Picuntu on T-R42 - support for LAN/WiFi

[enrique66_35]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster.
Anyhow, hope I'm posting in the right place! I've flashed Picuntu 4.5 on my T-R42 (v2.0) and it runs smoothly but no networking (Lan or Wifi). Even though my primary machine is Ubuntu my CLI knowledge is limited so used Wicd network manager to try to get Lan working (enabled wired connection as eth0), no good. Tried setting static IP, no good!

After some research it seems the problem is that the default Picuntu kernel does not support the T-R42 chipsets (WLAN+BT: RTL8723AS and LAN: RTL8201F). I tried re-flashing using shaan_npl's kernel (http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...l=1#post103354) - No change!

Has anyone compiled a Picuntu 4.5 kernel for T-R42 boxes? I'll happily have a go at compiling my own if Lewy or Wasser can give me the correct .ko drivers for these chipsets unless somebody else has already done it??
On a side note, is it possible to use Picuntu with an android kernel such as Wasser's 1.2.4 for T-R42?

Thanks in advance for any help.

[enrique66_35]

Further to my above post I've now also tried
1. Tyler Durden's K-R42 kernel (http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-Kernel-Thread) as they use the same ethernet chipset - won't boot, screen hangs on errors {infraram} I think it was.

2. I also tried to flashing wasser's kernel from his android rom 1.2.4 which put me into a perpetual boot cycle (black screen but occasional flicker as reboots). At least that settles whether I could use an android kernel (which is compatible in Android) to solve this.

A dedicated kernel for T-r42's on Picuntu is required but I don't know the first thing about compiling my own but would be willing to learn if someone can point me in the right direction to find the required modules or how to extract them from a working android rom.

Sorry for the scatter-posting but this is driving me crazy to have such a fantastic OS but handicapped by lack of networking.

[sevo1984]

Further to my above post I've now also tried
1. Tyler Durden's K-R42 kernel (http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...-Kernel-Thread) as they use the same ethernet chipset - won't boot, screen hangs on errors {infraram} I think it was.

2. I also tried to flashing wasser's kernel from his android rom 1.2.4 which put me into a perpetual boot cycle (black screen but occasional flicker as reboots). At least that settles whether I could use an android kernel (which is compatible in Android) to solve this.

A dedicated kernel for T-r42's on Picuntu is required but I don't know the first thing about compiling my own but would be willing to learn if someone can point me in the right direction to find the required modules or how to extract them from a working android rom.

Sorry for the scatter-posting but this is driving me crazy to have such a fantastic OS but handicapped by lack of networking.

http://linux-rockchip.info/mw/index.php?title=Building_Kernel_for_Linux_Distribution

https://plus.google.com/+IanMORRISON/posts/UBA47ksJpix

http://hwswbits.blogspot.com.es/2013/03/compiling-picuntu-kernel-ubuntu-linux.html

http://hwswbits.blogspot.com/2013/05/unofficial-new-3036-kernel-for-picuntu.html

[enrique66_35]

Thanks servo, I'm working on compiling my own kernel which I'll share if I ever get it working!

In the meantime if anyone knows the correct toolchain to use with Alok's Linux3188 github reposititory I'd be very grateful if you'd share with me. Thanks.

[enrique66_35]

Successful compile of kernel from Alok's Linux3188 github so now to make modifications and try and get T-r42 specific drivers/modules loaded! I've learned a lot in the last 24 hours!

[enrique66_35]

Kernel booted (only config change was to enable rk29_vmac for the purposes of ethernet, wifi is another day's work).

However, after opening wic'd and entering eth0 under wired connection, hit refresh and connect I get
putting up interface>obtaining IP address>connection failed-could not obtain IP address. My two questions are
1)Is support for RTL8201F (ie module) included in Alok's git hub repo for compile into kernel or do I need to look for these drivers? I guessed that enabling rk29_vmac was the right move based on http://www.freaktab.com/showthread.p...l=1#post136332 .
2)If the kernel is functioning correctly are there wic'd settings I need to adjust to get it working such as setting a static ip??

Any advice/input is greatly appreciated.

[sevo1984]

Kernel booted (only config change was to enable rk29_vmac for the purposes of ethernet, wifi is another day's work).
Any advice/input is greatly appreciated.

Not quite what you are after at this point, but I ran into this rather interesting link:

https://github.com/roondar/wiki-rockchip

Thought it might be of some help to your future work and that of other real developers (which I am obviously not
Please let us know of your progress. Thanks.

