[Fork] Asuswrt-Merlin 374.43 LTS releases (Archive)

[Markmaster]

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Please help me with http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=147373&postcount=537 this.

 

[MarkyPancake]

All forks uses the same em driver, and should be all equal when it comes to the signal strengths. The only con with the forks, in my experience, it drains my iPhone's battery quicker than the latest SDK6.

I thought Merlin had stopped using the EM driver quite a few versions ago after some confusion over it.

 

[KevTech]

I thought Merlin had stopped using the EM driver quite a few versions ago after some confusion over it.

I tested all drivers per Merlins request and there is question if there ever was an EM driver as all drivers were the same for EM and non EM.

Read through this thread starting at post 36.

http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18338&page=4

 

[john9527]

At least in the driver used in this fork, there is a compile option in target.mak to enable Engineering Mode. I tracked it down, and what this does is alter the country and regulation domain codes from what is contained in the CFE to some other values during the wireless initialization. So it's entirely possible that this was added without changing the wireless driver version.

Right now, I haven't done anything to change the defaults from what was set in the base Merlin code....EM is set for the N66 and disabled for all other routers.

 

[john9527]

Please help me with http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showpost.php?p=147373&postcount=537 this.

To be honest, I'm not sure I follow what you are asking. The #a mod in and of itself does not alter the throughput capabilities of the router....it gives you more channels and maybe some additional range towards the capability of the router. The two screenshots you show (both are the same) show that it supporting the highest possible N attachment of N450 per client.

 

[Deleted member 22229]

At least in the driver used in this fork, there is a compile option in target.mak to enable Engineering Mode. I tracked it down, and what this does is alter the country and regulation domain codes from what is contained in the CFE to some other values during the wireless initialization. So it's entirely possible that this was added without changing the wireless driver version.

Right now, I haven't done anything to change the defaults from what was set in the base Merlin code....EM is set for the N66 and disabled for all other routers.

I believe it does make a difference i can tell with my N66 verses other N66 firmware so please keep the E enabled for all your N66 builds.

 

[bluepoint]

I thought Merlin had stopped using the EM driver quite a few versions ago after some confusion over it.

The last EM version is .43 that's why John's fork's wireless range is good. However, the forks keeps my iPhone's WIFI awake most of the time that it depletes my battery quicker than the latest SDK6.

 

[Builder71]

Today I played (again) a bit with regional stuff.

nvram set pci/1/1/ccode
nvram set pci/2/1/ccode
nvram set wl0_country_code
nvram set wl1_country_code
nvram set regulation_domain
nvram set regulation_domain_5G

If I change from EU to NL, I see a serious drop in RF signal on both bands.
Playing with nvram commands to set higher RF output, doesn't do anything.
Unfortunately the "nvram set wl0_chlist" and "nvram set wl1_chlist" commands don't stick if the country code is EU.

Best setting for me would be using "EU" setting with all possible channels.
All this #a stuff doesn't give the same RF level compared to "EU" setting.
Am I the only one seeing this?

 

[W500]

delusions

Today I played (again) a bit with regional stuff.

nvram set pci/1/1/ccode
nvram set pci/2/1/ccode
nvram set wl0_country_code
nvram set wl1_country_code
nvram set regulation_domain
nvram set regulation_domain_5G

If I change from EU to NL, I see a serious drop in RF signal on both bands.
Playing with nvram commands to set higher RF output, doesn't do anything.
Unfortunately the "nvram set wl0_chlist" and "nvram set wl1_chlist" commands don't stick if the country code is EU.

Best setting for me would be using "EU" setting with all possible channels.
All this #a stuff doesn't give the same RF level compared to "EU" setting.
Am I the only one seeing this?

With an AC66 I have the 2.4 GHZ band om 32 Mw and the 5 GHZ band on 80 Mw. The firmware I use is the Fork version 3. NVRAM settings are #a etc. throughput is close to theoretical maximum and reach is excellent.

 

[4Leaf]

At least in the driver used in this fork, there is a compile option in target.mak to enable Engineering Mode. I tracked it down, and what this does is alter the country and regulation domain codes from what is contained in the CFE to some other values during the wireless initialization. So it's entirely possible that this was added without changing the wireless driver version.

Right now, I haven't done anything to change the defaults from what was set in the base Merlin code....EM is set for the N66 and disabled for all other routers.

So basically this is the same wireless driver as the official sdk6 Asus implements in their official firmware builds? Except of course, without the closed source added to it. In other words, enabling Engineering Mode releases the full potential of the sdk6 wireless driver. This would also successfully piss off the FCC if Asus didn't make that driver a closed source.

 

[bluepoint]

So basically this is the same wireless driver as the official sdk6 Asus implements in their official firmware builds?

No, the latest official firmware is dated/built in June.

wl0: Jun 16 2014 19:31:20 version 6.30.163.2002 (r382208)

 

[john9527]

Maybe bad wording on my part.....the driver itself is still closed source (always has been). Inside the closed source driver are the country and regulation mode definitions, so can't change what those do as well.

Engineering mode did a tweak to the country/reg parameters passed to the closed source driver thru an nvram variable. This is also why the '#a' nvram commands worked.

