Asus uses tomato-derived firmware called Asuswrt for its routers, such as the RT-AC68 and RT-AX88. This firmware, with the exception of a few drivers, is open source, in which closed binaries are included. Asuswrt-Merlin, in turn, is a modified version of the original firmware from Asus. It includes bug fixes and minor improvements, but it still tries to stay close to the original, so that new Asus features can still be added to the code. Release 386.8, a version released only for some models, contains the following changes and improvements:

NB:

• This version is only available for the RT-AX88U in addition to the two new models listed below.

new:

• Support added for GT-AXE16000.
• Support added for GT-AX11000_Pro.
• Additional support for revision of the new RT-AX88U hardware.

updated:

• It is integrated with GPL 386_49634.

change:

• Re-enable IPv6 DDNS support.
• Again, block router DNS access over IPv6 when using DNSFilter on a pre-HND model (behavior 386.7 referenced for this scenario)

Installed:

• The use of nvram is inaccurate on the Sysinfo page for some HND models. Now accurately report kernel nvram usage.
• WiFi radar page alignment.
• The new firmware window for the AiMesh node will use the device model (eg RT-AC66U_B1) instead of the product ID (eg RT-AC68U) for the generated download URL.
• An OVPN client with DNS set to strict had lower priority than DNSPrivacy servers.
• IPv6 DNS may be missing if DNSPrivacy is enabled.
• Wifi Radar pages missing on XT12.
• QRcode generation fails if SSID contains single-characters (eg emojis or other UTF8 entities)