Linux Tablet?

Axios

BuzzPCSOS Lets see if its enabled (nmcli radio)

And (rfkill list)

BuzzPCSOS

Axios nmcli returned everything enabled except WWAN-LAN missing.
rfkill list returned nothing blocked.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS It would appear to me that driver is loaded and working but it is not
the right one. (Everything you replied to is proper)

I have seen two others but havent researched them enough yet found one post the guy could not login
but changed the driver and then it worked (not sure if that was to the wifi not working at all or if was just login i Got the impression it was login) that was a manjaro forum I think.
I think it has something to do with the wrong 802.11 mode. (Not 100% sure)

To pooped tonight to research seen yer post on manjaro

BuzzPCSOS

Axios Many thanks for what you have achieved so far. Never needed to do this sort of fault finding with Linux before, just lucky I guess.
Your suggestions are really appreciated.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS Run this and see what it spits out so maybe we can nail down driver.
(lspci -nn -d 14e4🙂

Note; going ramble for a minute
I was checking out my budgie in the BRCM firmware directory Solus does have those files that you installed
on manjaro so the question is why did solus not work then?

But there are many for different devices like this and then what appears to be a generic blob.

So whats different between those files I have no idea at this point.

My point was if manjaro with the generic blob is at least seeing your wifi why didnt solus.
(Is Solus smarter?) inquiring minds want to know..

If what I see is correct
Busy today will tinker later..

BuzzPCSOS

Axios 😄 I think part of the lspci -nn -d 14e4🙂 command got confused as an emoji. Unfortunately I don't know what I am supposed to be doing so couldn't just make a good guess.
Some of the problems with these drivers is that they are motherboard specific also there are both sdio chips and pcie chips which can make detection and usage of a universal driver a bit hit and miss.
I have the driver that worked on Windows so I might be able to determine from that what Linux driver I should be looking for. On one Ubuntu forum there was even the suggestion that the Windows driver instruction file could be renamed and used to enable the built in Linux drivers.
Food for thought.
Right at the moment I don't have a physical keyboard for my linx12 so things like renaming files and other simple tasks are a pita and have restricted what I can do to test out new drivers. If I can get the WiFi working in the end I will most likely record what was needed to make it work and then wipe and clean install, I have chopped everything around so much already that it is a wonder that it still boots.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS Its just lspci -nn -d 14e4 wanted see what it said

BuzzPCSOS

Axios Oh right, well it just complained when I tried that.
lspci: -d: At least two fields must be given

I have done a bit of reverse engineering and have the build revision of the driver that worked on the tablet with Windows on it.

802.11ac WDI SDIO Adapter
Version: 1.596.13.0
Date: 25 July 2016
Size: 3.5 MB
INF file: bcmwdidhdsdio.inf

I wonder if it could be used to determine what Linux driver is required.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS Just use lspci am looking for the
line on your wireless as to what it says.
Mine looks like this
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 8260 [8086:24f3] (rev 42)

Yours might look something like this or along those lines
Broadcom Corporation BCM4306 802.11bgn Wireless Network Adapter [14e4:4320] (rev 03)

Did you do anything with the nvram.txt file when you installed the drivers (not sure of the exact nvram name)

BuzzPCSOS

lspci  ✔ 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series SoC Transaction Register (rev 36) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 36) 00:03.0 Multimedia controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Imaging Unit (rev 36) 00:0b.0 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Power Management Controller (rev 36) 00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series USB xHCI Controller (rev 36) 00:1a.0 Encryption controller: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series Trusted Execution Engine (rev 36) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Atom/Celeron/Pentium Processor x5-E8000/J3xxx/N3xxx Series PCU (rev 36)
Tried the text file without any luck. On windows it required a specific driver and a specific .txt file to be manually loaded. It wouldn't work with a later or an earlier driver as far as my efforts showed.
Might need to admit defeat here and just use an external wireless adapter, that way I don't need to worry about loosing my WiFi every time there is an update.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS Its not showing your wifi
Thats the way i saw it in my mind the way you explained (I have the windows stuff been analyzing and looking
through those files to)
I dont know how the heck on linux one would know the two proper files to have the reason I say that
is was reading them from solus and they each vary to some degree not all the same.
But thats prob where the issue is its gotta have both proper files/version.(Just not having much luck putting the two together)

I ran across this and tried it gives ton of info (it ask for root to gather info but no worries there)
might be handy.
https://github.com/UbuntuForums/wireless-info?tab=readme-ov-file

Sorry I dont have a solution will keep an eye out.

