so i just purchased that rt-ac86u on ebay and i've found merlin code on sourceforge.
1. is the fw load process similar to what we do on dd-wrt/3200?
2. assuming that unlike linksys, there is only one partition, how ez is it to revert back to stock?
3. is this https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/ the main site for info and details?
yep, i'm all in, guys.
Don’t know about you new inbound unit but the ones prior to yours uses the “Recovery mode” AKA "CFE miniWeb Server" if case you have a bad flash or you brick it. Sounds dramatic but it’s pretty straightforward and bulletproof. It would be very foolish if Asus removed it but you may want to verify..
Just flash from the ASUS web gui, real easy _________________ My "WRT" rant, and why I have gone ddwrt on x86, no more consumer routers. ( ac86u as access points & bridges )
so i just purchased that rt-ac86u on ebay and i've found merlin code on sourceforge.
1. is the fw load process similar to what we do on dd-wrt/3200?
2. assuming that unlike linksys, there is only one partition, how ez is it to revert back to stock?
3. is this https://asuswrt.lostrealm.ca/ the main site for info and details?
yep, i'm all in, guys.
Don’t know about you new inbound unit but the ones prior to yours uses the “Recovery mode” AKA "CFE miniWeb Server" if case you have a bad flash or you brick it. Sounds dramatic but it’s pretty straightforward and bulletproof. It would be very foolish if Asus removed it but you may want to verify..
Just flash from the ASUS web gui, real easy
Everything is easy until something goes wrong. The whole point of the linksys dual partitions is bail you out if something bad happens, all I'm saying this is their SHTF method. After digging out my old RT-AC68U out the stock pile and I’ve seen the CFE miniWeb Server four times today. Of course this don’t concern you but I had NO problem going from dd-wrt to Merlin. Just changed the Merlin file extension and flashed and it came right up.
My problem occurred three times while attempting to go from Merlin 378.55 to Merlin 378.56, its not like I was trying to go from 376.47 to 380.69, we are talking the next build in line. So to recap after the dd-wrt removal I went from Merlin 376.47 ---> 378.51 ---> 378.55 and no problems but it did not like 387.56 for whatever reason. I had no access to the router and was getting a 169 IP address so the only option was to use recovery mode and select "restore default NVRAM values" to finally get it up to date with 380.69. so all that was strictly a Merlin issue.
Just testing as AP now to see how it goes. I wanted to see the Authorized Key field which you were correct about and review the merlin features again. So we'll see how it does but its still not giving me that warm & fuzzy feeling like dd-wrt..
As you said, you dug the router out. I challenge anyone to grab an ac86u, and run even just stock. The speed and stability will make you nauseous thinking about all the time we wasted on the wrt's.
Edit.
Oh h3ll, grab anything other then Linksys and you will be happier. What a clusterfeck. _________________ My "WRT" rant, and why I have gone ddwrt on x86, no more consumer routers. ( ac86u as access points & bridges )
Joined: 14 Nov 2017 Posts: 30 Location: Scania, Sweden
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 13:34 Post subject:
128bit wrote:
7kt_ql wrote:
I bought a WRT3200ACM to replace a D-Link 868L. To begin with, I used Linksys firmware. The improvement was phenomenal.
Then I installed DD-WRT and ran in to some problems, because I was new to it. We have Iphones, Andriods, Macs and PCs. We don’t do much gaming. We average 30 – 40 Gbits down per day, peaking 150 Gbits per day. Regardless of the number of clients (up to 20) and the traffic, through or behind the router, we never notice any slowdowns on our clients. Whether cabled or wireless, there is 230-250Mbits/s down and 100 Mbits/s up, if the client can handle it. VoIP don’t garble as it used to do. If the source is HD, what you see on the display or TV, is also HD.
Basically, there are never problems, except those that have been self-inflicted, because I am new to DD-WRT. In answer to 128bit, the most unstable part of the equation, is myself. Before I started experimenting, I had r30796 running for a month, ending with a power failure.
