New DD-WRT firmware for the WRT1900AC

[RogerSC]

Kong has posted new dd-wrt firmware for the WRT1900AC that's worth a test drive:

http://www.desipro.de/ddwrt/K3-AC-MVEBU/

I'm using it now, and it is doing well. I've had some problems with dd-wrt for this router in the past, but this release has a new Marvell wireless driver in it with some fixes for wireless-ac connectivity and is working well with my variety of wireless clients. That includes Apple mobile clients, Roku, wireless desktop, etc. With dd-wrt firmware you get better monitoring capabilities than stock firmware, telnet/ssh login, and it's extensible (you can add software modules if you wish).

It's a recent release, but the first one that feels fast and stable, and fully functional, only 18 months late *smile*. If you like using third-party firmware, give it a try.

The dd-wrt forum where this is discussed is:

http://www.dd-wrt.com/phpBB2/viewto...&start=0&sid=4526c5ae7f67f1101fbbed8375a5f06c

 

[htismaqe]

I'm hoping for Tomato for this router at some point. There hasn't been a stock firmware update since June (and that includes the V2).

 

[RMerlin]

I'm hoping for Tomato for this router at some point. There hasn't been a stock firmware update since June (and that includes the V2).

Highly unlikely. Tomato is designed for Broadcom, it would require a substantial rewrite to support a different platform - and Tomato ain't exactly overflowing with developers these days...

 

[htismaqe]

I know but one can wish. I tried OpenWRT and I just can't get past the lack of an intuitive interface. Might as well just do everything from the CLI. I might have to dig into DD-WRT at some point, even though I don't like that GUI either.

 

[htismaqe]

So Roger, do you know if there's any difference between what Kong is doing and what Brainslayer is doing? The latest discussions in that thread are about BS version.

 

[sfx2000]

I'm hoping for Tomato for this router at some point. There hasn't been a stock firmware update since June (and that includes the V2).

Are you certain that updates are needed (factory firmware that is...) - latest build seems more than stable enough.

 

[htismaqe]

The Network Map is still horribly buggy and it causes issues. I'm also having issues with my AirPrint printers that seem to be only solvable by a reboot.

In addition, while I like the guest network implementation, not being able to change the timeout window has become a big problem. It would be ok if one could just login again and re-start the timer but that's not even possible. Guests are going to get disconnected after a set time, even if they're in the middle of a call or something.

 

[RMerlin]

I know but one can wish. I tried OpenWRT and I just can't get past the lack of an intuitive interface. Might as well just do everything from the CLI. I might have to dig into DD-WRT at some point, even though I don't like that GUI either.

The OpenWRT GUI didn't look so bad to me. You could see if Gargoyle intends to support that model. It's based on OpenWRT, but has a more user-friendly UI I believe.

 

[sfx2000]

The OpenWRT GUI didn't look so bad to me. You could see if Gargoyle intends to support that model. It's based on OpenWRT, but has a more user-friendly UI I believe.

OpenWRT's main strength has always been the command line...

 

[sfx2000]

I like the guest network implementation, not being able to change the timeout window has become a big problem. It would be ok if one could just login again and re-start the timer but that's not even possible. Guests are going to get disconnected after a set time, even if they're in the middle of a call or something.

Don't get me started about Linksys' implementation of Guest SSID's... nobody should like the Guest SSID/Network implementation on Linksys..

open auth, so the only thing protecting the network is the captive portal, and woe be the ones that share Samba disks... Crash the web server on the captive portal, get root on the box, it's trusted connection to the samba server since samba also runs as root, do some net name discovery via samba, find a suitable host, and then... get root on on a windows via WOW64 thunking with a 32-bit executable... (copy the file over and execute...)

Once one gets root on the Windows box.. all bets are off.. one can assume that that Windows box has a wireless profile to the same AP.

I warned linksys about this a couple of years back with the open guest network - never depend on a captive portal, but they discarded it - good news is disable the guest network, and the problem goes away - this should be a warning to all OEM's that use openWiFi and captive portals...