Then in 376 code they closed that door somehow such that the nvram variables no longer have an effect and you have to modify the CFE/bootloader to make any changes. I haven't tried to figure out what they did (am going to follow Merlin's position here about not trying to circumvent it).

 

[john9527]

Today I played (again) a bit with regional stuff.

nvram set pci/1/1/ccode
nvram set pci/2/1/ccode
nvram set wl0_country_code
nvram set wl1_country_code
nvram set regulation_domain
nvram set regulation_domain_5G

If I change from EU to NL, I see a serious drop in RF signal on both bands.
Playing with nvram commands to set higher RF output, doesn't do anything.
Unfortunately the "nvram set wl0_chlist" and "nvram set wl1_chlist" commands don't stick if the country code is EU.

Best setting for me would be using "EU" setting with all possible channels.
All this #a stuff doesn't give the same RF level compared to "EU" setting.
Am I the only one seeing this?

A couple of things...

(1) the complete command set includes a regrev variable which is part of the definition. It looks to me as if the country settings primarily determine channels, and the regrev determines power (and probably some other driver internals).

(2) the chlist values are built dynamically from the above settings, so if you change those they definitely will be overridden.

(3) the regrev values aren't consistent between country codes. By that, I mean it would be nice if regrev=0 was always the default....it's not. Playing around on the 68U, in some countries regrev=0 works, and others it basically shuts down the radio or some of the channels.

 

[4Leaf]

No, the latest official firmware is dated/built in June.

wl0: Jun 16 2014 19:31:20 version 6.30.163.2002 (r382208)

That probably just means the last time they edited the code. Isn't that the same version number that is on all of Asus's firmware builds with the sdk6 driver? Asus did not mention a wireless driver change with the RT-N66U in their changelog with the most recent 376 firmware builds. They probably never list every exact little change though, like maybe say an edit of a coding that is not a fix for a bug.

 

[4Leaf]

Maybe bad wording on my part.....the driver itself is still closed source (always has been). Inside the closed source driver are the country and regulation mode definitions, so can't change what those do as well.

Engineering mode did a tweak to the country/reg parameters passed to the closed source driver thru an nvram variable. This is also why the '#a' nvram commands worked.

Then in 376 code they closed that door somehow such that the nvram variables no longer have an effect and you have to modify the CFE/bootloader to make any changes. I haven't tried to figure out what they did (am going to follow Merlin's position here about not trying to circumvent it).

So is it possibly for somebody to get passed the closed source now? Unless it is like a safe with only one key to open it.

 

[bluepoint]

That probably just means the last time they edited the code. Isn't that the same version number that is on all of Asus's firmware builds with the sdk6 driver? Asus did not mention a wireless driver change with the RT-N66U in their changelog with the most recent 376 firmware builds. They probably never list every exact little change though, like maybe say an edit of a coding that is not a fix for a bug.

Yes, it's the same version number but different build date. Asus does this whenever they change something in the drivers codes. Probably, Merlin can explain better when he comes around.

 

[xaviercharles]

DUAL Wan not working...i have two Virgin Media Cable modems one has a 152Mb connection and the other has a 50Mb connection. Under the DUAL WAN section i have selected LoadBalancing with a ratio of 1:1. For some reason the RT-N66U is showing that there is no IP address.

UPDATE:- So i've been able to get an ip address for the secondary wan. But with a loadbalance of 3:1 i still only get a max of 152mb when i set it to 1:1 i get 50mb. Which ratio do i need to have if i want to combine my 152mb connection with my 50mb for a speed of around 200mb?

 

[RMerlin]

Yes, it's the same version number but different build date. Asus does this whenever they change something in the drivers codes. Probably, Merlin can explain better when he comes around.

Most likely the build date will change whenever Asus does a full rebuild of the firmware rather than just recompile the changed bit.

Also, there's more to the wireless driver than just static code from Broadcom. The driver gets linked with other files that might change. There's also a configuration file that determines the output level used by the wireless driver based on the channel, encoding method and so on. That file gets occasionally adjusted/tweaked by Asus (this is called the CLM). And also Asus might be enabling/disabling some driver-specific feature, which wouldn't show in a version change either.

If the date embedded inside the driver changes, expect that something was changed, regardless of the version itself.

 

[Markmaster]

To be honest, I'm not sure I follow what you are asking. The #a mod in and of itself does not alter the throughput capabilities of the router....it gives you more channels and maybe some additional range towards the capability of the router. The two screenshots you show (both are the same) show that it supporting the highest possible N attachment of N450 per client.

I only want the maximum speed and performance for my router. I unlocked the channel, this is many time speaker about that can extend the power of channels like 161 and others. What settings should I use in General and Advanced menu to make it work with better performance?

And I suppose it has to have 1Gb here http://note.io/1wqk53d not 100Mbps. What should I do to make it run faster?

 

[BWR]

But with a loadbalance of 3:1 i still only get a max of 152mb when i set it to 1:1 i get 50mb. Which ratio do i need to have if i want to combine my 152mb connection with my 50mb for a speed of around 200mb?

Load balancing doesn't work that way, summing up the speeds for a single data connection (hence the name balancing, not bonding). The balancing is done for separate data connections. If you had two single-threaded downloads for example, one will be routed through one connection, and the second one through the other.
If your download speed test is single-threaded, you'll only see the max speed of whichever WAN you're routed through.