I would have like better support for VLAN. DD-WRT does require that you read, so you know what you are doing. Other than that, DD-WRT on Linksys WRT3200ACM has worked very well for us.
you seem new, so welcome. i've been watching this board for well over 5 years now. finally joined after buying the 1900ac. went through countless kong builds with that until he bailed. all in all, it was a very good router for my needs which are significantly less than yours!
bought the 3200acm about a year or 2 ago, because it was a steal. it was noticeably faster than the 1900ac but again for my needs, and with few exceptions streaming was always fine with both. keep in mind that originally, i had an e4200.
the major frustration is with linksys and their inability to deliver as promised. sometimes a build will be problematic for me on the 5 ghz radio but nothing catastrophic. unlike many others, this is more of a hobby for me.
my biggest issue with dd-wrt is my one weather device that refuses to connect; connects fine with stock firmware. my biggest issue with stock firmware is not having enough security over the guest account; dd-wrt is great there. i use the guest account to restrict my iot devices - tv, vacuum, etc.
these guys are highly technical here, so i also get a lesson. i'm a retired os/middleware/security sw guy - these folks here keep me young.
Thanks for the welcome 128bit!
Yes, I am new DD-WRT and the forum. I know my way around databases and some other stuff, but don’t have a lot of experience with Linux and DD-WRT.
Not too long ago we lived in a part of Sweden, where there only was 4Mbits/s over WiMax. Then a D-Link Dir-100 was enough. Now we have fibre and enjoy the freedom of it. I’m moving some large image archives around, to back them up.
I bought my first computer, a Mac Plus with a 20 Mb hard disk in 1986. The seller said I had so much space on disk, I would hear an echo. Since I’ve owned a lot of digital stuff, that has been a lot more frustrating, than the WRT3200ACM.
It’s a hobby for me too. Yesterday I asked my family if they felt there was any hassle on the network. They didn’t. Although I understand the frustration about Linksys, it works well for us, probably because we basically are ordinary users.
Thanks for the tip on IoT-devices! _________________ _____________________________________________________
Linksys WRT3200ACM: DD-WRT r41418
Linksys LGS116P Switch
Linksys EA6300: Original firmware, as bridge
Ubiqity Unifi AP AC Lite
Ubiqity Unifi AP AC LR
Ubiqity Unifi AP AC Pro
guys, thanks for the feedback. k.
i'm really psyched now! _________________ asus rt-ac86u stock: 3.0.0.4.384_45149
wrt3200acm: r34578 {sunset}
"why nibble when u can take a byte."
I dont understand one thing.
There are many users including me experienced serious Linksys WRT problems even with very simple setup and after long time "Tilting at windmills" finally switching to different great routers from Netgear and Asus and very happy now with completely higher level of rock solid stability and throughput.
But there are many happy users with no problems for all WRT routers and i guess its true.
I just cant understand how it possible? Its clear for me that Marvel design is broken all the way. May be this particular wifi Marvell chipsets in general is very different and some is just not following the spec or low quality and radio firmware just not able to work for all routers? _________________ Netgear R7800
I have very specific uses, teenagers streaming, wife streaming/shopping, TOR, torrents................I also work from home and Fortinet VPN would never connect through any WRT3200 wireless radios, which is why I had to use AN ap.
Everything has to work, PLUS low latency as I am also an avid gamer. WAN disconnects, or any kind of crap like that, are unacceptable. Before anyone says anything, my consoles are hard wired. The WRT ping was always around 35ms-45ms. Now, I am between 8ms-15ms, speed is off the hook.
ASUS AC86U plugged in and everything worked without a hitch. The WRT's took so much time and effort to get them to work "mostly"..... which is why my wife had a great time taking a hammer to the wrt3200.....lol... _________________ My "WRT" rant, and why I have gone ddwrt on x86, no more consumer routers. ( ac86u as access points & bridges )
Joined: 18 Aug 2009 Posts: 597 Location: Antigua/Seattle
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 18:28 Post subject:
well mojo I'm looking at the Asus now my self I'll need something before spring.
I'm setting up a small internet cafe at the Marina next door.
I'm too old to do product testing foe Marvell.
Oh by the way I think the WRT3200ACM I have has bit the dust hardware wise lol.
I'll know more when I get it off the tower, it's not raining so soon. _________________ WRT3200ACM
According to SmallNetBuilder r7800 will have little bit better than AC86 wireless performance on 2.4 and much better wireless and throughput on 5Ghz. IDK.
But I like very much the Asus AiMesh idea using 3rd wifi or even wire for seamless connection if it will work correctly. https://www.asus.com/AiMesh/
I did try not working seamless mesh from Linksys Velop with pure wireless even on Qualcomm chipset.
