23 replies to this topic

[WanWizard]

I can't say, but I think it is driver dependent.

 

This driver is made for desktops, with all sorts of features like AP mode. Like it is suggested in that issue, someone needs to make a stripped version with only client support.

 

The latest generation boxes have this on board:

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:c82c Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 802.11ac NIC

which according to my AP is connected using Wifi 5, 800Mbps. And this works fine, but its driver is also a rediculous size:

Module                  Size  Used by
88x2cu               2917383  0
cfg80211              436188  1 88x2cu

but appearently it doesn't claim this much virtual memory at startup.

 

Maybe you can fool it by creating a large swap file, if you have reasonably fast local storage available?

 

Or if all else fails. you could always go for a wireless bridge, and connect it to the ethernet port?

[zendagi]

Hello,
I'm already using a wifi 5 device Archer T3U Plus which works very well with the 88x2bu driver for a maximum theoretical bitrate of 867.
I wanted to switch to wifi 6 to increase the bitrate and stabilise the connection as the router is behind a load-bearing wall.
I'm going to wait for the Archer TX20U Nano to arrive before doing another test.

Edited by zendagi, 24 June 2024 - 11:31.

[Pr2]

Hello,

 

Be careful that STB is not a PC where you easily can download and install driver. For the "open linux based" world it is the good will of developer and lots of hardware knowledge to port the kernel driver to make new devices supported. It can take monts/years before it can exists.

So it is often better to stick with "old" device very well supported than expecting to purchase the very latest version to connect to a STB.

[WanWizard]

It's worse.

 

For most devices, drivers are developed for current kernel versions, current at the time the device is developed. If you're lucky, they start with a copy of another driver, that may have some support for older kernels.

 

But the majority of the STB kernels are from 2016 (most HiSilicon boxes) or older (VU+ uses 3.14, which is from March 2014, so over 10 years old).

 

Currently linux is at version 6, backporting code over 3 major linux releases is essentially completely rewriting the drivers, which nobody is willing to do.

 

It would be far easier to update the kernels of the box ( like Edision used to do ), as that would only require the platform drivers to be updated, but since they are closed source and under NDA, only the manufacturers can do that.