ASUS firmware will change the verification method

[mstombs]

...
It's the same in any type of business. If you sell a product or a service in a certain region, you must abide by that region's laws.

and if you are one of the few to be approved you can sell at a premium!

 

[helomoto]

The manufacturer who wants to make his product available in the US must abide by the US rules.

It's the same in any type of business. If you sell a product or a service in a certain region, you must abide by that region's laws.

Yes, but neither you or Vortex are manufacturers.

 

[RMerlin]

Yes, but neither you or Vortex are manufacturers.

Asus are, hence this thread where they announce they have to tighten control. And if people start working toward bypassing these controls, the FCC will contact Asus, and tell them to do more. Which would then lead to ryzhov_al's mention of COMPLETELY locking everything down.

This is why I play by the rules.

 

[sfx2000]

Yes, but neither you or Vortex are manufacturers.

Asus is on the hook for any FCC violations - same with any WiFi Router/AP vendor...

Soon enough - that will also be in the EU

 

[sfx2000]

Dear ASUS Guys -

Please - go talk to your PC OEM/ODM team - make a simple little box... this one, while it's dell, pretty much has most of the goodies - it's missing the Intel NIC/Switch, but it has everything else needed - USB3, SDHC card reader...

Out of all the router/AP vendors in consumer space - Asus has a special place in the market - due to the vertical integration (and perhaps also with the horizontals with the corporate group)

((for a sense of scale - there is a 4 bay NAS it's sitting on)_

Dual Core Intel J800 or C2358 - these are around 80 bucks as an SoC - with the volume that Asus does with Intel, you'll likely get a break on the price..

Put a 32GB eMMC on it, a good Intel NIC (it's included on the C2558 btw) and a nice Marvell 4-port switch/phy...

(bonus - J1800 you get a USB3 Phy to work with, and C2358 has AES-NI and QAT)

Put a big-boy linux on it - debian/gentoo/redhat - don't care - but debian in a high performance solution only needs 2GB of DDR3L-1600

Total cost out the door - less than $200 USD - and this turns into a win/win... again, most folks want 3rd party firmware not for Wireless, but for the Routing...

Call me with a job offer

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Asus are, hence this thread where they announce they have to tighten control. And if people start working toward bypassing these controls, the FCC will contact Asus, and tell them to do more. Which would then lead to ryzhov_al's mention of COMPLETELY locking everything down.

This is why I play by the rules.

You do play by the rules but again if you post your source what will stop the fork of your work from being hacked and released ? If Asus wants to certify third party code builders then why not make the code private and not available to the general public ? Asus can't be to happy they are making revenue for Netgear because of your Merlin/Fork. And believe me they have sold countless R-7000's because of your work. Just saying !!

 

[sfx2000]

You do play by the rules but again if you post your source what will stop the fork of your work from being hacked and released ?

Not fair, IMHO - Eric's been doing the right thing with his GitHub - the challenge will be perhaps that Asus stops kicking down updates.

He can't be held to what others do with his source - but he's toeing the right line here, IMHO...

 

[Deleted member 22229]

Not fair, IMHO - Eric's been doing the right thing with his GitHub - the challenge will be perhaps that Asus stops kicking down updates.

He can't be held to what others do with his source - but he's toeing the right line here, IMHO...

Totally agree. This is no fault of Eric. But if the source is there it will be hacked modified and released. I thought shirt like this was the reason for the lock down to begin with. It's just not clear to me how anything will change when people have already found ways around it.

 

[sfx2000]

It's just not clear to me how anything will change when people have already found ways around it.

Not his problem - just saying...

People are going to do what they're going to do - and so will Asus - I think the community is hoping for a good path, but as a 3rd party, RMerlin is doing the right thing.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

But if people keep doing what they have been doing it will cause further enforcement and possibly the end of third party code for Asus routers.

 

[L&LD]

But if people keep doing what they have been doing it will cause further enforcement and possibly the end of third party code for Asus routers.

And this is why from my perspective it seems like 'open source' software is an oxymoron.

Either it is open to all or it isn't. Either way, the 'control' that the FCC wants over the entire world and the 'ease' that the manufacturers want (of a single firmware) to try to be everything to everyone just isn't making sense.

In the end, I think I will simply build my own router as sfx2000 has shown.

 

[sfx2000]

And this is why from my perspective it seems like 'open source' software is an oxymoron.

