Re: [PATCH] wifi: mwifiex: Restore USB8897 chipset support

Brian Norris
2023-12-06T19:12:10Z

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(-)