Analysis of the 354 code

[RMerlin]

Howdy,

For the curious minds here: I started looking at was was changed in the build 354 source code.

• Quite a few kernel patches. Many patches are related to GPT/4KB disk support. Asus applied many of the same patches I also applied, including another one I had missed. While I don't think it will resolve all issues, it is worth re-testing your 4 KB HDD if you had issues before.
• Various other kernel patches as well, some related to new unreleased routers, others seem to have the same patches as the WL500G project applied. For reference: the kernel patches alone amount to a 270 KB patch file. Note that a large portion of these were already present in Asuswrt-Merlin.
• As you already know, this includes the newer wireless driver
• There's an XBox compatibility checkbox to help with XBox 360 wireless. What this option appears to do is disable LDPC support in the wireless driver (look it up on Wikipedia - I don't know anything more about what this does and what are the side-effect for other devices).
• Asus implemented a WOL page. I will be removing my own implementation, as theirs is much more cleanly implemented (WOL was the very first thing I ever implemented, back when I barely knew my way around the firmware)
• Asus chose to implement the Charter-related DHCP fix by making it user-configurable. I will be switching to their implementation (mine was always active for everyone)
• A good bit of code cleanup. Many missing definitions added to rc, which should hopefully compile with far fewer warnings now.
• In general, Asus seems to have upgraded to a newer Broadcom SDK. Same kernel version, but newer version of the kernel patches, wireless driver, etc...
• PPPoE now supports CTF (HW acceleration). So, to see the performance improvement mentionned in their changelog, you will probably need to ensure you have HW acceleration enabled (that means no QoS or Per Device monitoring).

There are still quite a few other changes I haven't looked at yet.

With so many changes (especially kernel-level ones), merging and testing will take a bit longer than usual. Current plan is to try to have something available sometime this weekend.

In the mean time, if you are running Asus's build 354, make sure you do post your feedback to either the RT-N66U or RT-AC66U forums to ensure that Asus can gather as much feedback as possible, especially regarding the new wireless driver. So far the feedback is very positive, so I will also use the same drivers in my build. If you are having issues with it, I recommend resetting your router to factory defaults, and manually reconfiguring it. It's possible that some settings that you were using with the older drivers to address some issues should be reverted while using this newer driver.

 

[DaveMishSr]

Howdy,

<snip>

With so many changes (especially kernel-level ones), merging and testing will take a bit longer than usual. Current plan is to try to have something available sometime this weekend.

<snip>

Merlin take it easy. The 270.26b build is working fine so if you take 2 or 3 weeks so be it. Live a little dude.

 

[RussellInCincinnati]

Agreed that we don't want to hurt the goose with the golden eggs, nor have you "hurry" with the .354 firmware incorporation into Merlin in a way that stresses you.

 

[ryzhov_al]

Like it or not, we must implement all new good changes from stock firmware. Or we will gets older more and more.

On the other hand, there is always not enough time to bring all our bright ideas to life. You know, I think "Donate time" button will be far more valuable than "Donate money" for most open source projects.

As for me, I'm ready to "donate" some of my time to Eric as I did before, despite the fact that always not enough time for my own project.

 

[ChrisR]

What can we do to assist?

With so many changes (especially kernel-level ones), merging and testing will take a bit longer than usual. Current plan is to try to have something available sometime this weekend.

In the mean time, if you are running Asus's build 354, make sure you do post your feedback to either the RT-N66U or RT-AC66U forums to ensure that Asus can gather as much feedback as possible, especially regarding the new wireless driver. So far the feedback is very positive, so I will also use the same drivers in my build. If you are having issues with it, I recommend resetting your router to factory defaults, and manually reconfiguring it. It's possible that some settings that you were using with the older drivers to address some issues should be reverted while using this newer driver.

As mentioned by RMerlin, quite some changes in the new 354. This will take more time to convert into a Merlin FW version.

I think we all can assist by installing 354 FW (nevertheless it will temporarily disable your Merlin features), and share our good and bad experiences with this new FW this week.
The result might be an even more stable and faster router, of which we all will benefit

 

[Solara]

Hi Rmerlin. I am currently using your 26b firmware and have had no issues. If I were to try the 354 code what would be the best course for me to take as far as upgrading is concerned? Out of necessity I use the DHCP & Static IP's feature along with MAC filtering heavily. Your comments would be appreciated.

 

[RMerlin]

Hi Rmerlin. I am currently using your 26b firmware and have had no issues. If I were to try the 354 code what would be the best course for me to take as far as upgrading is concerned? Out of necessity I use the DHCP & Static IP's feature along with MAC filtering heavily. Your comments would be appreciated.

Usually you can simply flash the newer firmware, and keep all your existing settings. Be prepared to do a factory default reset if you do encounter some issues however.

 

[netmik3]

Merlin take it easy. The 270.26b build is working fine so if you take 2 or 3 weeks so be it. Live a little dude.

 

[RMerlin]

Another feature that's new to 354 but wasn't on the changelog: share names no longer include the device name, but only the folder name (similar to enabling Simpler Share Naming on Asuswrt-Merlin). If you had network drives mapped, it means you will need to remap them as the share name will probably have changed.

