MT7915E Support - Armbian

[oneofthemany]

I have updated the armbian-firmware to full package:
 

root@rock-3a:/lib/firmware/mediatek# ls -la /lib/firmware/mediatek/ | grep mt7915
-rw-rw-r--   1 root root    3584 Feb 17 22:23 mt7915_eeprom.bin
-rw-rw-r--   1 root root    3584 Feb 17 22:23 mt7915_eeprom_dbdc.bin
-rw-rw-r--   1 root root  144544 Feb 17 22:23 mt7915_rom_patch.bin
-rw-rw-r--   1 root root  116160 Feb 17 22:23 mt7915_wa.bin
-rw-rw-r--   1 root root 1260960 Feb 17 22:23 mt7915_wm.bin

 but my Mediatek 7915e seems to still be unsupported:

 

root@rock-3a:/lib/firmware/mediatek# lspci
0000:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd RK3568 Remote Signal Processor (rev 01)
0000:01:00.0 Unclassified device [0002]: MEDIATEK Corp. MT7915E 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
0002:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd RK3568 Remote Signal Processor (rev 01)

Will I need to bake my own custom kernel using the compile script: https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_Build-Preparation/

I am running the following build and kernel:
 

root@rock-3a:/lib/firmware/mediatek# uname -a
Linux rock-3a 6.1.11-rk35xx #23.02.2 SMP PREEMPT Sat Feb 18 00:05:58 UTC 2023 aarch64 aarch64 aarch64 GNU/Linux
root@rock-3a:/lib/firmware/mediatek# cat /etc/os-release 
PRETTY_NAME="Armbian 23.02.2 Jammy"
NAME="Ubuntu"
VERSION_ID="22.04"
VERSION="22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish)"
VERSION_CODENAME=jammy
ID=ubuntu
ID_LIKE=debian
HOME_URL="https://www.armbian.com"
SUPPORT_URL="https://forum.armbian.com"
BUG_REPORT_URL="https://www.armbian.com/bugs"
PRIVACY_POLICY_URL="https://www.armbian.com"
UBUNTU_CODENAME=jammy
ARMBIAN_PRETTY_NAME="Armbian 23.08.0-trunk jammy"

 

Support seems have been available since 5.10 kernel:

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7915/?h=v5.10.186

Any help would be appreciated

Edited August 7, 2023 by oneofthemany

[Igor]

25 minutes ago, oneofthemany said:

Any help would be appreciated

 

• https://www.armbian.com/participate/ (register to Jira, open a ticket similar to this one https://armbian.atlassian.net/browse/AR-1803
• assign yourself to AR-1803 and the one you will be creating for MT7915E
• solve both in one PR https://docs.armbian.com/Process_Contribute/ (specific instructions on what you need to do are in AR-1803)

Its a great and simple way to make a contribution to the open source project. Once merged, changes will be automatically pushed to beta.armbian.com within <24h.

[oneofthemany]

@Igor - cant seem to register

[Igor]

31 minutes ago, oneofthemany said:

cant seem to register

 

Registration https://id.atlassian.com/login is covered by Jira software. I just tried with some Gmail account and it worked ...

Anyway, sent an invite and this should work ... 

[oneofthemany]

@Igor

I am getting an error when using the compile.sh:
 

/var/mnt/ubuntu/build/lib/functions/compilation/kernel-debs.sh: command substitution: line 282: syntax error near unexpected token `then'
[💥] Exiting with error 2 [ at /var/mnt/ubuntu/build/lib/functions/compilation/kernel-debs.sh:1

 in relationship to this section of code:
 

if [[ "${script}" == "preinst" ]]; then
	cat <<- HOOK_FOR_REMOVE_VFAT_BOOT_FILES
		if is_boot_dev_vfat; then
			rm -f /boot/System.map* /boot/config* /boot/vmlinuz* /boot/$image_name /boot/uImage
		fi
	HOOK_FOR_REMOVE_VFAT_BOOT_FILES
fi

 

[Igor]

9 minutes ago, oneofthemany said:

I am getting an error when using the compile.sh

I changed what you suppose to change, recompile, it works. It also works for many people and many automated scenarios. Strange ... but deep hidden problems absolutely can exist. Open a ticket here: https://github.com/armbian/build/issues and provide everything that is asked in that wizard. Then we might understand why you have issues.

[oneofthemany]

@Igor

Does this mean that 6.1.X kernel will now support MT7915E within 22.08? and I dont need to compile myself?

[Igor]

1 minute ago, oneofthemany said:

Does this mean that 6.1.X kernel will now support MT7915E within 22.08? and I dont need to compile myself?

