Action Item #289
open
Port RTL8188CUS driver to PiBox
70%
Description
The kernel version of the 8192cu and r8712u, which are suggested to support the 8188cus, do not work with the low cost 8188CUS-based low profile and low cost dongles available from Amazon and Adafruit. There is an updated open source driver from RealTek that supports up to kernel version 3.9 (with a patched version for 3.10.x for Ubuntu also available) that I could try to integrate into the PiBox build.
I need this driver because these dongles are the likely candidates for use with PiBox Media Server. Other RealTek dongles work, such as those based on the rtl8187 driver, but I haven't found those available in low profile form factors and at low costs (sub $12/unit in single unit pricing).
Note: Amazon's page says that is an Ralink RT5370, but it's not. It's a RealTek 8188cus.
Updated by Hammel over 10 years ago
- Target version changed from 1.0 - Atreides to 0.9.0
I really want this for the 1.0 release, so I need to push it into 0.9 to make sure it gets done.
Updated by Hammel over 10 years ago
- Status changed from New to In Progress
- % Done changed from 0 to 10
A visual scan of the build for the 3.10+ port for Ubuntu seems to show that if I add a section specific to PiBox in the Makefile, using the other platform-specific sections as examples, I should be able to cross compile the driver fairly easily.
This is an example section that I can modify:
ifeq ($(CONFIG_PLATFORM_TI_DM365), y) EXTRA_CFLAGS += -DCONFIG_LITTLE_ENDIAN -DCONFIG_PLATFORM_TI_DM365 ARCH := arm CROSS_COMPILE := /home/cnsd4/Appro/mv_pro_5.0/montavista/pro/devkit/arm/v5t_le/bin/arm_v5t_le- KVER := 2.6.18 KSRC := /home/cnsd4/Appro/mv_pro_5.0/montavista/pro/devkit/lsp/ti-davinci/linux-dm365 endifNear the top I need to add
- CONFIG_PLATFORM_PIBOX
I'm not sure about the -D platform option. CROSS_COMPILE points to the PiBox toolchain. KVER can be left off, I think (other platform specific sections don't have it). KSRC points to the kernel tree.
Adding this to the Makefile should be enough to cross compile for PiBox. I just have to try it.
Updated by Hammel over 10 years ago
- % Done changed from 10 to 50
That was easier than I thought, at least to compile. Here is the new entry for the Makefile:
ifeq ($(CONFIG_PLATFORM_PIBOX), y) EXTRA_CFLAGS += -DCONFIG_LITTLE_ENDIAN ARCH := arm CROSS_COMPILE := arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi- KSRC := /home/mjhammel/src/ximba/raspberrypi/src/../bld/linux-rpi-3.10.y endif
Then I just disable all other CONFIG_PLATFORM_xxx and enable CONFIG_PLATFORM_PIBOX.
The compiled driver is 8192cu.ko. The make install won't work for my purposes so I'll need to create an opkg for it. However, I need to test the driver first with the dongles on the RPi target. If it works then I'll create a metabuild and opkg for the driver.
Updated by Hammel over 10 years ago
- % Done changed from 50 to 70
Created a metabuild for the driver that generates an opkg. Seems to work. Driver loads on the target but I haven't tested it yet with either of the dongles. When successfully tested then this issue can be closed.
Updated by Hammel over 10 years ago
- Priority changed from Urgent to Low
- Target version changed from 0.9.0 to 2.0 - Harkonnen
Tested the driver with dongles purchased from Amazon and Adafruit. Neither worked. This is put on the back burner for now. I'll use either Atheros dongles or Ralink or Realtek 8187.
Moving this to a much lower priority.
Updated by Hammel over 1 year ago
- Priority changed from Low to Urgent
- Target version changed from 2.0 - Harkonnen to 3.0 - Corrino
- Severity changed from 03 - Medium to 05 - Very Low
Retest with latest RPi kernel - this issue is so old that those drivers may just work now.