BuzzPCSOS

Edit. Original removed as too much redundant information.
Wireless grab after boot with internal wireless device only.

########## wireless info START ##########

Report from: 24 Sep 2024 17:25 BST +0100

Booted last: 24 Sep 2024 00:00 BST +0100

Script from: 27 Aug 2024 10:55 UTC +0000

release

Distributor ID: ManjaroLinux
Description: Manjaro Linux
Release: 24.0.8
Codename: Wynsdey

kernel

Linux 6.9.12-3-MANJARO #1 SMP PREEMPT_DYNAMIC Wed Aug 7 16:19:28 UTC 2024 x86_64 unknown unknown GNU/Linux

Parameters: rw, quiet, splash, resume=UUID=4665dbe5-06e1-43bc-9480-5b5df5141766, udev.log_priority=3, zswap.enabled=0

desktop

plasmawayland

lspci

lsusb

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub

PCMCIA card info

'pccardctl' is not installed (package "pcmciautils").

rfkill

0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

secure boot

'mokutil' is not installed (package "mokutil").

lsmod

egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
brcmfmac 602112 0
brcmutil 20480 1 brcmfmac
cfg80211 1372160 1 brcmfmac
rfkill 40960 5 bluetooth,cfg80211
wmi 36864 1 video
mmc_core 270336 5 sdhci,mmc_block,btsdio,brcmfmac,sdhci_acpi

dkms

/home/linx12/wireless-info: line 206: dkms: command not found

interfaces

ifconfig

1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
link/loopback <MAC address> brd <MAC address>
inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
inet6 ::1/128 scope host noprefixroute
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever

iwconfig

/home/linx12/wireless-info: line 233: iwconfig: command not found

route

resolv.conf

[644 root '/etc/resolv.conf']

network managers

Installed:

NetworkManager

Running:

egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
root 495 1 0 17:11 ? 00:00:00 /usr/bin/NetworkManager --no-daemon

NetworkManager info

NetworkManager.state

[main]
NetworkingEnabled=true
WirelessEnabled=true
WWANEnabled=true

NetworkManager config

egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
[[/usr/lib/NetworkManager/conf.d/20-connectivity.conf]]
[connectivity]
uri=http://ping.manjaro.org/check_network_status.txt

NetworkManager profiles

find: ‘/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections’: Permission denied

Acquisition of admin privileges failed.

Netplan config

iw reg get

Region: Europe/London (based on set time zone)

global
country 00: DFS-UNSET
(755 - 928 @ 2), (N/A, 20), (N/A), PASSIVE-SCAN
(2402 - 2472 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A)
(2457 - 2482 @ 20), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, PASSIVE-SCAN
(2474 - 2494 @ 20), (N/A, 20), (N/A), NO-OFDM, PASSIVE-SCAN
(5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, PASSIVE-SCAN
(5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, PASSIVE-SCAN
(5490 - 5730 @ 160), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, PASSIVE-SCAN
(5735 - 5835 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), PASSIVE-SCAN
(57240 - 63720 @ 2160), (N/A, 0), (N/A)

iwlist channels

'iwlist' is not installed (package "wireless-tools").

iwlist scan

'iwlist' is not installed (package "wireless-tools").

