Where is the next DumaOS firmware for Nighthawk Pro Gaming Routers?

[Netduma Luke]

Hi everyone,

This is an update for you guys on where we are with DumaOS and specifically, the XR/NPG routers which is why we have posted it in this subforum. 
First of all, here’s the current status for each XR router, including links to where you can get the latest firmware for those of you who don’t already have it installed:

• XR300 – V1.0.3.68 (DumaOS 2.0)
• XR450/XR500 – V2.3.2.130 (DumaOS 3.0)
• XR700 – V1.0.1.46 (DumaOS 3.0 Beta)
• XR1000 – V1.0.0.58 (DumaOS 3.0)

Now to address the problem: the speed at which XR users have been getting new firmwares. We realise it has been far too slow.
Here’s how the firmware building process typically works:

• Every few months a new DumaOS firmware is completed
• This first must pass our internal testing
• Then it moves over to NETGEAR where it must pass their testing, including all the non-DumaOS side of the firmware
• Then it goes into closed beta testing
• Eventually, if all has gone well, it will be released

The big problem we have is that if there is an issue at any point, the entire process needs to start again. Considering all the different XR routers DumaOS is on combined with the fact all of them have very large user bases (meaning disaster if a serious bug gets through) and you begin to see the problem.

So, what can we do about this? We asked ourselves the same question at the beginning of the year and we have been working on a solution ever since. We’ll be putting a blog and video together to explain in more detail what we have done, but here is a summary.

We have created a brand new ‘build system’ which will drastically speed up how quickly we can build and test firmware. 

One part of this system involved writing hundreds and hundreds of automatic tests which allow a bunch of computers to test DumaOS without any human involvement. 

Another part is to allow us to trigger new internal firmware builds every night. The purpose of this is to gather all the latest changes our developers have made during the day, build a new firmware and then kick off the automated tests. This means we can catch bugs before human testers ever get their hands on the firmware. 
The end result of all of this is we can make stable and well tested DumaOS much, much faster than ever before.

We’ve been working on this build system for some time and last week, we released a new R2 firmware. It was our very first full firmware built using the new build system, so it’s a bit of a landmark moment for us.

Our plan is to now use this new system for all future DumaOS 3.0 firmwares, including XR routers, Telstra Game Optimiser, the R1 etc. It’ll take us a bit of time to tweak it to work with each router, but once done it will become very easy for us to prepare rock-solid firmwares to send to NETGEAR for their testing before then releasing them to you guys. 

There’s still one sticking point left: the XR300 community. We really do know how far behind you are, and it sucks. All I can say is we’ll do everything in our power to try and bring you up to the latest version using this new build system - I can’t promise it will work, but we’ll do our very best.

The last thing to say is we realise we’ve been pretty quiet over the past few months in terms of communication. Behind the scenes, we’ve never been busier. 

We’ve got some massive features coming out in 2022. Honestly, it’s going to be the biggest leap forward we’ve ever made in our technology and is the culmination of several years of R&D. We’ve also doubled the size of our team over the past 18 months. We know it’s been a long wait, but the payoff will be worth it. 

Thank you for all the patience on this. We know we’ve got a brilliant user community, we feel very blessed and fortunate to have you. We think you’ll love what’s coming out next and we’ll begin to share more details with you on what we have been up to, so stay tuned.

The Netduma Team

[mathmath51]

Thanks for this message but I'm more concern with what you call "non Dumas OS" feature. On the xr500, the DHCP has been broken for months with no sign of it being ever fixed.

So what's the point in adding more feature if the basic ones are broken and maybe not under your responsibility?

I hope that you new test bench caught this issues already to pass them on to Netgear without waiting for a beta and for us user to troubleshoot.

On the other end, it's nice to hear that you upped your game and are more closer to the industry standards.

The future will tell but it's a nice first step.

[Netduma Liam]

3 hours ago, mathmath51 said:

Thanks for this message but I'm more concern with what you call "non Dumas OS" feature. On the xr500, the DHCP has been broken for months with no sign of it being ever fixed.

So what's the point in adding more feature if the basic ones are broken and maybe not under your responsibility?

I hope that you new test bench caught this issues already to pass them on to Netgear without waiting for a beta and for us user to troubleshoot.

On the other end, it's nice to hear that you upped your game and are more closer to the industry standards.

The future will tell but it's a nice first step.

You make a good point, since the full release of DumaOS 3.0 on the XR500, I've raised the DHCP issue again with Netgear to make it totally clear it's still a problem. We're doing everything we can to support them in solving this issue as we know it's super disruptive for the users it affects.

