2008-11-04 13:01:37

by Wilson Ribeiro

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Realtek wireless 8187se

Hi people,

i recently bought a MSI Wind and it came with a wireless nic
rtl8187se, is there support on current stable kernel for that wireless
card?

Thanks,

--
Wilson Ribeiro
Consultor de Tecnologia da Informa=E7=E3o
e-mail: [email protected]
phone: 55 21 34117748
mobile: 55 21 82424280


2008-11-04 18:02:25

by Larry Finger

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

Stefanik G=E1bor wrote:
>=20
> Can you check the actual print on the chip itself? "RTL8187L" and
> "RTL8187B" are supported currently. Also, what is the USB device ID o=
f
> the chip? 0x8187, 0x8189, 0x8197 and 0x8198 are known to work in the
> latest preview kernels.
>=20

Both work with 2.6.27.

Larry

2008-11-06 13:46:09

by John W. Linville

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 10:02:14AM -0800, Larry Finger wrote:
> Stefanik G=E1bor wrote:
> >=20
> > Can you check the actual print on the chip itself? "RTL8187L" and
> > "RTL8187B" are supported currently. Also, what is the USB device ID=
of
> > the chip? 0x8187, 0x8189, 0x8197 and 0x8198 are known to work in th=
e
> > latest preview kernels.
> >=20
>=20
> Both work with 2.6.27.

IIRC, 8187se is a PCI device.

John
--=20
John W. Linville Linux should be at the core
[email protected] of your literate lifestyle.

2008-11-04 16:52:41

by Gábor Stefanik

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 2:01 PM, Wilson Ribeiro <[email protected]> wrote=
:
> Hi people,
>
> i recently bought a MSI Wind and it came with a wireless nic
> rtl8187se, is there support on current stable kernel for that wireles=
s
> card?
>
> Thanks,
>
> --
> Wilson Ribeiro
> Consultor de Tecnologia da Informa=E7=E3o
> e-mail: [email protected]
> phone: 55 21 34117748
> mobile: 55 21 82424280
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-wirel=
ess" in
> the body of a message to [email protected]
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>

Can you check the actual print on the chip itself? "RTL8187L" and
"RTL8187B" are supported currently. Also, what is the USB device ID of
the chip? 0x8187, 0x8189, 0x8197 and 0x8198 are known to work in the
latest preview kernels.

--=20
Vista: [V]iruses, [I]ntruders, [S]pyware, [T]rojans and [A]dware. :-)

2008-12-16 02:41:17

by Jason Self

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Dec 15, 2008, at 5:26 PM, "John W. Linville"
<[email protected]> wrote:

> Clearly you haven't looked at the driver from the vendor... :-)
>
> I have acquired an MSI Wind equipped with this device, I have
> multiple variations of the vendor driver to support the hardware, and
> I have a datasheet the covers at least some of the hardware involved.
> I'm working on it...

Why not share your work?

2008-12-15 21:55:30

by Gábor Stefanik

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 10:29 PM, Jason Self <[email protected]> wro=
te:
> On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 4:52 PM, Stefanik G=E1bor <netroller.3d@gmail.=
com> wrote:
>
>> Can you check the actual print on the chip itself? "RTL8187L" and "R=
TL8187B" are supported currently. Also, what is the USB device ID of th=
e chip? 0x8187, 0x8189, 0x8197 and 0x8198 are known to work in the late=
st preview kernels.
>
> The RTL8187SE is a Mini PCIe version of the Realtek 8187 wireless
> chipset. I just purchased my MSI Wind a few days ago and I'd rather
> not void the warranty by taking it apart just yet. Here is an image
> from someone that was:
> http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/07/breaking-wind/10-8.=
jpg.
> It looks to say RTL8102E.

The RTL8102E is the wired Ethernet chip. (Lspci misidentifies it as RTL=
8101E.)