====

C:\Windows\system32>netsh wlan show profile name="*" key=clear

Profile *target* on interface Wi-Fi:
=======================================================================

Applied: All User Profile

Profile information
-------------------
Version : 1
Type : Wireless LAN
Name : target
Control options :
Connection mode : Connect automatically
Network broadcast : Connect only if this network is broadcasting
AutoSwitch : Do not switch to other networks
MAC Randomization : Disabled

Connectivity settings
---------------------
Number of SSIDs : 1
SSID name : "*targetssid*"
Network type : Infrastructure
Radio type : [ Any Radio Type ]
Vendor extension : Not present

Security settings
-----------------
Authentication : WPA2-Personal
Cipher : CCMP
FIPS mode : Disabled
Security key : Present
Key Content : thepassphrase

Cost settings
-------------
Cost : Unrestricted
Congested : No
Approaching Data Limit : No
Over Data Limit : No
Roaming : No
Cost Source : Default

 

[htismaqe]

I like the captive portal. I wish it was more configurable. And of course, some form of encrypted auth would be nice. I know it's not secure.

 

[htismaqe]

Well, I've gotten DD-WRT up and running and I'm pretty impressed. Performance is just slightly better than stock, across the board.

I've got guest wireless setup on a separate subnet and isolated from the private LAN - the only complaint that I have right now is that Kong's instructions rely on using an unbridged interface for the guest WLAN, which means it's radio-specific. I have the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz private SSIDs in the same bridge group with a single SSID. I can't figure out how to do that with the guest network. I tried creating a bridge group and it created all kinds of issues.

EDIT: Web browsing, particularly when opening/refreshing several tabs at once, is noticeably faster with DD-WRT.

 

[RogerSC]

Well, I've gotten DD-WRT up and running and I'm pretty impressed. Performance is just slightly better than stock, across the board.

I've got guest wireless setup on a separate subnet and isolated from the private LAN - the only complaint that I have right now is that Kong's instructions rely on using an unbridged interface for the guest WLAN, which means it's radio-specific. I have the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz private SSIDs in the same bridge group with a single SSID. I can't figure out how to do that with the guest network. I tried creating a bridge group and it created all kinds of issues.

EDIT: Web browsing, particularly when opening/refreshing several tabs at once, is noticeably faster with DD-WRT.

Yes, I found the performance vastly improved and much more reliable than previous dd-wrt firmware releases. I do tend to trust Kong more than BrainSlayer, since BS seems to not quite have the focus on quality that Kong has. On the other hand, they're both building from the same source even though they configure their builds differently...I do like Kong's response to problems and the way that he configures and tests his builds a lot more than the full builds that BS does. BS builds for a LOT of routers, and I don't know which ones he actually tests. The firmware also ends up smaller, since Kong drops the torrent client, and possibly other pieces as well.

On the other hand, there is one issue that I've seen with the new Marvell wireless driver in the latest Kong release. I see the sirq being unexpectedly high when the router is "idle" (I'm not doing anything special on the internet). The sirq on one of the processors kicks up to 25 or 30 or even 40% at idle, (the other CPU also shows a higher than idle sirq) and it seldom goes to the 0% I frequently see on other routers at idle. The busy-ness at "idle" also goes up correspondingly. There appears to be something going on in the interrupt routines that keeps the router busy, don't know what it is, but there's still some issue there. I'm not sure if that activity is included in the activity that happens when the router gets busy (not idle), but I suspect that's the case, so it isn't really a performance problem. It's just a problem that the router has no real "idle", which could lead to higher temperatures and shorter life (this is a guess on my part). I really like to see things idle when they should be, not busy doing something that shouldn't need to be done when there's not much going on.

The above comments are obviously on the qualitative side, since I don't know much about the internals of the new wireless drivers, or what it might be doing during normally idle time. I'm satisfied with the performance, wireless coverage, and stability with this latest release, but I do feel that there's more internals work to be done here *smile*.

Update: Since users are seeing the fans on their routers (WRT1900AC v1 only) go on for the first time with this new firmware, it would seem that the new idle busy-ness is not just an interrupt routine activity that is needed for heavy use. It is a new thing that the stock firmware doesn't have, that's causing more activity/heat at higher loads as well. More for Marvell to do here.