asuswrt-merlin.ng

I used to bring OpenWRT routers everywhere I go. But if you worry about performance I'd actually recommend you get a router that's supported by AsusWRT Merlin. I've had a lot of WIFI performance and range issues with cheaper routers on OpenWRT. I recommend looking at the supported devices list, since some models have Chinese v2 models that are indistinguishable, but unsupported. https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/ https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng/wiki/Supported-De...

> Optional packages, installable on-the-fly Possible on Asus hardware using the third-party Merlin firmware as well: * https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng/wiki/Entware * https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/features The default Asus firmware is decent too.

FWIW, Asus makes their GPL source available to Eric who makes the builds actually open source: https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng#readme AOSP's middle initials are Open Source, but I'm with you on the fridge

This is likely a side effect of the FCC rules that requires devices to prevent software modifications that adjust the rf power. Although this could conceivably be open source friendly with such controls only on the radio software, so far manufacturers have responded by simply locking down the devices. As a prime example, ASUS merlin is actually open source and compatible with a number of WiFi 6 routers: https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng However, directly in response to the FCC rules, ASUS has restricted the ability of end users to havk on their own devices, giving only one person the ability to publish signed builds.

I don't think the situation is as bad as coreboot: Both the vendor firmwares and OpenWRT are Linux based so there is already some base for compatibility. And OpenWRT is not fully objected to blobs in drivers, so they don't need necessarily go digging down every smallest detail. Finally e.g. Asus has been publishing their firmware "sources" (containing gazillion blobs) so you don't need to do full blackbox reverse-engineering to reuse stuff there. There is this whole asusmerlin project repackaging the Asus firmwares: https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng Ultimately lot of the issues fall down on Broadcom and Qualcomm being what they are and not even trying to upstream their drivers and other bits. I don't know if we ever will see another wifi chipset that will have as good and long support as ath9k.

Probably not. The Koolshare group (whose modified version of Asus Merlin is targeted at folks in China) have stopped development for the RT-AC68U, and IIRC this was before they started working on integrating Wireguard into their builds. It looks like Asuswrt-Merlin uses different kernel version for different routers (probably because the use the kernel from Asus' own open source releases). I'm pretty sure the kernel for the AC68U is too old to support Wireguard. This link has more info: https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng/issues/210

And a shout-out to Asuswrt-Merlin for ASUS models (https://www.asuswrt-merlin.net/ and https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin and https://github.com/RMerl/asuswrt-merlin.ng), which I have on my ASUS RT-N66U and have been very pleased with. I am actually running a self-compiled image just to ensure it's possible, and I found that process relatively painless