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Kernel prepatch 3.4-rc4

Posted Apr 23, 2012 13:37 UTC (Mon) by pharm (guest, #22305)
In reply to: Kernel prepatch 3.4-rc4 by error27
Parent article: Kernel prepatch 3.4-rc4

There's an in-tree driver that is supposed to support that chipset (rt2800pci). Perhaps it doesn't work on this particular variant?

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Posted Apr 23, 2012 16:08 UTC (Mon) by theophrastus (guest, #80847) [Link]

Yes, I had assumed that since this is an out-of-tree source module that I was SOL as far as reporting associated kernel panics.

It's a cheap "D-Link N 150 DWA-525" card which rt2800pci utterly failed to recognize as little as 6 months ago. Numerous evenings of googling (on a machine that -could- access the internet) later, there was one thin posting that amounted to: "yeah, rt2800 doesn't touch that chip-set, <many other rants about rt2800 />, and what you need is this source tar ball from the maker". It compiles (though damned if i can get it to work with DKMS), and insmod's, and works like a champ. until... 3.4.0-rc4.

The irony of this wireless card is that it was included on a "100% compatible with linux" reference, and that's why I bought it. ah well. chipsets are suddenly changed all the time.

Perhaps rt2800pci has been made better in the intervening 6 months. ...here's hoping.

Thanks guys!

Kernel prepatch 3.4-rc4

Posted Apr 23, 2012 16:32 UTC (Mon) by error27 (subscriber, #8346) [Link]

Yeah... :/ Sorry to hear that.

Btw, I said bug earlier, but it's more likely to be an API change. Generally, no one puts any effort into making life easier for out of tree modules. Which is the right decision, but occasionally it sucks for users.

Kernel prepatch 3.4-rc4

Posted Apr 23, 2012 18:59 UTC (Mon) by dlang (✭ supporter ✭, #313) [Link]

If there is an existing driver that's got the source available under an appropriate license, consider contacting Greg K-H. He works with people to get drivers into the main tree. He also works with people who want to get into kernel programming, and taking an existing out-of-tree driver and fixing it up to get it into the tree (or in this case, fixing an existing in-tree driver to support something else) is a perfect entry point for such people.