 

No. This task was assigned to general public as we are completely overloaded with work. If you (anyone) will not provide a PR, this will not get it. I don't need this feature.

[oneofthemany]

it looks like it is committed in 6.5 though

thanks for your confirmation that it works!!!

 

also turns out that your script doesn't like being run in a toolbox instance of ubuntu 22.04  . so nothing to be concerned about my last

Edited August 9, 2023 by oneofthemany

[oneofthemany]

@Igor I have used the compile tool to bake a new kernel for the rock3a and the device is just flashing blue and wont boot.

I have tried server and desktop and its just the same:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title:          Armbian 23.08.0-trunk Rock-3a current
Kernel:         Linux 6.1.44
Build date:     09.08.2023
Builder rev:    35feddc

 

The only thing I edited in the kernel config was was the MT7917E to M

 

Any ideas? - should I try debian 11 as opposed to Jammy?

Edited August 9, 2023 by oneofthemany

[Igor]

2 hours ago, oneofthemany said:

also turns out that your script doesn't like being run in a toolbox instance of ubuntu 22.04

This script works (almost) on any .deb OS and also on Windows / WSL, x86 or arm64. Build system is containerised and container inside container is calling for troubles  

 

18 minutes ago, oneofthemany said:

The only thing I edited in the kernel config was was the MT7917E to M

OK. Perhaps rather focus on this part and try to make a PR for both WiFi chips. Enabling this module is certainly not a reason why board doesn't boot. It can be your build host or there is some f* up in around u-boot. What about nightly / rolling releases from bottom of the page - that is fresh https://www.armbian.com/rock-3a/ Do you have a serial console perhaps?

 

18 minutes ago, oneofthemany said:

I have used the compile tool to bake a new kernel for the rock3a and the device is just flashing blue and wont boot.

 

First build system didn't work on weird host, now image doesn't work. Well, I don't have this hardware, can't check. Perhaps 
@vamzi @catalinii @ZazaBr @amazingfate can provide some hints - is latest build working well or not.

P.S.
As you can see, in software development, we can easily blow a day achieve nothing (except learning for those that don't know this)  

[oneofthemany]

its cool I have just flashed it with debian and its up and running and its all good:

 

super@rock-3a:~$ iw dev
phy#0
        Interface wlp1s0
                ifindex 3
                wdev 0x1
                addr 00:0a:52:08:ad:fa
                type managed
                txpower 20.00 dBm
                multicast TXQ:
                        qsz-byt qsz-pkt flows   drops   marks   overlmt hashcol tx-bytes        tx-packets
                        0       0       0       0       0       0       0       0               0
super@rock-3a:~$ lspci
0000:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd RK3568 Remote Signal Processor (rev 01)
0000:01:00.0 Unclassified device [0002]: MEDIATEK Corp. MT7915E 802.11ax PCI Express Wireless Network Adapter
0002:00:00.0 PCI bridge: Rockchip Electronics Co., Ltd RK3568 Remote Signal Processor (rev 01)
super@rock-3a:~$ dmesg | grep 7915
[    2.891786] pci 0000:01:00.0: [14c3:7915] type 00 class 0x000280
[   13.721849] mt7915e 0000:01:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[   13.918517] mt7915e 0000:01:00.0: HW/SW Version: 0x8a108a10, Build Time: 20220929104113a
[   13.945336] mt7915e 0000:01:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20220929104145
[   13.985161] mt7915e 0000:01:00.0: WA Firmware Version: DEV_000000, Build Time: 20220929104205
[   14.343207] mt7915e 0000:01:00.0 wlp1s0: renamed from wlan0

 

[Igor]

1 hour ago, oneofthemany said:

its cool I have just flashed it with debian and its up and running and its all good:

So you managed to build a good image after all?

[oneofthemany]

It's not particularly stable, as it won't reboot properly and I have to manually pull the plug to get it to come back up, but for what I'm using it for it should be ok

[Igor]

1 hour ago, oneofthemany said:

It's not particularly stable

 

That is off topic. But if you brought that up - I show you opportunity to help changing precisely that problem, to help yourself and others that helps you with very little problem, where you can't say "I don't know, its too hard", as this is the only way things can improve. Armbian team, people you hate because they don't provide you top software, lost 100 hours every day, donations covers perhaps 3-5 minutes. Everything else we need to cover with our private resources. This also bring a lot of FOSS predators they are stealing in organised manner, including vendors. Some are playing very dirty. If few people would add their small contribution, like this one, without me spending hours and hours trying to convince you to help yourself, that changes a lot. 

 

[oneofthemany]

It's not a criticism of your development, far from it, I'm very pleased with Armbian and it's device support.

 

I potentially need to investigate further and if I find anything I'll be sure to let you know