>
> Running lspci -nn returns:
>
> 00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express
> Memory Controller Hub [8086:27ac] (rev 03)
> 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile
> 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27ae] (rev 03)
> 00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile
> 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller
> [8086:27a6] (rev 03)
> 00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
> High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 02)
> 00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI
> Express Port 1 [8086:27d0] (rev 02)
> 00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI
> Express Port 2 [8086:27d2] (rev 02)
> 00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
> USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:27c8] (rev 02)
> 00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
> USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:27c9] (rev 02)
> 00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
> USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:27ca] (rev 02)
> 00:1d.3 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
> USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:27cb] (rev 02)
> 00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
> USB2 EHCI Controller [8086:27cc] (rev 02)
> 00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge
> [8086:2448] (rev e2)
> 00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC
> Interface Bridge [8086:27b9] (rev 02)
> 00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7
> Family) SATA IDE Controller [8086:27c4] (rev 02)
> 00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus
> Controller [8086:27da] (rev 02)
> 01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
> RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 02)
> 02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
> Device [10ec:8199] (rev 22)
>
> More information about the RTL8187SE can be obtained from their websi=
te:
> http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=3D1&PFid=3D=
40&Level=3D5&Conn=3D4&ProdID=3D172
>
> Some people have reported getting it to work with ndiswrapper. I have
> not tried this as I do not want to load propreitary software on my
> machine.
>
> Until the last few months it had no Linux driver. A user on the
> msiwind.net forums emailed Realtek about this, and they received a
> driver that was not listed on their site. The driver didn't compile
> for the 2.6.24 kernel included in ubuntu hardy, but with some
> modifications it compiles and is reported to work, although some
> report problems. Their current version is available here:
> http://launchpadlibrarian.net/20052864/rtl8187se_linux_26.1023.1118.2=
008.tar.gz
>
> Bug # 246141 on Ubuntu Launchpad has lots more information.
> --
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-wirel=
ess" in
> the body of a message to [email protected]
> More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
>

Looks like this is a MiniPCIE card, so the chip is essentially an
RTL8187 or RTL8187B with the USB communication part replaced with a
PCI Express one. Given the existence of this open-source driver,
adding support for it into rtl818x should not really be a problem.

--=20
Vista: [V]iruses, [I]ntruders, [S]pyware, [T]rojans and [A]dware. :-)

2008-12-16 03:00:28

by Larry Finger

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

John W. Linville wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 10:55:29PM +0100, Stefanik G=E1bor wrote:
>=20
> Clearly you haven't looked at the driver from the vendor... :-)

I have and I know what you face.

> I have acquired an MSI Wind equipped with this device, I have
> multiple variations of the vendor driver to support the hardware, and
> I have a datasheet the covers at least some of the hardware involved.
> I'm working on it...

When you get ready for testers, add Bernhard Schiffner
<[email protected]> to your list. I helped him get the vend=
or driver
(release 1014) running on his hardware, and I was working on incorporat=
ing it
into the native code, but I'm glad to abandon that project. I hadn't re=
ally
gotten very far, and debugging would have been awful without the hardwa=
re.

Larry

2008-12-16 14:15:11

by John W. Linville

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 09:00:20PM -0600, Larry Finger wrote:
> John W. Linville wrote:
> > On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 10:55:29PM +0100, Stefanik G=E1bor wrote:
> >=20
> > Clearly you haven't looked at the driver from the vendor... :-)
>=20
> I have and I know what you face.
>=20
> > I have acquired an MSI Wind equipped with this device, I have
> > multiple variations of the vendor driver to support the hardware, a=
nd
> > I have a datasheet the covers at least some of the hardware involve=
d.
> > I'm working on it...
>=20
> When you get ready for testers, add Bernhard Schiffner
> <[email protected]> to your list. I helped him get the ve=
ndor driver
> (release 1014) running on his hardware, and I was working on incorpor=
ating it
> into the native code, but I'm glad to abandon that project. I hadn't =
really
> gotten very far, and debugging would have been awful without the hard=
ware.

If you have any progress on a patch, I'd be happy to see it.

Thanks,

John
--=20
John W. Linville Linux should be at the core
[email protected] of your literate lifestyle.