[enrique66_35]

Had a bit of time at the weekend to work at this and after trying various wic'd settings and getting nowhere I re-compiled using make defconfig on Alok's repo. I changed too much because I was getting Error 2 compile errors so had to start over with just rk29_vmac and realtek_phy switched on and turning off AP_6210 (broadcom wi-fi as it's not present for me).

I notice that my Realktek Lan controller is being detected on boot (under USB?) but still cannot obtain IP address. I think I need to configure from terminal rather than wic'd as internet searches have suggested Wic'd has it's issues.

On a side note, does anyone know how to edit the config to switch on eth0 on boot by default??

wlan0 is the enabled by default by Alok but since I don't have drivers to compile in for wifi chip (RTL8723AS), wlan0 is useless to me.

[enrique66_35]

Not quite what you are after at this point, but I ran into this rather interesting link:

https://github.com/roondar/wiki-rockchip

Thought it might be of some help to your future work and that of other real developers (which I am obviously not
Please let us know of your progress. Thanks.

Thanks sevo but far as I can tell that link if for 8188 drivers so no use to me, perhaps someone with a different box with that chipset?.......

[enrique66_35]

Progress.....?

Had a strange situation where working box in one location was packed up and brought home (about an hours drive) and then failed to boot (boot sequence hit a wall and restarted, rinse repeat....).

Re-compiled the kernel as I (rather stupidly) had borrowed a computer for compile at the weekend and left the compiled kernel on it after flashing. I thought I'd done it the same but this time it failed to mount the system partition so I get an initramfs prompt! Re-flashed Alok's kernel (without erasing nand and reflashing other images) and it booted!

Went back to the drawing board yesterday and stepped through the whole process again and voila booting kernel with ifconfig picking up eth0 (it only give loopback under Alok's kernel). Wic'd can't connect either using dchp or setting static ip etc but if I configure a static IP and gateway etc under ipconfig (in terminal) it connects!!

BUT and it's a big but, pings to google.com time out and browers cannot connect. I even tried lauching as root (sudo firefox) with same result . My feeling is I need to do further work on connection settings as I think the remaining barrier is DNS related.

As always if anyone has any ideas to test the connection to see if it really is connecting to the router or tweak the settings to finally get internet access!

[enrique66_35]

Edited /etc/network/interfaces to set static ip - connected to wired network. If I open wicd it shows as connected but if I disconnect, wicd cannot connect despite correctly picking up the static settings but that's not really important.

I read through dmesg and it appears (right at the bottom!) that it is loaded generic mii phy drivers instead of the Realtek ones despite setting CONFIG_REALTEK_PHY=y.

Not sure how to proceed here, any suggestions welcome.

For the record this is the config I used.

[enrique66_35]

I think setting the static ip in /etc/network/interfaces was giving a false positive as pings to anywhere other than the assigned IP were failing "Destination host unreachable" including the router so I think dhcp is the only option which doesn't work

I'm considering giving up on Picuntu and possibly this box unless another Linux variant springs up with native support for T-r42 or at least its ethernet chip.

Maybe when I have more time I'll experiment with MAC addresses and trying to borrow working config and drivers from android although I'm not optimistic.....

[enrique66_35]

For the record I've switched to Linuxium's ubuntu system and have had promising results compiling a custom kernel (my ethernet controller is being recognized-config needed). Being used to ubuntu it's also much easier to diagnose than the barebones Picuntu.

Thanks to Sevo & Alok for your help. When I have Linuxium's distro fully functional (hopefully) I'll post a kernel for other T-r42 (v2) users to use. That theoretical kernel should also work for K-r42 units (ethernet automatically & wi-fi easily added with a re-compile enabling RTL8188).

Watch this space!

[no_spam_for_me]

YES YES YES
I'm looking for a working kernel for ethernet RTL8201F (and would be nice (for me not a "must to have") for WiFi (support for rtl8188etv and rtl8188eu (config file))) ...

[enrique66_35]

UPDATE : After some testing I'm stumped. lshw shows ethernet device with driver rk29_vmac (correct I believe) but no internet.

Network manager shows the connection (using dhcp) but interface will not get an IP or even gateway details. ifconfig shows the connection but no IP, broadcast etc.. I considered the mac address issue mentioned earlier and have tried setting a fixed mac address in /etc/network/interfaces which just makes network manager see 2 two interfaces and confuses the issue. Is there any other way to fix a mac address and have network manager adopt it?

Just for the hell of it I re-flashed wassers 1.2.4 android rom and what do you know, internet works!! I can only conclude that linux or at least the rockchip3188 kernel sources available are fundamentally unable to support the RTL8201F/rk29_vmac phy setup unless there is some ubuntu configuration setting I'm missing that can solve this.