One difference however is that you cannot disable that option. Asus will also ensure there are no duplicate names, in which case it will use the former longer name. I'm going to include their code for this, but will leave the option that lets you either enable or disable those shorter names.

 

[RMerlin]

On the other hand, there is always not enough time to bring all our bright ideas to life. You know, I think "Donate time" button will be far more valuable than "Donate money" for most open source projects.

With those one-man projects, time is indeed often the most limited resource. Trying to keep a smaller featureset helps me there, as I have fewer things to worry about when going through major changes.

I don't know how Brainslayer manages to deal with dozens of router models, a bazillion amount of features, and multiple kernel versions all at once. That might be a big reason why DD-WRT hasn't seen a usable official release in years, and is in a perpetual state of development.

 

[shrike4242]

With those one-man projects, time is indeed often the most limited resource. Trying to keep a smaller featureset helps me there, as I have fewer things to worry about when going through major changes.

I don't know how Brainslayer manages to deal with dozens of router models, a bazillion amount of features, and multiple kernel versions all at once. That might be a big reason why DD-WRT hasn't seen a usable official release in years, and is in a perpetual state of development.

That's why I decided to move away from DD-WRT for third-party firmware, since it was never "official" and you had to pick and choose which version you use.

With your firmware for the RT-N66U/AC66U, it's been very clear to see a release version and move forward with one of those.

 

[netmik3]

That's why I don't use cyanogenmod or ddwrt any more. Nothing ever gets finished and way too much confusion. That's why I'm glad merlin doesn't expand to more devices or stray too far away from stock.

 

[got_milk]

That's why I don't use cyanogenmod or ddwrt any more. Nothing ever gets finished and way too much confusion. That's why I'm glad merlin doesn't expand to more devices or stray too far away from stock.

Not to stray from the topic too much but CyanogenMod is made up of dozens of volunteers, some who work on the core part of the distribution, some who are device maintainers responsible for ensuring their devices work as best as they can. They release nightly builds every day and milestone releases once a month for a more "stable" experience.

 

[netmik3]

You're right. Cyanogenmod is great. But experience from device to device VARIES. Unless you are using the top few where the best maintainers are, you won't get a great experience any more. The mytouch 4g slide never got a stable cyanogenmod and it was the "G3" or as close as the lineage went.

But what's pertinent, when I got the first android, the G1 and it was Cyano himself only developing one device it was AMAZING. And that's why I hope it stays Merlin and a couple devices.

Not to stray from the topic too much but CyanogenMod is made up of dozens of volunteers, some who work on the core part of the distribution, some who are device maintainers responsible for ensuring their devices work as best as they can. They release nightly builds every day and milestone releases once a month for a more "stable" experience.

 

[got_milk]

You're right. Cyanogenmod is great. But experience from device to device VARIES. Unless you are using the top few where the best maintainers are, you won't get a great experience any more. The mytouch 4g slide never got a stable cyanogenmod and it was the "G3" or as close as the lineage went.

But what's pertinent, when I got the first android, the G1 and it was Cyano himself only developing one device it was AMAZING. And that's why I hope it stays Merlin and a couple devices.

I feel like I didn't make my point about how CyanogenMod isn't a fair comparison clear, so let me try again:

We are lucky, as owners of the RT-*66U series of routers, to have ASUS provide the full and complete source code for each firmware release, with everything needed to compile your own version of the firmware from source. All you need is a Linux environment and the required build tools and a bit of setup and you can do it yourself. This makes development very easy as people like RMerlin can take the code and build upon it themselves however they like, which he has done to provide us with the excellent alternative that is Asuswrt-Merlin. There's no worrying about whether the code will compile at all or whether it'll brick routers or have serious showstopper bugs - ASUS provides all that's needed to make working software for your router.

In the Android world, there is no such luxury. People wishing to port AOSP to their devices have little more than the AOSP code itself, the dumped ROM images, and the kernel source (which is only released by manufacturers to comply with the restrictions of the GPL). Everything else must be ported over either by hacking in support for existing drivers or reverse engineering and creating new, open-source drivers to handle a specific device's hardware. I remember when the original Samsung Galaxy S was being ported to CyanogenMod 7 - "Team Hacksung" took the project under their wing and over the course of months it did develop into a well supported device, but it was no small feat - to get FM radio working alone, it took many commits with files containing tens of thousands of line changes just to make basic FM radio functionality alone. I could only imagine the work that went into other more essential features, like getting the radio working for cellular use, or 3D hardware acceleration, or working out the hundreds of bugs that plagued the device during early stages of development. The Galaxy S was lucky in that the device maintainers did throw hundreds if not thousands of hours into rewriting drivers and hacking existing ones in to make it work - other devices had even less to go on and even though their maintainers are trying to do the best they can there's only so much you can do with time constraints and so little resources available to you.

There are no "best" device maintainers - it's simply that some devices are easier to port over than others. It's definitely not for a lack of trying either.

 

[DrTeeth]

With your firmware for the RT-N66U/AC66U, it's been very clear to see a release version and move forward with one of those.

AND one does not need to wear brown trousers when installing Merlin's firmware. I am not a noob by any means, but DD-WRT's inconsistent and complicated install scared me off. Big plus, Merlin is much more helpful than the DD-WRT crowd.

DrT