How to get Realtek USB Wireless working

[roMancer]

thanks!

well,
"modprobe r8192u_usb" works,
"tail -f /var/log/messages" says:
Jul 6 17:52:29 fbox kernel: [ 203.066495] Linux kernel driver for RTL8192 based WLAN cards
Jul 6 17:52:29 fbox kernel: [ 203.066499] Copyright (c) 2007-2008, Realsil Wlan
Jul 6 17:52:29 fbox kernel: [ 203.066582] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl819xU

then un-, and replugging device gives same output as posted above (device information, then "...was not an MTP device"

ifconfig -a and iwconfig gives same output as posted above, "no wireless extensions" on all existing devices.

network manager has no news for me.

:-(
sigh

[JEO]

What do you see when you do a "modinfo r8192u_usb" command? Is there an alias that contains your device numbers idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8171?

If they are not in there that might be the problem.

Also use the same method to view what devices are supported by the r8187se module.

[roMancer]

"modinfo r8192u_usb" says:

filename: /lib/modules/3.4.2-1.fc16.x86_64/extra/staging/r8192u_usb.ko
description: Linux driver for Realtek RTL8192 USB WiFi cards
version: V 1.1
license: GPL
firmware: RTL8192U/data.img
firmware: RTL8192U/main.img
firmware: RTL8192U/boot.img
license: GPL
description: HostAP crypto
author: Jouni Malinen
license: GPL
description: Host AP crypt: TKIP
author: Jouni Malinen
license: GPL
description: Host AP crypt: CCMP
author: Jouni Malinen
license: GPL
description: Host AP crypt: WEP
author: Jouni Malinen
license: GPL
author: Copyright (C) 2004 Intel Corporation <EMAIL-REMOVED-FOR-FEDORAFORUM-POSTING>
description: 802.11 data/management/control stack
srcversion: 44AAE3C66ABCBFC5CBE1386
alias: usb:v043Ep7A01d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
alias: usb:v5A57p0290d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
alias: usb:v2001p3301d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
alias: usb:v1740p9201d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
alias: usb:v0DF6p0031d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
alias: usb:v050Dp805Ed*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
alias: usb:v07AAp0043d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
alias: usb:v0BDAp8709d*dc*dsc*dp*ic*isc*ip*
depends:
vermagic: 3.4.2-1.fc16.x86_64 SMP mod_unload
parm: debug:debug output mask (int)
parm: ifname: Net interface name, wlan%d=default (charp)
parm: hwwep: Try to use hardware security support. (int)
parm: channels: Channel bitmask for specific locales. NYI (int)

the last one of the "alias: ..." lines seems to be closest to my ProductID, but doesnt match.

"modinfo r8187se" says:

filename: /lib/modules/3.4.2-1.fc16.x86_64/extra/staging/r8187se.ko
description: Linux driver for Realtek RTL8180 / RTL8185 WiFi cards
author: Andrea Merello <EMAIL-REMOVED-FOR-FEDORAFORUM-POSTING>
license: GPL
license: GPL
author: Copyright (C) 2004 Intel Corporation <EMAIL-REMOVED-FOR-FEDORAFORUM-POSTING>
description: 802.11 data/management/control stack
license: GPL
description: HostAP crypto
author: Jouni Malinen
license: GPL
description: Host AP crypt: TKIP
author: Jouni Malinen
license: GPL
description: Host AP crypt: CCMP
author: Jouni Malinen
license: GPL
description: Host AP crypt: WEP
author: Jouni Malinen
alias: pci:v000010ECd00008199sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: eeprom_93cx6
vermagic: 3.4.2-1.fc16.x86_64 SMP mod_unload
parm: ifname:string
parm: devname: Net interface name, wlan%d=default
parm: hwseqnum: Try to use hardware 802.11 header sequence numbers. Zero=default (int)
parm: hwwep: Try to use hardware WEP support. Still broken and not available on all cards (int)
parm: channels: Channel bitmask for specific locales. NYI (int)

...nothing there.

:-(
sigh++

may we assume there's simply no driver available, maybe due to kernel version > 3?

(
thanks once again :-)
)

[JEO]

Looks like the r8187se is for a pci card.

Have you tried looking at the linux drivers source code on realtek's website? From what I see they say it works with kernel 3.0 (however you have 3.4). I recommend compiling that driver and see if you get an error or not.

[roMancer]

hey, I have some good news on this! it works!
I have no idea precisely why, but it seems a kernel-update or kmod-staging update has fixed the problems :-)

here's a quick summary:

my USB wifi device is listed by "lsusb" as:
ID 0bda:8171 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8188SU 802.11n WLAN Adapter
(it's a super cheap WiFi stick I bought at CONRAD here in germany for something like 12EUR)

machines on which I successfully used the above device:
Fedora 16 Kernel 3.4.11-1.fc16.x86_64 AMD 64bit desktop computer with USB2.0
and
Fedora 16 Kernel 3.4.11-1.fc16.i686 Intel 32bit laptop with USB1.1

installation procedure:
> yum install kmod-staging
> wget http://au.billion.com/downloads/3011...nux_Driver.zip
> unzip -j 3011N_Linux_Driver.zip "*rtl8192sfw.bin" -d RTL8192SU
> mv RTL8192SU /lib/firmware/
> depmod -a

..then plug in device.

signs of success:
- device blinks nicely
- ifconfig shows "wlan0"

:-)
nice work, everybody!
thanks!