Hope to get rtl8852be wifi driver support for kernel 6.1

[Gypsophila .]

RTL8852BE is the official recommended Wifi module for Orange Pie 5 PLUS, but it is not available in Armbian 24.5.1 Linux Vendor Kernel 6.1 without a driver module. Hope the official driver will be added to the 6.1 kernel. Thanks.

[Werner]

Tried with modprobe rtw89?

[Gypsophila .]

Unfortunately, "sudo modprobe rtw89" didn't work.

It returned this with error: 

"modprobe: FATAL: Module rtw89 not found in directory /lib/modules/6.1.43-vendor-rk35xx"

I think it may be lost 8852BE kernel module?

In directory /lib/modules/6.1.43-vendor-rk35xx/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89, I find "rtw89_8852c.ko", "rtw89_8852ae.ko", "rtw89_8852ce.ko", just without "rtw89_8852be.ko".

[Werner]

Odd. It is enabled in config:https://github.com/armbian/build/blob/aa2d4696cac76148d01977f63cc831e492c0f7a2/config/kernel/linux-rk35xx-legacy.config#L2945

 

Have you installed armbian-firmware-full? Maybe just the firmware is missing.

[Gypsophila .]

I have armbian-firmware-full installed. By the way, the config you mentioned in github is linux-rk35xx-legacy(kernel 5.10), not the linux-rk35xx-vendor(kernel 6.1) used in Armbian 24.5.1 Stable. 

This topic has also mentioned about the lost rtl8852be driver: No WiFi on latest image - Orange Pi 5 Plus - Armbian Community Forums

Spoiler

 

Thanks!

[Tony3]

Then compile it by yourself?

[GicaContra]

Hello everyone!

I have an orange pi 5 plus with the official WiFi module and I have installed thr armbian-firmware-full, but I still can't find the wifi module driver:

 

user@orangepi5-plus:~$ ls /usr/lib/modules/6.1.43-vendor-rk35xx/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw89
rtw89_8852ae.ko  rtw89_8852ce.ko  rtw89_core.ko
rtw89_8852a.ko   rtw89_8852c.ko   rtw89_pci.ko
user@orangepi5-plus:~$ ls /usr/lib/firmware/rtw89/
rtw8851b_fw.bin  rtw8852b_fw-1.bin  rtw8852c_fw.bin
rtw8852a_fw.bin  rtw8852b_fw.bin    rtw8922a_fw.bin
user@orangepi5-plus:~$ 
 

I thought it was supposed to be added to the vendor kernel:

https://github.com/armbian/linux-rockchip/pull/192

 

 

My kernel version:

user@orangepi5-plus:~$ uname -r
6.1.43-vendor-rk35xx
 

Am I missing something here?

[Gypsophila .]

Quote

I thought it was supposed to be added to the vendor kernel:

https://github.com/armbian/linux-rockchip/pull/192

I think It's also wired after that PR the 8852BE driver is still not added into the OS build.

Now I have compile the the DKMS driver by myself, you can simply install it through APT.

Download here

sudo apt install -f ./rtw8852be-dkms_1.0.0_all.deb

Rember to turn off system auto-suspend: 

sudo systemctl mask sleep.target suspend.target hibernate.target hybrid-sleep.target

 Good luck!

[GicaContra]

@Gypsophila . I tried with your file, but while the driver is loaded just fine and the WiFi card seems to be running, when scanning for WiFi networks, no networks are found.

I know it should be working as I've tried with the edge kernel and it was working properly.

Any ideas?

 

Edited July 12, 2024 by GicaContra

[Gypsophila .]

@GicaContra I also noticed this problem: first boot can turn on the wifi but can not connect to AP. After install the DKMS driver ,try to reboot twice then it should be worked fine. 

Edge kernel is 6.10, the 8852be driver is included in the mainline kernel about 6.2, so it should work, but edge kernel will lost many hardware supports on the board, it's not recommended. 

[GicaContra]

@Gypsophila . That did the trick. Thank you very much!

[bolet75]

Success!

 

The repository is at https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw8852be and has detailed instructions to compile and install.

I followed the instructions and have WiFi working again on kernel 6.1.43-vendor-rk35xx

The only difficulty was to find the correct headers package: linux-headers-vendor-rk35xx

 

My OPi5Plus has the additional WiFi PCIe card, which was visible with the previous vendor kernel version, 5.10.160-legacy-rk35xx or package linux-headers-legacy-rk35xx.

Though managing both cards used to be buggy, I only see one card now. Not perfect but enough for my current needs.

Edited July 12, 2024 by bolet75

[Efe Çetin]

It won't be requiring any external packages soon -> https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/6947/files

[bolet75]

On 7/14/2024 at 4:56 PM, Efe Çetin said:

It won't be requiring any external packages soon -> https://github.com/armbian/build/pull/6947/files

Great news! Any hope to have both on-board and pci-e cards recognised as they used to be in 5.10.160-legacy?

[Czizus]

If you need the RTL8852BE as a 5 GHz access point at 80 MHz on the vendor kernel
(6.1.115-vendor-rk35xx): in-kernel rtw89_8852be gave me a working AP only at 20 MHz.
Realtek's own driver (8852be.ko) does 80 MHz fine, but Armbian ships it only in the
5.10 branches, so I ported it to 6.1:

https://github.com/maciejpoczek-lab/rtl8852be-ap-rk3588

It's a small patch against linux-rockchip rk-5.10-rkr8 plus DKMS, modprobe and hostapd
settings. Tested on Orange Pi 5 Plus, Armbian 26.8.3 vendor kernel, hostapd 2.10, AP
mode only: channel 48 / 80 MHz, 12 min with a phone, 0 disconnects, ~487/321 Mb/s TCP.

Two things worth knowing even if you use lwfinger/rtw8852be instead:
- clients got rejected (assoc status 16) when the primary channel was 40; start on
  48 with [HT40-] so hostapd's 20/40 scan can only swap to 44, never 40;
- kernel package upgrades wipe custom overlays in /boot/dtb/rockchip/overlay/ —
  move yours to /boot/overlay-user and use user_overlays= in armbianEnv.txt.

Provided as is, one board tested.