Mini PC WiFi not found

Community Tutorials
1

Hi

I recently intstalled DietPi (Native PC for UEFI) on a Wintel Pro Mini PC however it doesnt detect my wifi card

wifi
wifi1364×351 37.4 KB

. I am currently using a LAN cable to connect to the internet.
i think its because of missing drivers but i have no clue as to where or how i can find or install the drivers.

Here are the specs of my Mini PC
CPU: Intel Atom X5-Z8350 Quad-Core
GPU: Intel Gen 9
Processor Speed: Up to 1.92GHz
Process Technology: 14nm
Power Consumption: 2W
Caching: 2MB
RAM: 2GB (LPDDR3)
Internal Memory: 32GB (eMMC)
External Memory(SD Card): Support up to 128GB (not included)
Bluetooth 4.0
Power adapter: 5V
Wi-Fi: 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac

2

Theoretically you could check if wireless network adapter is detected at all.

apt install lshw -y
lshw -C network
3

did what you asked. i dont think its being detected as description for all is ‘Ethernet Interface’
Anything else i can try?

4

He is trying to find out if your system even detects the hardware, and what chipset it might be
It might end up needing special drivers or config to get it running

Also…what model specifically is your Wintel Pro Mini PC

This?
Cheap Intel Mini PC Wintel W8 PRO – Felenasoft

Quick googling, you might need to install package firmware-realtek to get the correct drivers
Wintel Pro CX-W8 Cherry Trail mini PC Sells for $85 - CNX Software (cnx-software.com)

5

Yes, this is the one.
But I tried installing firmware-realtek as the forum suggested however i got the message that it’s already installed.

6

I think this machine uses a SDIO wifi/bluetooth combo adapter. You can look in the bios if this is the case. The ethernet is connected via USB internally, I think. So the driver for ethernet and wifi are two different ones.
I couldn’t find drivers from realtek for Linux for SDIO wifi cards, only for windows. so maybe realtek does not provide any drivers for Linux for this card at all, but I didn’t spend much time searching.

7

you could ask vendor of your mini pc if they know how to get it working on Debian.

8

I bought it off a random seller on Amazon so doubt they would know.
I’ll spend some time looking up SDIO and see if I find anything helpful

9

Here is some more info about detecting SDIO / MMC devices:
https://community.silabs.com/s/article/linux-sdio-detection?language=en_US

10

I’m an average noob at Linux and thought it would be easy to install the WiFi drivers but it looks like it’s easier for me to use an ethernet cable rather than trying to figure out how to get the WiFi working.