So will check Asus probably in a while coz really need it _________________ Netgear R7800
Joined: 18 Aug 2009 Posts: 597 Location: Antigua/Seattle
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 19:59 Post subject:
He's probably wireless which won't give him <1 Ms ping times with that router.
Since He's wireless he could have some very slight amount of interference + the usual overhead, I doubt he get's anything unusual with a wired connection.
Probably <1 Ms there as well if he were just pinging to himself.
But if he's pinging to the server where he's gaming then that's perfect!!.
P.S. if your just pinging to yourself like that, it really doesn't matter if you are streaming a shit ton of HD broadcasts, the ping to yourself will still be ~<1 Ms. _________________ WRT3200ACM
Joined: 14 Nov 2017 Posts: 30 Location: Scania, Sweden
Posted: Mon Jan 22, 2018 20:08 Post subject:
I always download torrents through VPN. From where I’m, VPN through several countries will not work. It took some time before I realized. I’m not an avid gamer like Mojo, and don’t use TOR, but we have teenagers too. All media in the house is over IP.
I am sure people have problems with the WRT3200ACM just as the say. And we all know how frustrating it is find yourself in a digital blind alley. I don’t mean to lessen that. I’m just saying for our purposes it works fine. If you compare our LAN, to any other place I’ve been connected, we outperform them all in a big way. Aarion is probably right on that 80/20 thing. We happened to be lucky.
I used to administrate Webb- and SQL-Servers, over a 56k modem, back in the day. Maybe I am too easily pleased. _________________ _____________________________________________________
Linksys WRT3200ACM: DD-WRT r41418
Linksys LGS116P Switch
Linksys EA6300: Original firmware, as bridge
Ubiqity Unifi AP AC Lite
Ubiqity Unifi AP AC LR
Ubiqity Unifi AP AC Pro
I have very specific uses, teenagers streaming, wife streaming/shopping, TOR, torrents................I also work from home and Fortinet VPN would never connect through any WRT3200 wireless radios, which is why I had to use AN ap.
Everything has to work, PLUS low latency as I am also an avid gamer. WAN disconnects, or any kind of crap like that, are unacceptable. Before anyone says anything, my consoles are hard wired. The WRT ping was always around 35ms-45ms. Now, I am between 8ms-15ms, speed is off the hook.
ASUS AC86U plugged in and everything worked without a hitch. The WRT's took so much time and effort to get them to work "mostly"..... which is why my wife had a great time taking a hammer to the wrt3200.....lol...
If you are seeing 8-15ms pings to your own router, i'd say you still definitely have something wrong with your network.
I have a WRT1200AC and this is the ping times I see to my own router though a hard wired ethernet cable
C:\Users\Doug>ping 10.10.10.1
Pinging 10.10.10.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.10.10.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.10.10.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.10.10.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.10.10.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Ping statistics for 10.10.10.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms
This is while doing a large download at the moment consuming around 20-30mbps though my VPN sesson running on the WRT1200AC
Even if I disable wired ethernet and go wireless on this PC, I don't get ping times anywhere near that
C:\Users\Doug>ping 10.10.10.1
Pinging 10.10.10.1 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.10.10.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.10.10.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.10.10.1: bytes=32 time=4ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.10.10.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=64
Ping statistics for 10.10.10.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 1ms, Maximum = 4ms, Average = 3ms
**EDIT**
For shits and giggles I just put my old WRT54GS onto the network and tried pinging it
C:\Users\Doug>ping 10.10.10.8
Pinging 10.10.10.8 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 10.10.10.8: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.10.10.8: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.10.10.8: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Reply from 10.10.10.8: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=64
Ping statistics for 10.10.10.8:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 1ms, Average = 0ms
There's really no reason you should see more than about 1ms ping time on the same network subnet, unless you have managed to saturate your gigabit link, or there is something wrong with a switch or cabling on your network.
My network is by no means underutilized. I have a VMWare ESXi cluster on this network, of which the above mentioned download is happening in one of those Linux VMs and all of the VMs have their disks mounted from an NAS storage. So that VM in particular is downloading from the internet, and then writing the download back out though the network to the NAS. Along with all the other traffic on my network
Life would be perfect if we could control our ISP's _________________ My "WRT" rant, and why I have gone ddwrt on x86, no more consumer routers. ( ac86u as access points & bridges )
