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

[john9527]

Asus has a very touchy codebase that generally only works well with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, here's my build script for reference on setting up a clean install.

Take Adamm's advice.....Use 12.04 LTS. I'm also using some tweaked versions of his script to do my builds (Thanks!).

 

[steven168]

what kind of wireless freedom on .43 remove in .44 onwards? i seldom see in detail.

 

[Grump]

what kind of wireless freedom on .43 remove in .44 onwards? i seldom see in detail.

In .43 and below, you can change to the appropriate wireless region and adjust transmit power accordingly.

In .44 Asus region locks the device to the region it was designed to be sold in. ie. If it was meant for North America, you get North American channels even if you're in Europe, and vice versa.

In Europe and other parts of the world, there are lots of different regulations regarding available channels and transmit powers depending on the country. The bootloader region may not be specific enough, and asus' implementation of the available channels/tx power may not always be correct. Some devices were sold in the wrong regions either mistakenly or by unofficial distributers, or imported by users. You could be operating illegally and no longer have the ability to fix it.

More information here: http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18762

 

[john9527]

factory reset as u mean is it the Factory default under the save setting?

what if i don't? will there be any issues?

can i save the setting and restore after factory reset?

This is a very common question that comes up....the safest thing to do is a Factory default under save settings that will clear the NVRAM. In particular there are a lot of NVRAM variables that are associated with the wireless operation...so many that I don't think anyone has tried to (or could) correlate them all and there use between 'major' releases. So best to reset them to defaults by release and start fresh. Unfortunately, this means you need to reset and setup everything else again from scratch. There are a couple of threads about ways to save some of the more common variables and restore them separately.

Now, for the save settings/restore settings....this would restore everything (including what we may want to reset/clear with the factory reset) so in this case would be equivalent to just loading the new code.

You could try just doing the upgrade.....but be prepared to have to reset and start from the beginning if you see any strange things happening (particularly on the wireless side of things).

 

[steven168]

In .43 and below, you can change to the appropriate wireless region and adjust transmit power accordingly.

In .44 Asus region locks the device to the region it was designed to be sold in. ie. If it was meant for North America, you get North American channels even if you're in Europe, and vice versa.

In Europe and other parts of the world, there are lots of different regulations regarding available channels and transmit powers depending on the country. The bootloader region may not be specific enough, and asus' implementation of the available channels/tx power may not always be correct. Some devices were sold in the wrong regions either mistakenly or by unofficial distributers, or imported by users. You could be operating illegally and no longer have the ability to fix it.

More information here: http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=18762

so set which region and can get the max power?

under Wireless - Professional, i set tx power to 200mW.

 

[steven168]

This is a very common question that comes up....the safest thing to do is a Factory default under save settings that will clear the NVRAM. In particular there are a lot of NVRAM variables that are associated with the wireless operation...so many that I don't think anyone has tried to (or could) correlate them all and there use between 'major' releases. So best to reset them to defaults by release and start fresh. Unfortunately, this means you need to reset and setup everything else again from scratch. There are a couple of threads about ways to save some of the more common variables and restore them separately.

Now, for the save settings/restore settings....this would restore everything (including what we may want to reset/clear with the factory reset) so in this case would be equivalent to just loading the new code.

You could try just doing the upgrade.....but be prepared to have to reset and start from the beginning if you see any strange things happening (particularly on the wireless side of things).

thank for the explanation.

 

[john9527]

so set which region and can get the max power?

under Wireless - Professional, i set tx power to 200mW.

For what I understand, that value can be deceptive in that the tx power is actually 'capped' by some of the region settings. In .44 and later code that power parameter switched to the percent scale. The value is a percentage of the region setting (100% max).

 

[steven168]

For what I understand, that value can be deceptive in that the tx power is actually 'capped' by some of the region settings. In .44 and later code that power parameter switched to the percent scale. The value is a percentage of the region setting (100% max).

i don't the place to set the region country.

 

[john9527]

i don't the place to set the region country.

The country/region codes aren't made available in the gui (ASUS doesn't want you changing them....and in .44 code and later any changes you make are overridden back to the defaults). You need to write the NVRAM variables via SSH or telnet. Check this thread for more info http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=16595&highlight=region

 

[steven168]

The country/region codes aren't made available in the gui (ASUS doesn't want you changing them....and in .44 code and later any changes you make are overridden back to the defaults). You need to write the NVRAM variables via SSH or telnet. Check this thread for more info http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?t=16595&highlight=region

i saw the link inside say run this..
nvram set wl1_country_code=GB
nvram set regulation_domain_5G=GB
nvram commit


i try to use the get to see what value.

admin@ROUTER:/tmp/home/root# nvram get wl1_country_code
Q2
admin@ROUTER:/tmp/home/root# nvram get regulation_domain_5G
Q2
admin@ROUTER:/tmp/home/root#

what is Q2?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels
so those user .43 is to use wireless channel 12 and 13 for 2.4g and other channel in 5g?

 

[john9527]

If I remember correctly Q2 is a synonym for US. Are you still on the .44 code?

