include Realtek RTL8192ce driver in Ubuntu

[Keng-Yu Lin]

This driver is not yet upstream. Realtek releases the driver tarball in the website and it is verified to work on some hardware. We can include this one as an external driver in Ubuntu to make these hardware work.

[Brendan Donegan (brendan-donegan)]

What release is this targeted for?

[Ara Pulido (ara)]

This should be release as an SRU in Maverick if possible (DKMS?)

[Keng-Yu Lin (lexical)]

According to the tag, it is meant to be included in Natty for certification purpose.

I think the inclusion of the driver in Maverick is too big for an SRU. However I have a dkms package in my PPA for anyone wanting to enable it: https://launchpad.net/~lexical/+archive/hwe-wireless.

[Chris Van Hoof (vanhoof)]

@keng-yu:

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/linville/wireless-testing.git;a=commit;h=0c8173385e549f95cd80c3fff5aab87b4f881d8d

[Keng-Yu Lin (lexical)]

Cool, let's track on this to see if the driver can make it in time in wireless-2.6.git for 2.6.37-rc* or more possibly in 2.6.38.

[Andy Whitcroft (apw)]

Ok this driver seems to have hit the v2.6.38 merge window and is in v2.6.38-rc1. Will be in the first upload of 2.6.38.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package linux - 2.6.38-1.27

---------------
linux (2.6.38-1.27) natty; urgency=low

  [ Andy Whitcroft ]

  * ubuntu: AUFS -- update aufs-update to track new locations of headers
  * ubuntu: AUFS -- update to c5021514085a5d96364e096dbd34cadb2251abfd
  * SAUCE: ensure root is ready before running usermodehelpers in it
  * correct the Vcs linkage to point to natty
  * rebase to linux tip e78bf5e6cbe837daa6ab628a5f679548742994d3
  * [Config] update configs following rebase
    e78bf5e6cbe837daa6ab628a5f679548742994d3
  * SAUCE: Yama: follow changes to generic_permission
  * ubuntu: compcache -- follow changes to bd_claim/bd_release
  * ubuntu: iscsitarget -- follow changes to open_bdev_exclusive
  * ubuntu: ndiswrapper -- fix interaction between __packed and packed
  * ubuntu: AUFS -- update to 806051bcbeec27748aae2b7957726a4e63ff308e
  * update package version to match payload version
  * rebase to e6f597a1425b5af64917be3448b29e2d5a585ac8
  * rebase to v2.6.38-rc1
  * [Config] updateconfigs following rebase to v2.6.38-rc1
  * SAUCE: x86 fix up jiffies/jiffies_64 handling
  * rebase to linus tip 2b1caf6ed7b888c95a1909d343799672731651a5
  * [Config] updateconfigs following rebase to
    2b1caf6ed7b888c95a1909d343799672731651a5
  * [Config] disable CONFIG_TRANSPARENT_HUGEPAGE to fix i386 boot crashes
  * ubuntu: AUFS -- suppress benign plink warning messages
    - LP: #621195
  * [Config] CONFIG_NR_CPUS=256 for amd64 -server flavour
  * rebase to v2.6.38-rc2
  * rebase to mainline d315777b32a4696feb86f2a0c9e9f39c94683649
  * rebase to c723fdab8aa728dc2bf0da6a0de8bb9c3f588d84
  * [Config] update configs following rebase to
    c723fdab8aa728dc2bf0da6a0de8bb9c3f588d84
  * [Config] disable CONFIG_AD7152 to fix FTBS on armel versatile
  * [Config] disable CONFIG_AD7150 to fix FTBS on armel versatile
  * [Config] disable CONFIG_RTL8192CE to fix FTBS on armel omap
  * [Config] disable CONFIG_MANTIS_CORE to fix FTBS on armel versatile

  [ Kees Cook ]

  * SAUCE: kernel: make /proc/kallsyms mode 400 to reduce ease of attacking

  [ Stefan Bader ]

  * Temporarily disable RODATA for virtual i386
    - LP: #699828

  [ Tim Gardner ]

  * [Config] CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT=utf8
    - LP: #683690
  * [Config] CONFIG_HIBERNATION=n
  * update bnx2 firmware files in d-i/firmware/nic-modules

  [ Upstream Kernel Changes ]

  * Revert "drm/radeon/bo: add some fallback placements for VRAM only
    objects."
  * packaging: make System.map mode 0600
  * thinkpad_acpi: Always report scancodes for hotkeys
    - LP: #702407
  * sched: tg->se->load should be initialised to tg->shares
  * Input: sysrq -- ensure sysrq_enabled and __sysrq_enabled are consistent
  * brcm80211: include linux/slab.h for kfree
  * pch_dma: add include/slab.h for kfree
  * i2c-eg20t: include linux/slab.h for kfree
  * gpio/ml_ioh_gpio: include linux/slab.h for kfree
  * tty: include linux/slab.h for kfree
  * winbond: include linux/delay.h for mdelay et al

  [ Upstream Kernel Changes ]

  * mark the start of v2.6.38 versioning
  * rebase v2.6.37 to v2.6.38-rc2 + c723fdab8aa728dc2bf0da6a0de8bb9c3f588d84
    - LP: #689886
    - LP: #702125
    - LP: #608775
    - LP: #215802
...

[Carl Richell (carlrichell)]

Realtek RTL8192ce driver in natty's kernel does not correctly initialize the wireless LED (i.e. the LED doesn't work). The attached patch fixes the LED.

The original patch by Larry Finger was written for 2.6.39 and does not compile against natty's kernel: http://marc.info/?l=linux-wireless&m=130247823800466&w=2

A minor change to the patch fixes the compile error and enables the wireless LED. The change is discussed here: http://marc.info/?l=linux-wireless&m=130324790201204&w=2

Please consider using the patch. This wireless card can not be used in production systems without the LED working.

[Keng-Yu Lin (lexical)]

@Carl,
  Can you file another bug for the LED? Thanks for the bug reporting.

[Carl Richell (carlrichell)]

@Keng-Yu all set: Bug #785975

[dreamon (dreamon)]

I confirm that the driver for the Realtek RTL8192CE card is loaded by default now on Natty. However, the connection is very unstable.

On Maverick I used to work with the original Realtek driver (version 2.6.0005.1116.2010) from http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=48&PFid=48&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false&Downloads=true#RTL8188CE , which I compiled myself. Although this wasn't ideal, since I always had to recompile after a major upgrade, I had a working internet connection. However, after upgrading to Natty, my connection became very unstable. Very often, even though I am connected to wifi, I can't transmit any data. Less often, but still rather frequently, I get completely disconnected and have to reconnect.

Could this be related to a wrong configuration or the wrong kernel modules being loaded on Natty?

I am running Ubuntu Natty 11.04 on a Japanese Core i5 ThinkPad Edge 13.
lspci -v tells me the following:
03:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8188CE 802.11b/g/n WiFi Adapter (rev 01)
Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8195
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
I/O ports at 2000 [size=256]
Memory at f0400000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: rtl8192ce
Kernel modules: rtl8192ce

I tried downloading the most recent drivers from Realtek. Version 0003.0401.2011, which is supposed to work with "Linux driver for kernel 2.6.35 (and later)" completely messes up my installation and causes Kernel panic after rebooting. Version 2.6.0006.0321.2011, although designed for Kernel <= 2.6.34, works fine and improves stability a bit. It is still nowhere near sufficiently stable, though. Interestingly, after installing this version, lspci tells me that one additional kernel module is being loaded now: Kernel modules: r8192ce_pci, rtl8192ce