One aspect of the automated testing we're running is the endurance testing, this basically involves leaving the router for hours on end while a script automatically generates traffic that the router has to think about and handle properly. The idea here is to overwhelm the test router to see if we can force any errors out of it. The DHCP issue is the exact sort of issue this type of testing aims to reproduce. This system also remotely logs everything that's going on in the backend of the test router, so any kernel level issues that you wouldn't usually see are picked up. Hopefully this will mean issues like this are caught early and don't make it into full release firmware.

Thanks again for you patience with us, we get that it's frustrating but we're doing our best and it won't be long before it all pays off.

[Killhippie]

I seem to be getting a case of deja vu.

[Xdrqgol]

I hope the DHCP issue is something you reproduced on your side also - this is a 100% issue .

If it was an easy fix, it would have been released already… 

[raf1212]

On 11/24/2021 at 12:11 PM, Netduma Liam said:

You make a good point, since the full release of DumaOS 3.0 on the XR500, I've raised the DHCP issue again with Netgear to make it totally clear it's still a problem. We're doing everything we can to support them in solving this issue as we know it's super disruptive for the users it affects.

One aspect of the automated testing we're running is the endurance testing, this basically involves leaving the router for hours on end while a script automatically generates traffic that the router has to think about and handle properly. The idea here is to overwhelm the test router to see if we can force any errors out of it. The DHCP issue is the exact sort of issue this type of testing aims to reproduce. This system also remotely logs everything that's going on in the backend of the test router, so any kernel level issues that you wouldn't usually see are picked up. Hopefully this will mean issues like this are caught early and don't make it into full release firmware.

Thanks again for you patience with us, we get that it's frustrating but we're doing our best and it won't be long before it all pays off.

I have a feeling that someone here ignores us and looks at the money, because otherwise I can't think about it, for example, I want a refund for a router that does not work properly on any software version, and every time I return I have to spend 300 euros with a paper clip

[Netduma Fraser]

3 hours ago, raf1212 said:

I have a feeling that someone here ignores us and looks at the money, because otherwise I can't think about it, for example, I want a refund for a router that does not work properly on any software version, and every time I return I have to spend 300 euros with a paper clip

I'm not sure what you're saying exactly, could you clarify please?

[raf1212]

1 hour ago, Netduma Fraser said:

Nie jestem pewien, co dokładnie mówisz, czy mógłbyś to wyjaśnić?

oj @Netduma Fraser, it's a pity to talk, you know that errors from the software 120 are present in 130, and that the desktop is a bit faster, it does not change anything, you start to pump the balloon on social media about ready software 3.0 because it is not sorry, I admit 3.0 it is for me all the time beta, and the constant and recurring bugs are proof of this

[Netduma Fraser]

30 minutes ago, raf1212 said:

oj @Netduma Fraser, it's a pity to talk, you know that errors from the software 120 are present in 130, and that the desktop is a bit faster, it does not change anything, you start to pump the balloon on social media about ready software 3.0 because it is not sorry, I admit 3.0 it is for me all the time beta, and the constant and recurring bugs are proof of this

.130 didn't have any changes from us so that's why they have some of the same bugs. As mentioned in the topic due to our process changes we can get firmware out faster from now on

[robert27841]

Well my post kept getting removed from Fraser from NetDuma because I caught them in the lie’s about the firmware so I had to go on the Netgear support forum and Fraser from NetDuma but did not reply on my last post he never responded to my question? So I will ask here ,I received from the Netgear support said that they were waiting for NetDuma to release the new full version of the 3.0 NetDuma OS so are they lying 🤥 Fraser from NetDuma is Netgear lying to me is that what your trying to tell me. Answer my question was Netgear support lying to me ? 

this post will probably be removed and maybe banned if anyone see’s this post take a screenshot please for speaking the truth and I took screenshot from the Netgear support forum so everyone can see how much they have been trolling Netgear XR owner’s 

link: 

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Nighthawk-Pro-Gaming-DumaOS-3-0/XR700-DumaOs-3-0-firmware/td-p/2121942

[Netduma Fraser]

@robert27841 you have all the information you need in the topic and through my responses. If you do not wish to read them properly and make your own conclusions that is fine but it is clear you are wanting confrontation and I won't be providing that. 

[robert27841]

Here we go again Fraser from NetDuma why did you remove my screenshot’s off my post did you not anyone to see them there no memes so what is it that you don’t want the people to see just let the people decide and think 🧐 

[Netduma Fraser]

No need for pictures, it’s all available to read on the topic you have linked. Have a nice weekend!