 

[steven168]

If I remember correctly Q2 is a synonym for US. Are you still on the .44 code?

on ASUS RT-N66U i downgrade from .45 (Merlin build) to Firmware:374.43_2-01j9527 (Merlin build) without reset default.

that why i do not see channel 12 and 13 under 2.4g

my AC66U on .45 (Merlin build) also don't see channel 12 and 13 so i suppose it is in US.


hmm.. saw inside the link for below...


nvram set pci/1/1/ccode=#a
nvram set pci/1/1/regrev=0
nvram set pci/2/1/ccode=#a
nvram set pci/2/1/regrev=0
nvram set regulation_domain=#a
nvram set regulation_domain_5G=#a
nvram set wl0_country=#a
nvram set wl0_country_code=#a
nvram set wl0_country_rev=0
nvram set wl0_reg_mode=off
nvram set wl1_country=#a
nvram set wl1_country_code=#a
nvram set wl1_country_rev=0
nvram set wl1_reg_mode=off
nvram commit
reboot
It will make possible:
Channels 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 at 2,4GHz, power up to 200mW.
Channels 34, 36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 124, 128, 132, 136, 140, 149, 153, 157, 161, 165 at 5GHz, power up to 200mW.

will someone do the above?

 

[steven168]

i have downgrade RT-AC66U to Firmware:374.43_2-01j9527 (Merlin build) and factory default.

i cannot see wireless channel 12 13 14 on 2.4g

 

[Deleted member 27741]

Thanks for this. Nice to have security updates for those that don't want to go to 376.44 or above for whatever reason. Among other things, 376.44 decreased my 5 Ghz signal by about 10 db and cut my internet download speeds in half. Needless to say, I will be staying with 374 firmware for the foreseeable future.

 

[wollyka]

Asus has a very touchy codebase that generally only works well with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, here's my build script for reference on setting up a clean install.

Thanks for the script. It will come in handy..

 

[john9527]

Opening up a question to the user community....

My original thought was that these updates would only consist of backports of Merlin fixes, without any other changes. For my own use, I apply some 'customizations' of my own on top of the base maintenance release (that's why my signature is release 21-j9527). Two of these have had quite a bit of discussion in the forum:

(1) Turn off the syslog copy to jffs for AC56U/AC68U
(2) Turn off the exclamation point warning if SAMBA or FTP sharing is enabled to the guest account


I'm now preparing a Release 02 to pick up a couple of Merlin's latest items. So my question is, would you like one or both of these changes included in the next release?

As I've been thinking more about it, I've come to the conclusion that my original position was correct.....don't do things that are not part of Merlin's updates or change the basic functions of Merlin's releases. I may make available a 'tweaked' version under a separate download in the future....

 

[ceege]

No success on AC66 with this fw either. I have not found any fw yet, that can do the second of these lines without the "No such device" error:

echo -e "AT^NDISDUP=1,1,\"internet\"\r" > /dev/ttyUSB1
udhcpc -i usb0 -p /var/run/udhcpc1.pid -s /tmp/udhcpc

 

[Grump]

Opening up a question to the user community....

My original thought was that these updates would only consist of backports of Merlin fixes, without any other changes. For my own use, I apply some 'customizations' of my own on top of the base maintenance release (that's why my signature is release 21-j9527). Two of these have had quite a bit of discussion in the forum:

(1) Turn off the syslog copy to jffs for AC56U/AC68U
(2) Turn off the exclamation point warning if SAMBA or FTP sharing is enabled to the guest account


I'm now preparing a Release 02 to pick up a couple of Merlin's latest items. So my question is, would you like one or both of these changes included in the next release?

I would love backports of any fixes that affect router functions, but still sticks as close to possible to stock asus. For examples, fixes against bad iptables rules, x doesnt work on ipv6, router crashes, the interface displays incorrectly, etc. I started using merlin's firmware because I wanted device names in my dhcp reserved list and everything else was just a bonus. I also like the option of dual WAN in my back pocket should the need arise. Stability and correct operation are the only things I care about now that upgrading to asus codebase 376_xxxx is not desired.

In regards to those specific changes, it seems the AC66u copies syslog from /tmp to /jffs as well. Personally I like historic logs that survive reboots, and if you're going to fiddle with it, it should be an option at least.

The 2nd change modifies the stock firmware's behaviour, which makes me cringe a bit. People who run custom firmware are usually smart enough to understand the security risk with unauthenticated users. Again, maybe an option?

In any case, this entire project is yours and you should make the changes you want to make. It's a privilege you share your work with us. If people don't like it they can "fork" off.

 

[john9527]

Grump - Thanks for your comments.....I think you've convinced me that my original thinking was correct in not changing basic functions away from the stock firmware. A very well reasoned argument!

 

[DaveMishSr]

Grump - Thanks for your comments.....I think you've convinced me that my original thinking was correct in not changing basic functions away from the stock firmware. A very well reasoned argument!

I concur. It is easy to go off on a lark for a feature or two but where do you stop? IIWY, I would do exactly what you are now doing. Keep it real and thanks.