Asuswrt-Merlin - Project update

[minwoomod]

In other words be a good sport and wait until he releases it.
Answering questions such as yours only take time away from doing what you want him to do!

I just wanted to know about the time ,and didn't rush him.
Hope you know we can't open this web site in china, have to use the vpn, but recently have a lot of vpn were block.
We will more and more difficult to use vpn and open this web site.

 

[MacG32]

@RMerlin Would you recommend upgrading from the older models to the new RT-AC86U?

 

[RMerlin]

@RMerlin Would you recommend upgrading from the older models to the new RT-AC86U?

Depends on your needs.

 

[iceorbital]

FWIW i 'upgraded' my RT-AC88U to AC86U and couldn't be happier about it. I don't know if it's software or HW related but all the quirks i had with wifi signal on the AC88U are gone. Solid coverage all around the house.

 

[tbessie]

FWIW i 'upgraded' my RT-AC88U to AC86U and couldn't be happier about it. I don't know if it's software or HW related but all the quirks i had with wifi signal on the AC88U are gone. Solid coverage all around the house.

I'm still using my good old RT-N66U (I have a reasonably small apartment, so don't need the signal to carry TOO far). However, I'm thinking of upgrading to the RT-AC86U.

Anyone think I'd gain much, if I'm not a gamer and don't have a huge area to cover? I also have 8Mbps DSL here, so super speeds aren't crucial (tho' they may be later, once we get upgraded to Fiber).

Living room to bedroom is not quite as fast as I'd like, which is why I'm thinking of upgrading.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Living room to bedroom is not quite as fast as I'd like, which is why I'm thinking of upgrading.

It sounds like anything that accesses to internet will be limited by your 8Mbps line. As for your living room to bedroom speeds, that depends on what devices you are using and what speeds you have/want. The main difference will be the switch from N to AC speeds on the 5GHz band.

EDIT: Just realised that this question is off-topic and should probably have been asked elsewhere.

 

[tbessie]

It sounds like anything that accesses to internet will be limited by your 8Mbps line. As for your living room to bedroom speeds, that depends on what devices you are using and what speeds you have/want. The main difference will be the switch from N to AC speeds on the 5GHz band.

EDIT: Just realised that this question is off-topic and should probably have been asked elsewhere.

Well, other folks in this thread have discussed upgrading to this router as well. I would want to use AsusWRT-Merlin on it, so it's reasonably related; and there's a lot of people in this thread who know technical details about Asus routers, especially as it regards this firmware.

- Tim

 

[akb]

Would I even want my rt-ac88u on the 382? I feel like it will be buggy for days, only since 380.68 have I had a stable router.

 

[RMerlin]

Would I even want my rt-ac88u on the 382

Yes. The new Trend Micro engine is an improvement. There are also many new features coming for the RT-AC88U, like IFTTT/Alexa support or AiMesh (and a few others).

 

[akb]

Yes. The new Trend Micro engine is an improvement. There are also many new features coming for the RT-AC88U, like IFTTT/Alexa support or AiMesh (and a few others).

Sounds tempting as long as it's stable, really prefer that over features. Will I be locked in 382, as in I can not go back to 380, similar to I forgot the version, which locked down the firmware from ASUS.

Thanks!

 

[RMerlin]

Sounds tempting as long as it's stable, really prefer that over features. Will I be locked in 382, as in I can not go back to 380, similar to I forgot the version, which locked down the firmware from ASUS.

Thanks!

The lockdown was put in place to prevent flashing back firmware from before mid-2016 (approximately). It does not prevent you from flashing previous versions, as long they use the new header signature used by all releases for over a year now.

 

[akb]

The lockdown was put in place to prevent flashing back firmware from before mid-2016 (approximately). It does not prevent you from flashing previous versions, as long they use the new header signature used by all releases for over a year now.

Alright, thanks for the replies, and looking forward to the releases.

 

[MacG32]

Depends on your needs.

I really like the numbers you posted here. The processor seems to be able to handle OpenVPN quicker, the range seems longer, and the features have been upgraded. Since you also have one, it will be the first release of your new AM382, and the upgrade is feasible, I went ahead and purchased one. It will be here tomorrow. It seemed like the only logical approach to your project update. I can't wait to start testing out the new 382.1 Alpha. Thanks @RMerlin

 

[tmac1900]

Hey, Merlin, I just want you to know that if you drop support for the RT-AC68U I wont be upset. You do what you can do - no pressure! We all want you to know we're grateful for your contributions to the open community. However, I don't see why it wouldn't work with the 68.

 

[Chris313AllNight]

Hey, Merlin, I just want you to know that if you drop support for the RT-AC68U I wont be upset. You do what you can do - no pressure! We all want you to know we're grateful for your contributions to the open community. However, I don't see why it wouldn't work with the 68.

Why would he drop support for the 68U? That's one of Asus most used models, there's like 8 different versions of the 68U. If Merlin drops any support as he mentioned he may do, it'd be the N66U/AC66U because of how old the platform is compared to the 68U and newer.

 

[Jack Yaz]

Why would he drop support for the 68U? That's one of Asus most used models, there's like 8 different versions of the 68U. If Merlin drops any support as he mentioned he may do, it'd be the N66U/AC66U because of how old the platform is compared to the 68U and newer.