module infos

egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
[brcmfmac]
filename: /lib/modules/6.9.12-3-MANJARO/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmfmac/brcmfmac.ko.zst
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Broadcom 802.11 wireless LAN fullmac driver.
depends: mmc_core,brcmutil,cfg80211
retpoline: Y
intree: Y
name: brcmfmac
vermagic: 6.9.12-3-MANJARO SMP preempt mod_unload
parm: txglomsz:Maximum tx packet chain size [SDIO] (int)
parm: debug:Level of debug output (int)
parm: p2pon:Enable legacy p2p management functionality (int)
parm: feature_disable😃isable features (int)
parm: alternative_fw_path:Alternative firmware path (string)
parm: fcmode:Mode of firmware signalled flow control (int)
parm: roamoff😃o not use internal roaming engine (int)
parm: iapp:Enable partial support for the obsoleted Inter-Access Point Protocol (int)
parm: ignore_probe_fail:always succeed probe for debugging (int)

egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
[brcmutil]
filename: /lib/modules/6.9.12-3-MANJARO/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/broadcom/brcm80211/brcmutil/brcmutil.ko.zst
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Broadcom 802.11n wireless LAN driver utilities.
depends:
retpoline: Y
intree: Y
name: brcmutil
vermagic: 6.9.12-3-MANJARO SMP preempt mod_unload

egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
[cfg80211]
filename: /lib/modules/6.9.12-3-MANJARO/kernel/net/wireless/cfg80211.ko.zst
description: wireless configuration support
license: GPL
depends: rfkill
retpoline: Y
intree: Y
name: cfg80211
vermagic: 6.9.12-3-MANJARO SMP preempt mod_unload
parm: bss_entries_limit:limit to number of scan BSS entries (per wiphy, default 1000) (int)
parm: ieee80211_regdom:IEEE 802.11 regulatory domain code (charp)
parm: cfg80211_disable_40mhz_24ghz😃isable 40MHz support in the 2.4GHz band (bool)

module parameters

grep: /sys/module/brcmfmac/parameters/alternative_fw_path: Permission denied
grep: /sys/module/brcmfmac/parameters/debug: Permission denied
grep: /sys/module/brcmfmac/parameters/roamoff: Permission denied
[brcmfmac]

[cfg80211]
bss_entries_limit: 1000
cfg80211_disable_40mhz_24ghz: N
ieee80211_regdom: 00

/etc/modules

grep: /etc/modules: No such file or directory

modprobe options

rc.local

grep: /etc/rc.local: No such file or directory

pm-utils

find: ‘/etc/pm/*.d’: No such file or directory

udev rules

dmesg

egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
egrep: warning: egrep is obsolescent; using grep -E
[ 14.611221] brcmfmac: F1 signature read @0x18000000=0x15264345
[ 14.625876] brcmfmac: brcmf_fw_alloc_request: using brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio for chip BCM4345/6
[ 14.633357] brcmfmac mmc2:0001:1: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio.LINX-LINX12X64.bin failed with error -2
[ 14.671136] brcmfmac mmc2:0001:1: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio.txt failed with error -2
[ 14.712831] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: firmware Patch file not found, tried:
[ 14.712839] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: 'brcm/BCM4345C0.hcd'
[ 14.712842] Bluetooth: hci0: BCM: 'brcm/BCM.hcd'
[ 15.682745] brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_htclk: HT Avail timeout (1000000): clkctl 0x50

########## wireless info END ############

Axios

BuzzPCSOS Do you have a dir of (/sys/bus/sdio/devices/) and if you do is anything
listed.

