Hi,
I trying to breath alive my 6E AX dongle under Fedora 39, and I have the driver from the manufacturer, but my trials were unsuccessful. The official linux driver from the manufacturer is here: Realtek RTL8832CU USB 3.0 WiFi 6E AX5400M WiFi Adapter Drivers (Windows 11/10) | Device Drivers - but somehow the device is still listed as Unknown.
Any advice? TIA
Linux drivers need to be updated for newer kernels. A site that doesn’t tell you which kernels are supported is at best an “attractive nuisance” and should be avoided. The Linux Hardware Database (LHDB) collect probes from actual linux users and is your best source of information about what hardware actually “works” (for at least some users). The LHDB entry for your device says:
We have not found a driver for the device in any Linux kernel versions up to 6.3 according to the LKDDb.
All for probes for your device show as “failed”.
How can I aid in alltogether or that driver get to be included in upcoming kernel?
Instead of waiting for a suitable driver, which has been shown to not be available yet, the dongle could easily be replaced. They are relatively inexpensive and you could select one that is known to be supported on fedora.
My suggestion – get a replacement dongle with an intel chipset since almost 100% are functional on linux.
Several of the realtek devices are known to have problems and non-functional drivers.
It is up to the vendor whether they keep drivers as proprietary or release sources to kernel developers. Ordinary users have little impact. There have been some reverse engineering efforts, but that risks legal entanglements.
Large enterprises that deploy linux in cubicle farms and call centers do require in-kernel drivers, which explains why Intel has good in-kernel driver support, but even then, Intel relies on system vendors for BIOS-level support and firmware distribution.
Can you suggest one a good ax (6E) dongle? Sadly my Dell 3500 2-in-1 has no replacement to the Canyon Intel cards, neither drivers work correctly, and thats why I have purchased that Realtek, but seems it was a mistake. TIA
Unfortunately I cannot recommend anything.
Most advertised dongles do not show the chipset contained, but only the mfgr and model.
Additionally without testing it would be like throwing a dart at a dart board blindfolded – pure guessing.
There are some who have dongles that are supported and maybe they would offer advice. I cannot.
An extended search on amazon.com turned up this one but YMMV.
Amazon.com
I think I have noticed a better option, but after that clearly don’t understand why don’t we aid linux-hardware somehow - and why not every install uploads their results. Basically after people upload the probe results, after the list - makes suggestions to possible UPGRADES. That means, I can compare with others configs, what they have already with better compatibility under linux, and no more needed to ask hw hunting questions. It seems, I have better solutions with LTE modem, and wifi, and I can have much more compatible portable machine that will not have the current limitations, and hiccups. I think this should be promoted, and suggested that linux-hardware probing must be run, as part of the diagnostic locally - we can pair up working hw with working drivers locally too as part of our system.
There are vendors who tell you if they support linux. Plugable used to support linux, but their latest USB dongles explicitly say they don’t support linux.
Add support for Mediatek Wi-Fi 7 driver for the mt7925 chipset (USB and PCIe). Note comments about Realtek.
Looks like the previous 6E mt7921 chipset is already suported:
Netgear A8000 / AXE3000 reportedly works with mt7921u module from 6.5 kernels in Linux Mint.
LHWDB doesn’t have any probes for 6.5 kernels. On Fedora 39:
% modinfo mt7921u
filename: /lib/modules/6.6.9-200.fc39.x86_64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7921/mt7921u.ko.xz
license: Dual BSD/GPL
author: Lorenzo Bianconi <lorenzo@kernel.org>
firmware: mediatek/WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin
firmware: mediatek/WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1.bin
rhelversion: 9.99
alias: usb:v0846p9060d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias: usb:v3574p6211d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
alias: usb:v0E8Dp7961d*dc*dsc*dp*icFFiscFFipFFin*
depends: mt76-usb,mt7921-common,mt76,mt792x-usb,mt76-connac-lib,mt792x-lib
retpoline: Y
intree: Y
name: mt7921u
You should check LHDB for probes from the other two vendors (3574 and 0E8D).
Probes should be controlled by individual users:
large deployments would have to disable probes to avoid creating 1000’s of identical entries
large enterprises and individual “activists” may be targeted by nation-state level hacking groups. Revealing hardware details in a way that can be traced to the user could be used by such groups to compromise a machine.