2008-12-16 14:15:10

by John W. Linville

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 06:41:01PM -0800, Jason Self wrote:
> On Dec 15, 2008, at 5:26 PM, "John W. Linville" <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
>> Clearly you haven't looked at the driver from the vendor... :-)
>>
>> I have acquired an MSI Wind equipped with this device, I have
>> multiple variations of the vendor driver to support the hardware, and
>> I have a datasheet the covers at least some of the hardware involved.
>> I'm working on it...
>
> Why not share your work?

What I have (which is barely anything) is on the "linville" branch
of wireless-testing...

John
--
John W. Linville Linux should be at the core
[email protected] of your literate lifestyle.

2008-12-16 01:30:13

by John W. Linville

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 10:55:29PM +0100, Stefanik G=E1bor wrote:

> Looks like this is a MiniPCIE card, so the chip is essentially an
> RTL8187 or RTL8187B with the USB communication part replaced with a
> PCI Express one. Given the existence of this open-source driver,
> adding support for it into rtl818x should not really be a problem.

Clearly you haven't looked at the driver from the vendor... :-)

I have acquired an MSI Wind equipped with this device, I have
multiple variations of the vendor driver to support the hardware, and
I have a datasheet the covers at least some of the hardware involved.
I'm working on it...

John
--=20
John W. Linville Linux should be at the core
[email protected] of your literate lifestyle.

2008-12-15 21:29:49

by Jason Self

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Tue, Nov 4, 2008 at 4:52 PM, Stefanik G=E1bor <[email protected]=
m> wrote:

> Can you check the actual print on the chip itself? "RTL8187L" and "RT=
L8187B" are supported currently. Also, what is the USB device ID of the=
chip? 0x8187, 0x8189, 0x8197 and 0x8198 are known to work in the lates=
t preview kernels.

The RTL8187SE is a Mini PCIe version of the Realtek 8187 wireless
chipset. I just purchased my MSI Wind a few days ago and I'd rather
not void the warranty by taking it apart just yet. Here is an image
from someone that was:
http://images.bit-tech.net/content_images/2008/07/breaking-wind/10-8.jp=
g.
It looks to say RTL8102E.

Running lspci -nn returns:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express
Memory Controller Hub [8086:27ac] (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile
945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27ae] (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile
945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller
[8086:27a6] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI
Express Port 1 [8086:27d0] (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI
Express Port 2 [8086:27d2] (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:27c8] (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:27c9] (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:27ca] (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:27cb] (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family)
USB2 EHCI Controller [8086:27cc] (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge
[8086:2448] (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC
Interface Bridge [8086:27b9] (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7
=46amily) SATA IDE Controller [8086:27c4] (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus
Controller [8086:27da] (rev 02)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 02)
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
Device [10ec:8199] (rev 22)

More information about the RTL8187SE can be obtained from their website=
:
http://www.realtek.com.tw/products/productsView.aspx?Langid=3D1&PFid=3D=
40&Level=3D5&Conn=3D4&ProdID=3D172

Some people have reported getting it to work with ndiswrapper. I have
not tried this as I do not want to load propreitary software on my
machine.

Until the last few months it had no Linux driver. A user on the
msiwind.net forums emailed Realtek about this, and they received a
driver that was not listed on their site. The driver didn't compile
for the 2.6.24 kernel included in ubuntu hardy, but with some
modifications it compiles and is reported to work, although some
report problems. Their current version is available here:
http://launchpadlibrarian.net/20052864/rtl8187se_linux_26.1023.1118.200=
8.tar.gz

Bug # 246141 on Ubuntu Launchpad has lots more information.

2008-12-28 06:43:22

by Piter PUNK

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

John W. Linville wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 06:41:01PM -0800, Jason Self wrote:
>> On Dec 15, 2008, at 5:26 PM, "John W. Linville" <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>> I have acquired an MSI Wind equipped with this device, I have
>>> multiple variations of the vendor driver to support the hardware, and
>>> I have a datasheet the covers at least some of the hardware involved.
>>> I'm working on it...
>> Why not share your work?
>
> What I have (which is barely anything) is on the "linville" branch
> of wireless-testing...

