Teaser-time!

[RMerlin]

So how much better than the AC66U is this router?

This router has slower wireless (only dual-stream), but it has a faster CPU and faster USB. So it depends on your specific needs. If you only have 300 Mbits wireless cards, then this router is better. If you have a 450 Mbits card, then this router is not as good.

 

[RMerlin]

I implemented JFFS during the weekend (32 MB, same as RT-AC66U). That was the last Asuswrt-Merlin feature missing, what's left is testing/debugging/polishing.

OpenVPN will take advantage of SMP: the two clients and two servers will run on separate cores, so you can (in theory) get near full OpenVPN throughput from both servers at the same time.

 

[chamberc]

This router has slower wireless (only dual-stream), but it has a faster CPU and faster USB. So it depends on your specific needs. If you only have 300 Mbits wireless cards, then this router is better. If you have a 450 Mbits card, then this router is not as good.

Are we talking about the AC68U?

http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/03/asus-launches-the-rt-ac68u-802-11ac-router-with-ac1900-speeds/

 

[RMerlin]

Are we talking about the AC68U?

http://www.engadget.com/2013/06/03/asus-launches-the-rt-ac68u-802-11ac-router-with-ac1900-speeds/

No, RT-AC56U.

 

[RMerlin]

Tonight I did a few file transfer benchmarks (over Samba). The results are quite nice.

I copied a 1.2 GB video to, and from a USB 3.0 disk plugged to the router. The disk is a pretty standard 750 GB laptop HDD inside a 2.5" NexStar 3 enclosure. The disk was formatted as ext3. The client was a laptop using a gigabit cable plugged to a LAN port. The speed as reported by Windows 7's copy dialog:

Write speed: 30 MB/s
Read speed: 50 MB/s

I have to admit, I wasn't expecting such a high read speed. The actual network throughput according to the System Monitor was around 450 Mbits throughout the read test.

 

[burtal]

have you tried over WIFI? is the USB3.0 radio interference still present? and how hot is running? tried a normal N56 and returned it next day as i could literally fry eggs on it.

 

[RMerlin]

have you tried over WIFI? is the USB3.0 radio interference still present? and how hot is running? tried a normal N56 and returned it next day as i could literally fry eggs on it.

There's a small metal shield on the RT-AC56U around the USB3 port, so I assume it shouldn't suffer from EM interference.

Wifi would obviously be a bottleneck - a 300 Mbits connection would probably cap read speed at somewhere around 10-15 MB/s. This isn't related to SMB performance but to wifi performance itself.

I can't really comment on the temperature since my router lays dismantled on a living room table for me to debug code, so it runs cooler than it would in its case.

 

[hggomes]

Congrats for your NEW firmware RMerlin ;-)

Is there or will be available a OPKG / IPKG repository to install apps on this new ARM routers? Or even better, will be possible to compile stuff on it? I mean, native compilation with buildroot package for example.

I use this alot on my current ASUS router (RT-N16) and i wouldn't want to miss it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[RMerlin]

Congrats for your NEW firmware RMerlin ;-)

Is there or will be available a OPKG / IPKG repository to install apps on this new ARM routers? Or even better, will be possible to compile stuff on it? I mean, native compilation with buildroot package for example.

I use this alot on my current ASUS router (RT-N16) and i wouldn't want to miss it.

Thanks in advance.

I published the ARM toolchain to Github yesterday, so skilled people might be able to compile their own software if they wish to.

An ARM Optware/Entware repo will be up to their maintainers. Technically it's certainly possible, however supporting a whole separate architecture means doubling the work.

 

[hggomes]

Thanks for your reply.

You mean here?

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/tree/master/toolchain

I notice this:

"TLS support is broken in Tomato's toolchain - reverting for now."


I though your toolchain was a different one, not Tomato...

Thanks once again.

 

[RMerlin]

Thanks for your reply.

You mean here?

https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin/tree/master/toolchain

I notice this:

"TLS support is broken in Tomato's toolchain - reverting for now."


I though your toolchain was a different one, not Tomato...

Thanks once again.

That commit is about the MIPS toolchain, not the ARM one. The ARM toolchain is totally separate, under release/src-rt-6.x.4708/toolchains
/

 

[RMerlin]

Did a few wireless tests tonight using an USB-AC53 and the RT-AC56U. Testing with both Lanbench and iperf, I get an average throughput of around 220 Mbits with the laptop using the USB interface standing in the same (opposite side) room as the router.

I suspect the throughput might improve a bit over time, since the FW code I was working with is a few weeks old, and doesn't have all the latest features yet.

 

[Rrrr]

This router has slower wireless (only dual-stream), but it has a faster CPU and faster USB. So it depends on your specific needs. If you only have 300 Mbits wireless cards, then this router is better. If you have a 450 Mbits card, then this router is not as good.

