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Date: Wed, 6 Dec 2023 11:12:02 -0800
From: Brian Norris <briannorris@chromium.org>
To: Alex Bee <knaerzche@gmail.com>
Cc: Amitkumar Karwar <akarwar@marvell.com>,
	Ganapathi Bhat <gbhat@marvell.com>, Kalle Valo <kvalo@kernel.org>,
	linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH] wifi: mwifiex: Restore USB8897 chipset support
Message-ID: <ZXDHgo5QnZjb237S@google.com>
References: <20231205210237.209332-1-knaerzche@gmail.com>
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In-Reply-To: <20231205210237.209332-1-knaerzche@gmail.com>

On Tue, Dec 05, 2023 at 10:02:37PM +0100, Alex Bee wrote:
> This patch restores USB8897 support which was removed with
> Commit 60a188a2715f ("mwifiex: remove USB8897 chipset support")

Did you look at the reason for that removal?

"if both mwifiex_pcie and mwifiex_usb modules are enabled by user,
sometimes mwifiex_usb wins the race even if user wants wlan interface to
be on PCIe and USB for bluetooth. This patch solves the problem."

That sounds like a legitimate problem, even if the solution isn't
perfect. Do you have any alternatives?

I don't have such hardware, so I don't know its behaviors nor can I test
it. But it'd be nice if we could differentiate USB-only vs PCIe+USB
somehow.

> There are quite some devices which use this chipset with USB interface.
> The firmware still exits in linux upstream firmware repo and this simple
> patch is all what is required to support it in upstream linux (again).
> 
> Signed-off-by: Alex Bee <knaerzche@gmail.com>
> ---
> Recently I upstreamed support for Geniatec XPI-3128 SBC which actually
> has one any of those boards soldered to the onboard USB Host controller.
> Geniatech has some boards [0], [1], [2] (maybe more) which have this
> variant soldered the same way. (optional)
> I've also read that "Xbox Wireless adapter for Windows" uses this chipset
> (unverified).
> I've also CC'ed Ganapathi Bhat who last updated the firmware for SDIO and
> PCIe variant of this chipset: It would be great if the firmware
> for USB variant could get an update too, as the one which we currently
> have is quite old - version 15.68.4.p103, while other have some 16.*
> firmware. 

The old maintainers here seem to have gone AWOL, so I wouldn't hold my
breath on getting any support from them.

Brian

> [0] https://www.geniatech.com/product/xpi-3288/
> [1] https://www.geniatech.com/product/xpi-imx8mm/
> [2] https://www.geniatech.com/product/xpi-s905x/
>  
>  drivers/net/wireless/marvell/mwifiex/Kconfig |  4 ++--
>  drivers/net/wireless/marvell/mwifiex/usb.c   | 14 ++++++++++++++
>  drivers/net/wireless/marvell/mwifiex/usb.h   |  3 +++
>  3 files changed, 19 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)