
- #Nat loopback asus router upgrade#
- #Nat loopback asus router code#
- #Nat loopback asus router windows#
#Nat loopback asus router code#
In reading through release notes, it appears ASUS has even provided Eric with beta code to test and work with. In some cases he fixes bugs, sometimes completes features, or occasionally adds features not present in ASUS’ firmware. The ASUSWRT-Merlin firmware, rather than reinventing the wheel and flashing your router to something completely different, simply expands upon the original manufacturers code. If however you prefer something as close as possible to the manufacturer’s firmware, then this is for you. Look at TomatoUSB or DD-WRT, two excellent products that might suit your needs better. If you are looking for a slew of advanced features, then this project is not for you.

This firmware will try to remain as close as possible to the original firmware. The primary goals of this project are to fix bugs, add a few basic features and tweaks to the original firmware. Here is Eric’s project description from the forum sticky. What I found was a refreshingly different focus from other "alternative" firmware. This firmware is the brainchild of Eric Sauvageau, who goes by RMerlin in the SNB forums. When Tim asked me to take a look at the ASUSWRT-Merlin firmware for the popular ASUS RT-N66U Dark Knight, I’ll admit I was skeptical. Buffalo’s firmware did not support NAT loopback, but the DD-WRT rebrand did. I was doing web development at the time and needed to access webservers on my lan by their FQDN. The nail in the coffin for the Buffalo firmware, however, was its lack of support for NAT loopback. Flashing back and forth however, I noticed the Buffalo firmware had more consistent wireless performance. In contrast, the DD-WRT interface looked polished and consistent so you just knew it had to be better. items were confusing, pages weren’t laid out as you’d expect them and it just plain looked bad. Aesthetically, the Buffalo firmware was a pig in a dress, i.e. It wasn’t until I read the two SmallNetBuilder articles, Can DD-WRT or Tomato Fix Bad Routing? and Lots More Features, Lots Less Performance: NETGEAR WNR3500L with DD-WRT Reviewed that I really started to objectively question my own thinking as to whether different was necessarily better or simply just different.Īt that time, I had progressed to a Buffalo WZR-HPG300N, which Buffalo offered with its own firmware and with a Buffalo-branded DD-WRT firmware.
#Nat loopback asus router upgrade#
I still remember the article Hack Attack: Turn your $60 router into a $600 router, which sounded great to me! After reading up on the upgrade process, I loaded it right up-possible bricking be damned! While DD-WRT included a plethora of features, the reality was that I hardly used any of them beyond amplifying my wireless signal, which didn’t seem to help throughput much. When DD-WRT started getting popular, I was lucky enough to have a Linksys WRT54G lying around.


I just knew different had to be better and the original manufacturer had to be keeping me from using my system to its fullest potential. I never ran any benchmarks to prove anything to myself and probably wouldn’t have believed them if I did.
#Nat loopback asus router windows#
Then again, that was during the days of Windows 95 and extraordinary instability, so anything could have been perceived as improvement. At the time, I felt MRBios was more stable and gave me more features. My first experience with alternative firmware was running MRBios on my old Gateway 2000 P5-120 just because it was there. I used to drink the alternative firmware Kool-Aid. Left: ASUSWRT -Merlin firmware, Right: Standard ASUSWRT firmware Introduction