Hi John,

I am using that branch on mine Positivo Mobo White (MSI Wind OEM). It
loads the rtl8180 module, the wlan0 device appears but nothing more
happens. No scans, no associations, etc.

I'm really lost looking the code, and vendor code is very very different
of kernel code (at least to my eyes), isn't an easy job to "look vendor
code -> adapt code to kernel". What can I do to help? Any special
test case? Any log? Any tip to do the un-easy job?

Thanks!

Piter Punk


2008-12-16 04:17:28

by Piter PUNK

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

John W. Linville wrote:
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 10:55:29PM +0100, Stefanik G=E1bor wrote:
>=20
>> Looks like this is a MiniPCIE card, so the chip is essentially an
>> RTL8187 or RTL8187B with the USB communication part replaced with a
>> PCI Express one. Given the existence of this open-source driver,
>> adding support for it into rtl818x should not really be a problem.
>=20
> Clearly you haven't looked at the driver from the vendor... :-)
>=20
> I have acquired an MSI Wind equipped with this device, I have
> multiple variations of the vendor driver to support the hardware, and
> I have a datasheet the covers at least some of the hardware involved.
> I'm working on it...

If you have it in any useful form, i'll be very happy testing it
on my machine with 8187SE. Is an "OEM" MSI Wind (Positivo Mobo
White 1050), the wireless is working fine with the vendor driver
rtl8187se_linux_26.1023.1118.2008 and kernel 2.6.27.x, but is
very better to have the driver merged in kernel.

Good luck to all of us -:)

Piter PUNK

2008-12-15 22:25:41

by Gábor Stefanik

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 11:14 PM, Jason Self <[email protected]> wro=
te:
> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 2:13 PM, Jason Self <[email protected]> wr=
ote:
>> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 1:55 PM, Stefanik G=E1bor <netrolller.3d@gma=
il.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> Looks like this is a MiniPCIE card, so the chip is essentially an
>>> RTL8187 or RTL8187B with the USB communication part replaced with a
>>> PCI Express one. Given the existence of this open-source driver,
>>> adding support for it into rtl818x should not really be a problem.
>>
>> That sounds wonderful. Would it still be helpful if I opened the
>> laptop to determine what is printed on the chip itself?

No, it is not needed anymore, as the driver you posted confirms that
it is indeed a new device.

--=20
Vista: [V]iruses, [I]ntruders, [S]pyware, [T]rojans and [A]dware. :-)

2009-01-06 20:30:41

by John W. Linville

[permalink] [raw]
Subject: Re: Realtek wireless 8187se

On Sun, Dec 28, 2008 at 04:43:54AM -0200, Piter PUNK wrote:
> John W. Linville wrote:
>> On Mon, Dec 15, 2008 at 06:41:01PM -0800, Jason Self wrote:
>>> On Dec 15, 2008, at 5:26 PM, "John W. Linville"
>>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> I have acquired an MSI Wind equipped with this device, I have
>>>> multiple variations of the vendor driver to support the hardware, and
>>>> I have a datasheet the covers at least some of the hardware involved.
>>>> I'm working on it...
>>> Why not share your work?
>>
>> What I have (which is barely anything) is on the "linville" branch
>> of wireless-testing...
>
> Hi John,
>
> I am using that branch on mine Positivo Mobo White (MSI Wind OEM). It
> loads the rtl8180 module, the wlan0 device appears but nothing more
> happens. No scans, no associations, etc.

There really is nothing there to activate the device, just some
infrastructure bits.

> I'm really lost looking the code, and vendor code is very very different
> of kernel code (at least to my eyes), isn't an easy job to "look vendor
> code -> adapt code to kernel". What can I do to help? Any special
> test case? Any log? Any tip to do the un-easy job?

Now that we are done with the holidays, hopefully I can make some
progress on this soon. Until then, there isn't much for you to do...

John
--
John W. Linville Linux should be at the core
[email protected] of your literate lifestyle.