rtw88

A repo for the newest Realtek rtlwifi codes.

This code will build on any kernel 4.19 and newer as long as the distro has not modified any of the kernel APIs. IF YOU RUN UBUNTU, YOU CAN BE ASSURED THAT THE APIs HAVE CHANGED. NO, I WILL NOT MODIFY THE SOURCE FOR YOU. YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!!!!!

This repository includes drivers for the following cards:

RTL8822BE, RTL8822CE, RTL8821CE, and RTL8723DE

If you are looking for a driver for chips such as RTL8188EE, RTL8192CE, RTL8192CU, RTL8192DE, RTL8192EE, RTL8192SE, RTL8723AE, RTL8723BE, or RTL8821AE, these should be provided by your kernel. If not, then you should go to the Backports Project (https://backports.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/Main_Page) to obtain the necessary code.

This repo has been brought up to date with the kernel code on Sep. 25, 2020.

The main changes are as follows:

The methods for obtaining DMA buffers has changed. This should have no effect.
The regulatory methods are changed. This may have some effect on users.
The firmware loading has been more resistent against timeouts.
The RX buffer size is increased.
Antenna selection code was modified. This change may help the low signal problems.
BlueTooth coexistence was modified.

When making these changes, I tried to watch for things that might be incompatible with older kernels. As this kind of updating in really boring, I might have missed something. Please let me know of build problems.

Installation instruction

Requirements

You will need to install "make", "gcc", "kernel headers", "kernel build essentials", and "git". You can install them with the following command, on Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install make gcc linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential git

If any of the packets above are not found check if your distro installs them like that.

Installation

For all distros:

git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88.git
cd rtw88
make
sudo make install

Blacklisting (needed if you want to use these modules)

Some distros provide RTL8723DE drivers. To use this driver, that one MUST be blacklisted. How to do that is left as an exercise as learning that will be very beneficial.

If your system has ANY conflicting drivers installed, you must blacklist them as well. For kernels 5.6 and newer, this will include drivers such as rtw88_xxxx. Here is a useful link on how to blacklist a module

Once you have reached this point, then reboot. Use the command lsmod | grep rtw and check if there are any conflicting drivers. The correct ones are:

rtw_8723de rtw_8723d rtw_8822be rtw_8822b rtw_8822ce rtw_8822c rtw_core and rtw_pci

If you have other modules installed, see if you blacklisted them correctly.

How to disable/enable a Kernel module

sudo modprobe -r rtw_8723de         #This unloads the module
sudo modprobe rtw_8723de            #This loads the module

Option configuration

If it turns out that your system needs one of the configuration options, then do the following:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/<dev_name>.conf

There, enter the line below:

options <device_name> <<driver_option_name>>=<value>

The available options for rtw_pci are disable_msi and disable_aspm. The available options for rtw_core are lps_deep_mode, support_bf, and debug_mask.

When your kernel changes, then you need to do the following:

cd ~/rtw88
git pull
make
sudo make install

Remember, this MUST be done whenever you get a new kernel - no exceptions.

These drivers will not build for kernels older than 4.14. If you must use an older kernel, submit a GitHub issue with a listing of the build errors. Without the errors, the issue will be ignored. I am not a mind reader.

When you have problems where the driver builds and loads correctly, but fails to work, a GitHub issue is NOT the best place to report it. I have no idea of the internal workings of any of the chips, and the Realtek engineers who do will not read these issues. To reach them, send E-mail to linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org. Include a detailed description of any messages in the kernel logs and any steps that you have taken to analyze or fix the problem. If your description is not complete, you are unlikely to get any satisfaction.

masterzorag / rtw88