A lot of it depends on what 382 GPLs Asus provide.

 

[bradbort]

Sounds tempting as long as it's stable, really prefer that over features. Will I be locked in 382, as in I can not go back to 380, similar to I forgot the version, which locked down the firmware from ASUS.

Thanks!

I've been using it on an 88u for about a week. So far, it seems stable. I'm not doing bit torrent, but do have 18 different wireless clients attached throught the day, with a mix of apple and PC based stuff.

 

[tmac1900]

Yes, 4.1.27, compiled 64-bit.

BTW, here's what you get when you let the BCM4906 fully stretch its legs:

admin@RT-AC86U-DFD8:/tmp/home/root# openssl speed -evp aes-128-cbc
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 16 size blocks: 35491686 aes-128-cbc's in 2.99s
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 64 size blocks: 24811450 aes-128-cbc's in 2.97s
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 256 size blocks: 11333538 aes-128-cbc's in 2.99s
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 1024 size blocks: 3625589 aes-128-cbc's in 2.99s
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 8192 size blocks: 492161 aes-128-cbc's in 2.98s
OpenSSL 1.0.2j  26 Sep 2016
built on: reproducible build, date unspecified
options:bn(64,32) rc4(ptr,char) des(idx,cisc,16,long) aes(partial) idea(int) blowfish(ptr)
compiler: /opt/toolchains/crosstools-arm-gcc-5.3-linux-4.1-glibc-2.22-binutils-2.25/usr/bin/arm-buildroot-linux-gnueabi-gcc -I. -I.. -I../include  -fPIC -DOPENSSL_PIC -DOPENSSL_THREADS -D_REENTRANT -DDSO_DLFCN -DHAVE_DLFCN_H -DOPENSSL_NO_HEARTBEATS -DL_ENDIAN -march=armv7-a -fomit-frame-pointer -mabi=aapcs-linux -marm -ffixed-r8 -msoft-float -D__ARM_ARCH_7A__ -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -O3 -Wall -DOPENSSL_BN_ASM_MONT -DOPENSSL_BN_ASM_GF2m -DSHA1_ASM -DSHA256_ASM -DSHA512_ASM -DAES_ASM -DBSAES_ASM -DGHASH_ASM
The 'numbers' are in 1000s of bytes per second processed.
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc     189922.07k   534657.51k   970363.12k  1241673.29k  1352947.29k

The 'numbers' are in 1000s of bytes per second processed.
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-256-cbc     172477.81k   427770.52k   670943.40k   796123.70k   839262.21k

Here's some numbers from my RT-AC68U running at 1400/1100 MHz

ASUSWRT-Merlin RT-AC68U 380.68-2 Mon Sep 11 21:44:06 UTC 2017
admin@RT-AC68U-4B50:/tmp/home/root# openssl speed -evp aes-128-cbc
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 16 size blocks: 7759585 aes-128-cbc's in 3.00s
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 64 size blocks: 2212635 aes-128-cbc's in 2.96s
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 256 size blocks: 591835 aes-128-cbc's in 3.00s
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 1024 size blocks: 149601 aes-128-cbc's in 3.00s
Doing aes-128-cbc for 3s on 8192 size blocks: 18816 aes-128-cbc's in 3.00s
OpenSSL 1.0.2l  25 May 2017
built on: reproducible build, date unspecified
options:bn(64,32) des(idx,cisc,16,long) aes(partial) idea(int) blowfish(ptr)
compiler: arm-brcm-linux-uclibcgnueabi-gcc -I. -I.. -I../include  -fPIC -DOPENSSL_PIC -DOPENSSL_THREADS -D_REENTRANT -DDSO_DLFCN -DHAVE_DLFCN_H -ffunction-sections -fdata-sections -O3 -Wall -DOPENSSL_BN_ASM_MONT -DOPENSSL_BN_ASM_GF2m -DSHA1_ASM -DSHA256_ASM -DSHA512_ASM -DAES_ASM -DBSAES_ASM -DGHASH_ASM
The 'numbers' are in 1000s of bytes per second processed.
type             16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc      41384.45k    47840.76k    50503.25k    51063.81k    51380.22k

Here I calculated the difference between the AC86U and AC68U

aes-128-cbc
16:   7,759,585   /   35,491,686   = 21.9%
64:   2,212,635   /   24,811,450   = 8.9%
256:   591,835   /   11,333,538   = 5.2%
1024:   149,601   /   3,625,589   = 4.1%
8192:   18,816   /   492,161       = 3.8%

 

[RMerlin]

In terms of actual OpenVPN throughput, I saw roughly three times the performance of an RT-AC68U (getting a bit over 200 Mbps with AES-128-CBC). The difference become even greater once you move to AES-256-CBC.

 

[RMerlin]

And for the sake of completeness, these are the numbers when using Broadcom's HW crypto engine:

type         16 bytes     64 bytes    256 bytes   1024 bytes   8192 bytes
aes-128-cbc  24085.54k    138212.27k  398918.40k  2079193.60k  9392713.14k

Performance is poor on small blocks of data, but once you move to large blocks, the results are a bit ridiculous Sadly, this is of limited usefulness for things like VPN.