I just ordered the rt-n66 because I only care about improving fast wired and wifi bgn 2.5 and 5 ghz reach and throughput. Other important consideration is not to get stuck with (future but soon) increasing needs for situations where openvpn clients need local netflix and fast nas backup.

However, reading your comments about Asus RT-AC56U with dual core and therefore fastest openvpn performance, I wonder if you could give me even more qualified advice as to order the ac56u instead for an additional 30 euro? I still don't care about ac but do appreciate this unit being supported by merlin wrt.

 

[RMerlin]

I just ordered the rt-n66 because I only care about improving fast wired and wifi bgn 2.5 and 5 ghz reach and throughput. Other important consideration is not to get stuck with (future but soon) increasing needs for situations where openvpn clients need local netflix and fast nas backup.

However, reading your comments about Asus RT-AC56U with dual core and therefore fastest openvpn performance, I wonder if you could give me even more qualified advice as to order the ac56u instead for an additional 30 euro? I still don't care about ac but do appreciate this unit being supported by merlin wrt.

If you don't have any client that needs 450 Mbps (triple stream), then I would pay a bit more and get the RT-AC56U, since the price difference between both is often quite minimal now (at least here in Canada it is). It might exhibit a slightly shorter coverage than the RT-N66U (assuming you run an SDK5 build of the FW, as the SDK6 version of the N66U has a shorter range than the AC56U at the moment), but that will depend on your environment.

 

[Rrrr]

Thanks for taking the time to answer yet another of those questions

I am about to purchase as you say:

Does this person have a valid point? http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?p=95739

Oh and have these routers noisy fans and/or are they relatively quiet?

 

[Lost Dog]

Thanks for taking the time to answer yet another of those questions

I am about to purchase as you say:

Does this person have a valid point? http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?p=95739

Oh and have these routers noisy fans and/or are they relatively quiet?

Ha... that's pretty funny... I'm never happy even after I buy something so my eyes are always open for an upgrade. I was looking at RMerlin's comments about the AC56 and though "hmm... maybe I made a mistake"... Then I saw your link and thought I might get more insight. Nope! Just talking to myself!

Now I'm second guessing my choice! How is the distance compared with the N66 considering the lack of external antennas?

I'm still within my 30 day return window....... To top it off, it's about $5 cheaper than the N66.... I could always make a change

 

[L&LD]

Search for RMerlin's update on the .38 drivers he's still working on. The RT-AC56U has almost the same range as the N66U in the 2.4GHz band and better range (if I remember correctly) in the 5GHz band.

You have nothing to lose to try it.

 

[JoeSchmoe007]

Thanks for taking the time to answer yet another of those questions

I am about to purchase as you say:

Does this person have a valid point? http://forums.smallnetbuilder.com/showthread.php?p=95739

Oh and have these routers noisy fans and/or are they relatively quiet?

I own N66U and it silent. It doesn't have a fan and gets rather warm.

 

[Rrrr]

I ordered the ac56 in addition and will send back the n66. Thought being that the firmware is or will be stable and that once ac wlan is official and needed I will get some access points.

I now want to have the fastest and most stable router to last me for many years. It needs to keep up with internet becoming faster all the time and increasing use of vpn.

I still ask myself this:
1) what would be a similar router without wlan? Dual core etc.
It would probably not get the attention of a forum nor advanced prosumers like here who have a variety of needs.

2) now asus makes such good routers why is merlin needed to correct bugs, add features and improve stability? Beware I am new to this forum and really appreciate it and rmerlin. It seems unique. Rmerlin should probably get paid by them. :thumbup:
Is the source code open ? Reengineered? If I use merlin firmware is it legal and official or tolerated ? I understand if warrantee may be voided. I would appreciate just in case I place a router somewhere they need to be cleaner than the pope.

 

[travisnj]

Is the source code open ? Reengineered? If I use merlin firmware is it legal and official or tolerated ? I understand if warrantee may be voided. I would appreciate just in case I place a router somewhere they need to be cleaner than the pope.

From my understanding.... I have read many places in many forums by many people that Rmerlin is very much a part of Asus's FW life cycles.

Rmerlin is highly integral to Asus and Asus engineers work rather closely with Rmerlin including advanced knowledge of the roadmaps and other somewhat proprietary aspects of firmware.

Rmerlin's source is open as much as WRT is open in general except where it is closed source due to Broadcom, Asus interests and can be found at github easily with toolchains.

Legality? Yes. It is legal. Official? Yes. I am taking into account ALL I have read... Rmerlin does not change the Asus official FW. There are some modifications, many bug fixes and add-ons but all to my knowledge in the way of scripts and not deep inside the FW build. So, for the most part, Rmerlin is very important to Asus for the fast turn around and tweaks avid users and power/advanced users want. Whilist, Asus focuses on the more vanilla retail users..

My two cents on your question... Hope it helped.