BuzzPCSOS

Axios Yes there are three folders.
mmc1:0001:1
mmc1:0001:2
mmc1:0001:3
Each folder has 3 folders and 10 files which look very similar to the content of the other two folders.
Much of it looks like it gets updated at boot.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS Unplug your realtek usb dongle and run wifi-info again
(Just to try and cleanup the listing to tell easier whats going on)
look at Networkmanager info section and see if the broadcom is listed then

This is the file I am comparing it to
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2329846&page=3
Appears to me things are not ini right or loading or something
That whole thread is interesting reading you may pick up on something I havent
(correct me if wrong)

From this error in dmesg (this is issue but not sure its causing your problems)
brcmfmac: brcmf_sdio_htclk: HT Avail timeout (1000000): clkctl 0x50
https://community.infineon.com/t5/Wi-Fi-Bluetooth-for-Linux/1FX-with-imx6ulevk-error-brcmfmac-brcmf-sdio-htclk-HT-Avail-timeout-1000000/td-p/102752#.

BuzzPCSOS

Axios I did run the script without the USB dongle inserted. I am guessing the script picks up from some logs already stored on the device which is a shame because I needed the WiF dongle to install in the first place.
Not got access to the Linx at the moment but will try booting without the dongle and see if that cleans anything up at all.

Edit:
I have changed the output from Wireless-info that I posted above to the revised version where I booted without a wireless dongle. It looks similar to the text dump you were comparing it to. I had a go at working out what my next move needed to be but got a little lost.
The first suggested command that seems to give a valid output is ls /sys/bus/platform/drivers/sdhci-acpi/ which returned 80860F14:00 80860F14:02 80860F14:03 bind module uevent unbind

Axios

BuzzPCSOS No (mac80211) Module loaded-Also noticed no rfkill for wifi just blue tooth
Makes more sense now
and errors in Dmesg
14.633357] brcmfmac mmc2:0001:1: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio.LINX-LINX12X64.bin failed with error -2
[ 14.671136] brcmfmac mmc2:0001:1: Direct firmware load for brcm/brcmfmac43455-sdio.txt failed with error -2

There is no (mmc2:0001:1) in that dir listing I had you do earlier

(Just thinking outloud)

The Linux kernel is trying to load firmware from a file under /lib/firmware to install it in to the device and not finding it. (In these cases this usually needs to be done every time the device is initialized.) The path given in the error message is relative to /lib/firmware; you need to find the correct firmware and put it in that file.

If this is the case but why?
In the files you copy to firmware was there a .Blob?

BuzzPCSOS

Axios Most of what you have got there is over my head I'm afraid but I guess the answer to your last question is cheap mass produced electronics. These tablets came out with similar (but not as good) performance to the MS Surface tablets of the same era but at a fraction of the cost. History shows that operation on the software they were shipped with was the only surefire guaranteed choice. Updates frequently left them crippled.
The fact that as many features work at all in 2024 is a miracle in itself.
I'm not sure how many more rabbits you can pull out of the hat but your efforts are much appreciated.

Axios

BuzzPCSOS Ya and the rage tablets where for awhile then poof kinda fell off cliff

BuzzPCSOS

Axios I can kind of see why, Android and Apple phones are a very specialised version of Linux that run on very low power hardware. To get a reasonable experience on a PC tablet you need to run quite powerful CPU and GPU which then means that you either need big batteries (heavy and thick) or to make a sacrifice to run time (not very practical). We have all been taught to expect a tablet that is slim, light, shiny and sexy with a battery that lasts all day but for the most part a laptop CPU can't return that.
This Linx tablet lasts for hours and hours even on an old, well used battery. Performance is low and the CPU lacks many of the clever instruction sets that it's powerful cousins have. Some programs take an unnecessary amount of time to execute because of that.
I was looking for PC features rather than PC speed and have the time to wait for things to happen. This little tablet has been a good introduction into the Linux Tablet computing experience. Now most things are installed and set up I really don't need to access the single USB port half as much as I thought I would so my wireless dongle has been mostly undisturbed.
Perhaps sometime in the future I will take a look at the suggestions made by @inkbug or explore a more upmarket Atom based tablet than the Linx. The Dell Venue range looks promising although my choices are a little limited if I insist on 4Gb of ram or more.
Thank you very much for your help. I have learned a lot on the way but I can't see a viable fix being found for the wireless. I think the Linux way of providing one driver for many just does not work here as the hardware is just too picky.

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