[robert27841]

Yeah Fraser from NetDuma but people may not even have a Netgear account hell they my not have access to it so the people can see them here but you keep removing my post’s 

it doesn’t look good for you when you continue removing some of my post’s 

you also have a nice weekend 

[raf1212]

13 hours ago, robert27841 said:

Here we go again Fraser from NetDuma why did you remove my screenshot’s off my post did you not anyone to see them there no memes so what is it that you don’t want the people to see just let the people decide and think 🧐 

since the cooperation between netgear and netdum, everything goes wrong, and this is only because they wanted to earn money, the consumer is now bottled up with software that does not meet expectations and popular in social media what software is good and it is not,

[raf1212]

15 hours ago, Netduma Fraser said:

.130 didn't have any changes from us so that's why they have some of the same bugs. As mentioned in the topic due to our process changes we can get firmware out faster from now on

@Netduma Fraser then explain to me what is the point of releasing software that has not been corrected in this way and calling it official software, and how to explain social media posts about good software 3.0 ready as it is leaky like beta version 120

[Netduma Fraser]

3 hours ago, raf1212 said:

@Netduma Fraser then explain to me what is the point of releasing software that has not been corrected in this way and calling it official software, and how to explain social media posts about good software 3.0 ready as it is leaky like beta version 120

Netgear wanted to release that version and so they did, we're just focusing on making sure the next version will have fixes and improvements from us and now due to our new processes it should be easier than ever.

[robert27841]

@raf1212 has a point Fraser from NetDuma I quote from the Netgear Support forum Fraser said At any point in that process an issue could be found and that process then has to start over.

I thought 💭 you said Netgear if they find any issue they would not release the firmware you tell us at any point they couldn’t find any issues since there so many issues not fixed and Netgear still wanted to release it  WOW 😮 

[Netduma Fraser]

23 minutes ago, robert27841 said:

@raf1212 has a point Fraser from NetDuma I quote from the Netgear Support forum Fraser said At any point in that process an issue could be found and that process then has to start over.

I thought 💭 you said Netgear if they find any issue they would not release the firmware you tell us at any point they couldn’t find any issues since there so many issues not fixed and Netgear still wanted to release it  WOW 😮 

Yes that's how the process works. I don't have the exact reason they released the firmware, I can only assume they wanted more people to get their hands on 3.0 so more people can experience it and get more information from users on bugs they're investigating.

[Fuzy]

Personally, I think it's very gratifying that they finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. What is wrong with you? You should be happy!

[raf1212]

44 minutes ago, Fuzy said:

Personally, I think it's very gratifying that they finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. What is wrong with you? You should be happy!

@Fuzy You are so serious, I am not using xr500 for two months and everyone in the house is happy, because there is no internet disconnection and restarting this xr500 scrap, also wait another two years to fix the errors, I have already given myself peace, but I will look willingly and I will comment and I will express my opinion, because what is happening is very funny and I would like to watch netduma and netgar shoot each other in the knee with another leaked version of the software

[Fuzy]

19 minutes ago, raf1212 said:

@Fuzy You are so serious, I am not using xr500 for two months and everyone in the house is happy, because there is no internet disconnection and restarting this xr500 scrap, also wait another two years to fix the errors, I have already given myself peace, but I will look willingly and I will comment and I will express my opinion, because what is happening is very funny and I would like to watch netduma and netgar shoot each other in the knee with another leaked version of the software

If you find that it works best without it, then you don't need it. What are you looking for exactly?

[raf1212]

40 minutes ago, Fuzy said:

If you find that it works best without it, then you don't need it. What are you looking for exactly?

ha ha you are good, read with understanding, how would it not be I spent 300 euro on scrap xr500,   what about you   advocate 

[Fuzy]

1 minute ago, raf1212 said:

ha ha you are good, read with understanding, how would it not be I spent 300 euro on scrap xr500,   what about you   advocate 

It's marketing! Nobody forced you to buy it ... The thing I read in the post is that they are aware that there are improvements to be made and that they have found a way to do it! So that's cool!

 

[raf1212]

8 minutes ago, Fuzy said:

It's marketing! Nobody forced you to buy it ... The thing I read in the post is that they are aware that there are improvements to be made and that they have found a way to do it! So that's cool!

 

usually a scam in white gloves, I hope that someone will take care of it and write to the consumer protection law, because evidently the users of xr500.xr700.xr1000, R2 (beta) have been deceived in my opinion