u/RetardedManOnTheWeb

So I have an ASUS RT-AC67P that I want to port OpenWRT to, but the router is essentially a plastic shell with no externally accessible serial/UART port. I can't find a non-destructive way to open this router and access the serial/UART console.

I only have 1 of these on hand, and I am not really willing to basically crack/dremel the case open or buy another one of these cheapo routers in the case it dies in the process of me cracking it open.

I understand that having access to a serial/UART console is important for this type of development/porting as a wrongly made firmware would probably break network connectivity and force me to use serial or UART in order to do recovery or flash a known good firmware.

Are there any particular good practices or tips and tricks I can follow in order to reduce my chances of having to use the serial connection?

So I have an old ASUS RT-AC67P sitting in my closet, and I want to get OpenWRT on the thing just so I can have a 3rd router to use as a fall back or to tinker with. However, looking at the firmware selector, that model doesn't show up as an option. I assume it is unsupported.

I did find 2 similar models, the RT-AC65P and the RT-AC68U. Both of those models seem pretty similar to each other and to the RT-AC67P. All 3 are WiFi 5, with each having 5 Gigabit ports, 4 LAN and 1 WAN. They also have 128 MB of flash. All also have at least 1 USB port. However, the 65P and the 68U both have 256 MB of RAM while the 67P has 128 MB.

Considering that they look and have pretty similar specs, how difficult would it be to get OpenWRT support on my 67P? Would love to have this router be more useful.