merlin flavour of ASUS WRT I have (latest, btw) allows me to format the external USB-3 drive either in Windows (FAT/NTFS) or Apple (HFS) format. As I have a Macbook Pro as my primary machine, I went for HFS.

Now, the amtm/Diversion requires ext2/3/4 as file-system, even if this is no longer supported by the Merlin firmware. So, my dilemma is how to install amtm/Diversion on my router if this requires a Linux file-system, but my only 2 choices are Windows or Apple? Is there anything I am missing here?


Thanks again,
Cristian.

 

[JacquesR]

Hi!

Now, the amtm/Diversion requires ext2/3/4 as file-system, even if this is no longer supported by the Merlin firmware. So, my dilemma is how to install amtm/Diversion on my router if this requires a Linux file-system, but my only 2 choices are Windows or Apple? Is there anything I am missing here?

Thanks again,
Cristian.

Install amtm, and use its menu (in an ssh terminal) for formatting, rather than using the router GUI. [Correction: you already have amtm installed if you are on the latest firmware - you just need to launch it in a terminal window. See post #1].

 

[JemTheWire]

Out of curiosity, which is the best file system to choose?

Sorry to hijack, but I guess the OP might ask anyways.

 

[JacquesR]

Out of curiosity, which is the best file system to choose?

Sorry to hijack, but I guess the OP might ask anyways.

People more knowledgeable than I on this suggest ext4, with journalling, and a 2Gb swap file.

 

[Asad Ali]

Out of curiosity, which is the best file system to choose?

Sorry to hijack, but I guess the OP might ask anyways.

If you need best performance use "ext2" if you prefer file system redundancy and stability in case of power loss/dirty unmount use "ext4" with journaling enabled.

Also the above mentioned suggestion is only applicable on USB flash drives due to extra write load of journled filesystem. If you're using an SSD drive you can safely use ext4 with Journaling enabled without any performance hit.

 

[JemTheWire]

Thanks both.

I will go with ext4 with journaling.

I have just purchased a fast USB 3.1 stick (Patriot Ultra) to replace my Kingston stick. So it should be plenty fast. Router CPU not withstanding. AX88U.

 

[RAH-66]

Hi @thelonelycoder !
Can you add the ability to select the cluster size when formatting?
I would like to have a choice to get maximum performance.

 

[Cristian Ungureanu]

Install amtm, and use its menu (in an ssh terminal) for formatting, rather than using the router GUI. [Correction: you already have amtm installed if you are on the latest firmware - you just need to launch it in a terminal window. See post #1].

Thanks, that sounds solid!

Final question: Any chance of supporting HFS as well, not only ext? I am missing why ext is the only supported FS ...

I am using the Torrent client from the router, samba shares, etc. and given Merlin only supports HFS and FAT/NTFS, going for ext could break the non-amtm apps there . I can of course plug in a secondary USB2 stick into the router, but that would slow down the thing if I put Diversion on it.

 

[thelonelycoder]

Hi @thelonelycoder !
Can you add the ability to select the cluster size when formatting?
I would like to have a choice to get maximum performance.

I am no expert, but with the limited USB write speed capability our Asus routers come with, would an increase actually help or cause more harm?

 

[thelonelycoder]

Final question: Any chance of supporting HFS as well, not only ext? I am missing why ext is the only supported FS ...

HFS is an outdated file system. I have no idea why Asus keeps that choice at all in their routers. And yes, it is Asus, not Asuswrt-Merlin that gives you this restricted choice.
Given that the router runs on a Linux based kernel, the obvious choice for a file system is the native ext*, with all the right advantages this has.
There will be no other option than ext* as the file system for Entware in amtm. I am not going to change my mind on that.

 

[RAH-66]

I am no expert, but with the limited USB write speed capability our Asus routers come with, would an increase actually help or cause more harm?

No harm, you can even add not a lot of choice:
4096
8192
16384
32768
65536
on some flash drives the maximum performance is already at 16384

 

[thelonelycoder]

No harm, you can even add not a lot of choice:
4096
8192
16384
32768
65536
on some flash drives the maximum performance is already at 16384

In other words, best keep sector size at a sensible 512 then.

 

[RAH-66]

In other words, best keep sector size at a sensible 512 then.

I write about cluster size, not sector

Example command:
mke2fs -t ext4 -O has_journal -L entware -C 65536 /dev/sdb1

exFat uses a default cluster size of 32k (32768), NTFS and ext4 - 4k, ext4 has the largest cluster 64k

 

[thelonelycoder]

I write about cluster size, not sector

Example command:
mke2fs -t ext4 -O has_journal -L entware -C 65536 /dev/sdb1

exFat uses a default cluster size of 32k (32768), NTFS and ext4 - 4k, ext4 has the largest cluster 64k

Again, what would be the advantage of setting it a higher size. The r/w performance on the router probably is the major limiting factor anyway.

 

[RAH-66]

Again, what would be the advantage of setting it a higher size. The r/w performance on the router probably is the major limiting factor anyway.

Different flashdrives have different performance on different cluster sizes, this does not depend on the router, but on the controller in the flashdrive. Therefore, preliminary testing of the flashdrive is necessary.

 

[L&LD]

@RAH-66 I can see why you may think this could be beneficial, but here is my take.

I tested a Samsung T5 500GB SSD, a USB 2.0 drive that was a few years old, and a current USB 3.0 drive for use with amtm and scripts. The use of the SSD drive did not blow me away (much better used anywhere but the router). The USB 2.0 drive didn't age me excessively waiting for it to install scripts. Yes, USB 3.0 drive does install updates for the scripts faster, but the reason I now use it is that I have no use for the 2.4GHz band (and therefore don't care if the USB 3.0 drive interferes).

While it may be 'optimized' with a few choices of cluster size, the end result will be effectively no difference when just using the scripts on a day-to-day basis.

 

[RAH-66]

@L&LD it's always better to have a choice than not have a choice

 

[L&LD]

I agree choices are great. amtm though is a 'use it or not' choice, as the underlying logic/thinking has been already hammered out by much smarter people.

It's not just one aspect that is important. The whole shebang needs to work reliably too.