rtw88

A repo for the newest Realtek wifi 5 codes.

The code in this repo is kept up to date with the code in the wireless-next repository. The only difference is the changes that are required to compensate for kernel API changes with time.

Note: Wireless-next contains the code that will be in the NEXT kernel. At the moment, kernel 6.3 is released, the kernel mainline repo has 6.4-rcX, and wireless-next has the code that will be in 6.5! As long as possible, that relationship will be kept!

This code will build on any kernel 5.4 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:

RTW8822BE, RTW8822CE, RTW8821CE, and RTW8723DE (All PCIe) RTW8822BU, RTW8822CU, RTW8821CU, and RTW8723DU (All USB) RTW8822BS, RTW8822CS, RTW8821CS, and RTW8723DS (All SDIO)

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.

Please let me know of build problems.

If you see a line such as: make[1]: *** /lib/modules/5.17.5-300.fc36.x86_64/build: No such file or directory. Stop. that indicates that you have NOT installed the kernel headers. Use the following instructions for that step.

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

For Fedora: You can install them with the following command

sudo dnf install kernel-headers kernel-devel
sudo dnf group install "C Development Tools and Libraries"

For openSUSE: Install necessary headers with

sudo zypper install make gcc kernel-devel kernel-default-devel git libopenssl-devel

For Arch: After installing the necessary kernel headers and base-devel,

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/rtw88-dkms-git.git
cd rtw88-dkms-git
makepkg -sri

If any of the packages 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

Installation with module signing for SecureBoot

For all distros:

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

You will be promted a password, please keep it in mind and use it in next steps. Reboot to activate the new installed module. In the MOK managerment screen:

Select "Enroll key" and enroll the key created by above sign-install step
When promted, enter the password you entered when create sign key.
If you enter wrong password, your computer won't not bebootable. In this case, use the BOOT menu from your BIOS, to boot into your OS then do below steps:

sudo mokutil --reset

Restart your computer Use BOOT menu from BIOS to boot into your OS In the MOK managerment screen, select reset MOK list Reboot then retry from the step make sign-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_8723du rtw_8723d rtw_8822be rtw_8822bu rtw8822bs rtw_8822b rtw_8822ce rtw_8822cu rtw_8822cs rtw_8821ce rtw_8821cu rtw_8821cs rtw_8822c rtw_8723ds rtw_core and rtw_pci

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

Problem with recovery after sleep or hibernation

Some BIOSs have trouble changing power state from D3hot to D0. If you have this problem, then

sudo cp suspend_rtw8822be /usr/lib/systemd/system-sleep/.

That script will unload the driver before sleep or hibernation, and reload it following resumption. f you have some device other than the 8822be, edit the script before copying it.

How to disable/enable a Kernel module

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

Due to some pecularities in the modprobe utility, two steps are required.

sudo modprobe rtw_8723de            #This loads the module

Only a single modprobe call is required to load.

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.

randolf / rtw88