I am a new linux user and have limited experience with linux. Before posting here, I have tried the official guide from debian, also the instructions by chatgpt 4o. Nothing seems to get it upgraded to the newer kernel.
My current kernel:
My goal only goal is to upgrade to version 5.18 or version 6.5 to get the USB WIFI card to work.
What is the best/easiest way to do this?
Additional info: eventhough it looks like the kernel upgrade went through successfully, but when I reboot, it is still using the old kernel:
root@NanoPi-R6S-DietPi:~/linux-6.5# make install
INSTALL /boot
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/dietpi-initramfs_cleanup 6.5.0 /boot/vmlinuz-6.5.0
Removing obsolete initramfs images
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postinst.d/initramfs-tools 6.5.0 /boot/vmlinuz-6.5.0
update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-6.5.0
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8125a-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8107e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168fp-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168g-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168g-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8106e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8106e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8411-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8411-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8402-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168f-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168f-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8105e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-3.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168e-1.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-2.fw for module r8169
W: Possible missing firmware /lib/firmware/rtl_nic/rtl8168d-1.fw for module r8169
update-initramfs: Converting to U-Boot format
Image Name: uInitrd
Created: Mon May 27 09:02:26 2024
Image Type: AArch64 Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed)
Data Size: 7887132 Bytes = 7702.28 KiB = 7.52 MiB
Load Address: 00000000
Entry Point: 00000000
'/boot/uInitrd' -> 'uInitrd-6.5.0'
Which USB WiFi card does not work in particular? This Armbian kernel comes with a lot of additional 3rd party drivers already. Not sure where you got the sources from, but I am quite sure those will break quite a lot of hardware features, and reduce the number of supported WiFi chips, as both: Neither has mainline Linux sane RK3588 support yet, nor has it a lot of 3rd party WiFi drivers.
@MichaIng
My card is AX1800 with Mediatek MT7961 chipset.
The card is detected by the system:
root@DietPi:~# dmesg | grep 'usb 4-1.4'
[ 5.556041] usb 4-1.4: new SuperSpeed Gen 1 USB device number 3 using xhci-hcd
[ 5.588486] usb 4-1.4: New USB device found, idVendor=0e8d, idProduct=7961, bcdDevice= 1.00
[ 5.588494] usb 4-1.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=2, Product=3, SerialNumber=4
[ 5.588498] usb 4-1.4: Product: Wireless_Device
[ 5.588502] usb 4-1.4: Manufacturer: MediaTek Inc.
[ 5.588506] usb 4-1.4: SerialNumber: 000000000
root@DietPi:~# lsusb
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 0e8d:7961 MediaTek Inc. Wireless_Device
root@DietPi:~#
Firmware is present:
root@DietPi:~# ls /lib/firmware/mediatek/ | grep 7961
BT_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1_2_hdr.bin
WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin
WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1.bin
root@DietPi:~#
However, iw and ip command shows nothing:
root@DietPi:~# iw dev
root@DietPi:~#
root@DietPi:~# iw list
root@DietPi:~#
root@DietPi:~# ip link
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/ether 12:88:54:f7:a9:74 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
altname end1
3: eth1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/ether fa:25:0c:a3:22:df brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
altname enP3p49s0
altname end0
4: eth2: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN mode DEFAULT group default qlen 1000
link/ether 36:ca:bc:94:ab:50 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
altname enP4p65s0
root@DietPi:~#
I’m not sure what else I can check other than upgrading to the new kernel. I tried the official Debian image from FriendlyElec and the USB card can be detected and worked like a champ. However I really like the DietPi OS and wanted to run it with DietPi.
Indeed, the related kernel module/driver mt7921 was added with Linux 5.12, and not backported by Armbian (no blame, this isn’t necessarily possible or difficult to do, when it was never written/published for earlier Linux versions).
Try the vendor branch kernel, which is Linux 6.1. I want to migrate all RK3588 boards to this kernel anyway, just did not find much time for testing it:
apt install linux-{image,dtb}-vendor-rk35xx
At best, remove all Linux 6.5 traces, and check that /boot/uInitrd points to /boot/uInitrd-6.1.*.
I only needed to run apt install linux-{image,dtb}-vendor-rk35xx and reboot.
What is the downside of running this vendor branch kernel? @MichaIng you mentioned that you want to move rockchip boards to this kernel anyway, is that still your plan?
This kernel update is now offered to all RK3588 SBCs. If everything works well and we do not get negative reports, we will enforce it on an upcoming DietPi update, to align all systems. A good reason for this is also that the old Linux 5.10 branch is not maintained anymore, hence can bear a security risk.
.