Build for Belkin RT3200 (Linksys E8450) [UBI] and Redmi AX6S (Xiaomi AX3200)

diogenes · April 20, 2021, 11:35pm

I have created a build for the Belkin RT3200 and Redmi AX6S that offers some basic functionality for my own personal use cases as well as some enhancements.

Important note 1: On the Belkin RT3200, this is a Universal Base Image (UBI) build and not the "standard" build. You will first need to switch your router over to using UBI by following the instructions here.

Important note 2: I do not intend to provide much in the way of "support" for this build. If there are bugs I will try to resolve them since this build will be running on my personal router; but I do not intend (for example) to add packages to this build above and beyond what I personally would use or would consider to be broadly useful.

The build is based on the master branch.
Current version: master-r19527-f757a8a098
I'm making the builds available here.

I will only be uploading the versions after successfully flashing my own router and running some basic verifications (i.e.: it boots, the processes I'm expecting to see are running, DNS works, speed test runs at the speed I'd expect). Configurations and build scripts I use are included at the link above.

Current Features

Support for DNS over HTTPS (luci-app-https-dns-proxy)
Support for SQM QoS (luci-app-sqm)
Support for UPnP (luci-app-upnp)
Support for SSL (luci-ssl)
Support for banIP (luci-app-banip)
Support for BCP38 (luci-app-bcp38)
Support for wpad-wolfssl instead of the default wpad-basic-wolfssl
Support for ip-full and ip-bridge, instead of ip-tiny
Support for the following command-line utilities: nano, htop
Support for USB flash drives: block-mount, e2fsprogs, kmod-fs-ext4, kmod-usb-storage, kmod-usb2 kmod-usb3
Support for kmod-mtd-rw

Current Enhancements

System entropy enhancements (jitterentropy), replacing the built-in 'urngd' package
Interrupt distribution over CPUs to improve system latency and throughput (irqbalance)
Using GCC with Graphite support
Using the GCC "-Ofast -fgraphite-identity -floop-nest-optimize -fdevirtualize-at-ltrans -fipa-pta" speed optimization flags during compilation, taking "inspiration" from this.
Using the GCC "-mcpu=cortex-a53+crypto" architecture optimization flag during compilation

Dopam-IT_1987 · April 21, 2021, 12:48am

What is your trouggpout bandwith ?? Thanks for your work is good for gaming fps ?

diogenes · April 21, 2021, 1:02am

With SQM (fq_codel + simple.qos) on the Belkin RT3200 I can get like 477.5/11.91 Mbps | DSLReports, ISP Information where I think my provisioned speeds are like 484/12.1 Mbps so it's basically maxing out. I don't know how far beyond that it could go if I had a faster connection.

Dopam-IT_1987 · April 21, 2021, 1:20am

I have test with sqm.

He seems than max limit with sqm

Rovasteen · April 21, 2021, 2:36am

Flashed your build and it seems quite good. Have used DoT in the past but will try your DoH.

Rovasteen · April 25, 2021, 1:15am

I have flashed your build and have 1 issue. The file system seems to be Read Only as I cannot load any packages. What is the best way to fix that?

Rovasteen · April 25, 2021, 9:55pm

I reflashed everything, starting by flashing initramfs-recovery.itb and then the image. Here is what the file system looks like now. Presumably this is correct. Could you check and confim as everything but squashfs appears to be RW now.

root@OpenWrt:~# df -Th
Filesystem           Type            Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root            squashfs        6.3M      6.3M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                tmpfs         241.4M    232.0K    241.2M   0% /tmp
/dev/ubi0_5          ubifs          79.6M     60.0K     75.5M   0% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay   overlay        79.6M     60.0K     75.5M   0% /
tmpfs                tmpfs         512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev


root@OpenWrt:~# mount
/dev/root on /rom type squashfs (ro,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime)
cgroup2 on /sys/fs/cgroup type cgroup2 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nsdelegate)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime)
/dev/ubi0_5 on /overlay type ubifs (rw,noatime,assert=read-only,ubi=0,vol=5)
overlayfs:/overlay on / type overlay (rw,noatime,lowerdir=/,upperdir=/overlay/upper,workdir=/overlay/work)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=512k,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,mode=600,ptmxmode=000)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,noatime)
none on /sys/fs/bpf type bpf (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,mode=700)

