Re: [PATCH net-next 4/4] r8152: Add firmware upload capability for RTL8157/RTL8159

Birger Koblitz
2026-04-29T15:58:04Z

On 29/04/2026 3:01 pm, Andrew Lunn wrote:
> On Wed, Apr 29, 2026 at 06:21:58AM +0200, Birger Koblitz wrote:
>> On 29/04/2026 3:57 am, Andrew Lunn wrote:
>>> On Tue, Apr 28, 2026 at 05:47:24AM +0200, Birger Koblitz wrote:
>>>> The RTL8159 requires firmware for its PHY in order to work at
>>>> connection speeds > 5GBit. Add support for uploading firmware for
>>>> the PHYs using the existing rtl8152_apply_firmware() function
>>>> in r8157_hw_phy_cfg() and set up the correct names for the firmware
>>>> files.
>
>> No, since the RTL8157 (RTL_VER_16) also works in my experiments as expected
>> without this change, i.e. without any updated firmware, or better the
>> possibility to update the firmware. It is only for the RTL8159 where the
>> firmware is necessary to even get 10GBit performance, at least for the
>> link-partners I use for testing. My understanding of the Realtek "firmware"
>> is that it mainly provides updated calibration constants, possibly better
>> calibration routines for interoperability. Unlike for many other drivers,
>> the firmware is not necessary to make the driver work at all.
>
> O.K. Please could you expand the commit message. Explain why you are
> adding code for RTL_VER_16 as well as RTL_VER_17.
>I will update the commit message accordingly.

Birger