Rtw89 [FreeBSD WIKI]

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====== Realtek RTW89 ======

===== Prolog =====

**//Driver is in main.  Disconnected from build so far.//**

Support for Realtek's rtw89 driver.
The driver should auto-load once committed,  if not try to load %%%%''%%kldload if_rtw89%%''%%%%.

===== FAQ =====

  * Q: Does this driver also support RTL8821AE? A: No.  This is part of a different generation of driver support in Linux (rtlwifi) which is GPL-only and a totally different can of worms.  It would more fit rtwn in %%FreeBSD%% I think but no one was working on that from what I know.\\ 

  * Q: What about RTL8821/RTL8822? A: No.  See [[WiFi/Rtw88]] for those.

  * Q: I am running 13.1-RELEASE but I cannot find the driver? A: That is because at the time the release was published the driver was not yet committed to even main (14-CURRENT).  Let me know if you want to test.\\  A: Once the driver will be in main it is likely that it will be merged to stable/13 and hopefully be available for 13.2-RELEASE.\\  A: It is unlikely that we will provide an out-of-tree version for 13.1-RELEASE.\\ 

  * Q: Something does not work?  What can I do? A: Patience or debug.  Drop me or wireless a note and I will add more content here.\\ 

  * Q: This fails and prints out errors. A: Do you have more than 4GB of RAM?  See currently known issues below.\\  A: Otherwise let me know.\\ 

  * Q: It seems I cannot associate? A: That was the last state when I checked.  Someone needs to figure out why.  I have ideas if you want to help let me know!\\ 

  * Q: How different is this from the Linux driver? A: At the time of writing: 14 files changed, 209 insertions(+) (and about 1/3rd should be to use busdma functions).\\ 

===== Currently known issue =====

  * Not fully functional yet; scanning works already.  TX likely needs a bit more work.

  * Does not work on machines with more than 4GB of physical memory.  Likely busdma+%%LinuxKPI%% problem to be investigated. [[https://reviews.freebsd.org/D34715|D34715]] has a change to gather data (which is in freebsd/main by now). You need to boot with %%%%''%%compat.linuxkpi.skb.mem_limit=1%%''%%%% in loader.conf to limit DMA to 32bit ([[https://lists.freebsd.org/archives/freebsd-wireless/2022-May/000500.html|announcement on freebsd-wireless for more info]]).

Older solutions were: try %%%%''%%hw.physmem="4G"%%''%%%% in loader.conf and see if rtw88 starts working.  If it does, please let me know along with PCI IDs (and if you want dmesg).
Alternatively and possibly a better approach as it does not limit your memory is to apply [[https://people.freebsd.org/~bz/wireless/20220408-01-lkpi-skb-rtw88-4g.diff|this patch]], rebuild, and re-install your kernel and see if that works (please also let us know).

===== Support Matrix =====

Which chipset was tested?

| Card | PCI IDs | Current state |
| RTL8852AE | 0x10ec/0x8852/0x17aa/0x4852 | ?? See above |
| RTL8852CE | 0x10ec/0xc852/0x????/0x???? | ?? Recently added in 2022, not seen HW yet. |

===== PRs =====

  * [[https://bugs.freebsd.org/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=273621]] meta-bug for rtw88/rtw89.  Please check there first before reporting issues.

===== Contact =====

You can reach me at (bz at %%FreeBSD%%.ORG) or via the freebsd-wireless mailing list.
If possible add "[rtw89]" to the subject.
Let me kindly ask you to give me some time to reply and help; I am not doing this full-time but I will try to acknowledge your email as soon as I can.

===== USB Support =====

Is / will there be?

  * [[https://forum.openwrt.org/t/dlink-dwa-x1850-wifi6-usb-devices/|OpenWRT thread]] <del>* rtw89-usb - keep an eye on https://github.com/neojou/rtw89-usb/ and forked repos.  Seems GONE.</del> <del>* rtw89-usb - keep an eye on https://github.com/kimocoder/rtw89-usb-1 and https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw89-usb  -- useless?</del>
  * rtl8852au - https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8852au
  * rtw89-usb - if anyone wants me to have a look at some point, here's a device apparently needing it https://smile.amazon.de/D-Link-DWA-X1850-Adapater-802-11ax-kompatibel/dp/B00PS0PX5E .

===== Random Links =====

To keep track and references to some problems or other significant changes during development / testing:

  * [[https://lwn.net/ml/linux-wireless/20210820043538.12424-1-pkshih@realtek.com/|PATCH v6 00/24 rtw89: add Realtek 802.11ax driver]]

===== History =====

  * 20220909 - driver committed to main (disconnected from build)
  * 20220322 - driver published with a snapshot

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{{tag>WiFi}}