diogenes · April 25, 2021, 10:16pm

Looks virtually identical to what I've got

root@heimdall:~# df -Th
Filesystem           Type            Size      Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root            squashfs        6.3M      6.3M         0 100% /rom
tmpfs                tmpfs         241.4M    556.0K    240.9M   0% /tmp
/dev/ubi0_5          ubifs          79.7M     60.0K     75.6M   0% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay   overlay        79.7M     60.0K     75.6M   0% /
tmpfs                tmpfs         512.0K         0    512.0K   0% /dev

root@heimdall:~# mount
/dev/root on /rom type squashfs (ro,relatime)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime)
cgroup2 on /sys/fs/cgroup type cgroup2 (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,relatime,nsdelegate)
tmpfs on /tmp type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime)
/dev/ubi0_5 on /overlay type ubifs (rw,noatime,assert=read-only,ubi=0,vol=5)
overlayfs:/overlay on / type overlay (rw,noatime,lowerdir=/,upperdir=/overlay/upper,workdir=/overlay/work)
tmpfs on /dev type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,relatime,size=512k,mode=755)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,nosuid,noexec,relatime,mode=600,ptmxmode=000)
debugfs on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw,noatime)
none on /sys/fs/bpf type bpf (rw,nosuid,nodev,noexec,noatime,mode=700)

Rovasteen · May 2, 2021, 7:36pm

I still cannot remove packages. Are you able to remove packages?

Executing package manager
Removing package luci-app-banip from root...
banip was autoinstalled and is now orphaned, removing.
Removing package banip from root...
Removing package banip from root...
You can force removal of packages with failed prerm scripts with the option: 
	--force-remove
No packages removed.
Errors
rm: can't remove '/etc/rc.d/S30banip': Read-only file system
/sbin/uci: I/O error
Collected errors:
 * pkg_run_script: Internal error: banip has a NULL tmp_unpack_dir.
 * opkg_remove_pkg: not removing package "banip", prerm script failed
The opkg remove command failed with code 255.

diogenes · May 3, 2021, 8:41pm

It's my understanding that (by design) you cannot remove packages that have been included in the firmware image itself. You can only remove packages that were not included with the original firmware - like ones you install yourself later.

That being said, you can just disable the banip service by de-selecting this check box:

slh · May 3, 2021, 10:40pm

Well, you can remove the packages regardless, you just won't free up space that way (and rather use more space on the overlay, to store the whiteouts), but the package and its files will be removed (rather become invisible) for the (booted up-) system.

Shrekfes · May 19, 2021, 3:24pm

How do I go about installing this build? I'm new to this so spare me, but I'm just confused as to what order I need to install these files in/how.

phinn · May 19, 2021, 7:14pm

Two questions - for SQM why use fq_codel when it's considered obsolete by bufferbloat instead of cake? Also what is the benefit of kmod-tcp-bbr, I've never seen that package included in builds before, for example I'm running a WRT32X and never seen anyone on mvebu use it. Thanks in advance.

sumo · May 19, 2021, 7:17pm

Just follow the following guide which should be super straight forward really.

Shrekfes · May 19, 2021, 8:12pm

Thank you friend!

diogenes · May 20, 2021, 10:04pm

I chose fq_codel in my settings just because if I used that I could max out the internet speeds provided by my ISP, but with cake I was not able to get the max speeds - just seemed like cake must've been using more processing power. Cake is still in the build though in the SQM settings, so you can always switch to it if desired.

And regarding BBR, I just pulled that in somewhat arbitrarily based on some other community builds I saw that used it. Reading about it a bit more, it sounds like there's not really any significant benefit in having it unless the router is initiating / terminating a lot of TCP connections; so I may end up just removing it in future builds.

Dopam-IT_1987 · May 20, 2021, 10:57pm

hi diogènes how much maximum speed do you have on your ISP I'm curious

1/1 gb? can you publish a different test report with

fq codel simple.qos

and cake piece of cake please?

I thank you in advance

diogenes · May 21, 2021, 1:26am

Here's fq_codel + simple.qos: https://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/68406689
Here's cake + piece_of_cake.qos: https://www.dslreports.com/speedtest/68406714

My provisioned speeds, as far as I know, are 484 Mbps download, 12.1 Mbps upload; based on this:

Dopam-IT_1987 · May 21, 2021, 12:53pm

ok thanks i search a person who has 1gbits /1gbits if you know ?

phinn · May 21, 2021, 12:54pm

This is strange because the creators of SQM fq_codel and cake said that cake supersedes and outperforms codel in every way. Maybe there is something wrong here. I easily hit my 500Mbits cable modem cap with cake on my WRT32X, getting A+ bufferbloat and A+ quality on dslreports speedtest with plenty of CPU headroom remaining.