Either it is open to all or it isn't. Either way, the 'control' that the FCC wants over the entire world and the 'ease' that the manufacturers want (of a single firmware) to try to be everything to everyone just isn't making sense.

In the end, I think I will simply build my own router as sfx2000 has shown.

Hard road for the 3rd party guys, no doubt...

But rather than complain, I took action and did something to help out - I totally get the concerns here...

 

[arktex54]

I just found asusWRT Friday morning and was trying to get it to work all night. I came back to post about the difficutly and saw the horrible sticky.

 

[Cake]

I found the comments here enlightning
I too will do what sfx mentions when my router kicks it. It just so happens I have 3 lan ports left as a nearby lightning strike a couple weeks back broke #1 port.
Amazing the Asus AC router still works though.
If you don't read the link, its just a arstechnica comment from a knowledgeable guy explains its not your household indoor router 5Ghz causing the FAA wind shear doppler reports.

 

[sfx2000]

I too will do what sfx mentions when my router kicks it

Yikes - I guess I need to get going on the router section - :O

Easy enough - I'll get to it - it's only been a couple of weeks, and a fully designed product is a six-month adventure

 

[kvic]

I too will do what sfx mentions when my router kicks it. It just so happens I have 3 lan ports left as a nearby lightning strike a couple weeks back broke #1 port.
Amazing the Asus AC router still works though.

sfx's effort is adorable. Just to offer another option for people who like small yet a beauty..consider ER-X. Its FW is getting enhanced to better utilize the power of HW. More details here.

I recall you working in mainland china? taobao has an authorised dealer selling at MSRP.

 

[Cake]

Yikes - I guess I need to get going on the router section - :O

Easy enough - I'll get to it - it's only been a couple of weeks, and a fully designed product is a six-month adventure

Oh your making, designing or custom ordering a custom box/board? I would be interested in that because the ones I see don't have enough Ethernet ports on the back. So your just thinking about hardware with branding, then the customer throws what ever distro they want on it?
If thats the plan, its sounds great! I was just mumbling in my post about a low powered HTPC when searching "pfsense perfect box".
Go even farther, use a 12 volt power supply for the board, and make the box big enough to put in a tiny UPS, like a hardware addon that is cosmetically pleasant and less wires then convention separate UPS.. (Thats what crossed my mind the other day!)
Of course that idea probably is a /dev/null, because I forget not everybody is connect to a cruddy grid. (Just last night I was on my generator)

edit: Forgot to mention the HTPC I saw were missing the AES-NI instructions. Your plan sounds even better!

 

[sfx2000]

Oh your making, designing or custom ordering a custom box/board? I would be interested in that because the ones I see don't have enough Ethernet ports on the back. So your just thinking about hardware with branding, then the customer throws what ever distro they want on it?

At some point - I'll probably have to dig around alibaba to find a suitable OEM/ODM for a cheap box that'll work from Shenzen that folks can source easily enough... there's quite a few baytrail/braswell boxes with ram/storage/ports to make it work.

As far as a branded box - I've explored this in the past - challenge is making the business numbers work with the low volume, even as a startup. This is one area where the incumbent players have an advantage - if not in quality, at least in quantity, and they have the shelf space - both in brick/mortar stores as well as the big electronic retail outlets.

 

[sfx2000]

I've done the BOM breakdowns - the RT-AC500 Bill of Material is a little over $110 USD, and most of the NRE is actually carried by Broadcom as part of the HDK/SDK packages, so Asus just needs to wrap it in a nice plastic box and drop their GUI on it - think about that when spending $400+ - the margin there is staggering, but Asus (and other OEM's have done a great job of building things up there).

 

[L&LD]

I've done the BOM breakdowns - the RT-AC500 Bill of Material is a little over $110 USD, and most of the NRE is actually carried by Broadcom as part of the HDK/SDK packages, so Asus just needs to wrap it in a nice plastic box and drop their GUI on it - think about that when spending $400+ - the margin there is staggering, but Asus (and other OEM's have done a great job of building things up there).

For anyone that can't do what you can though (99.9999% of people, even on this forum), that is a margin some are willing to pay to get the benefits that Asus hardware, firmware and long term support gets them.

Hardware, by itself, doesn't mean a thing. The software/firmware though? That is what makes the world tick.