I’ve been working on an rtw89 driver for NetBSD, specifically focusing on the RTL8852BE chip set because that’s what my laptop has. I spent way too long trying to set up a testing environment, but I think I’ve got that ready now. I looked at the Linux driver and nearly fell into despair, not realizing that it was likely intentionally obfuscated by Realtek to keep their proprietary secrets. Upon looking at similar drivers in NetBSD and FreeBSD, I’m realizing it’s a lot more doable than Linux had me convinced. I haven’t really written any code yet, but I think I’ll be able to start tomorrow. Also finally got on some antipsychotics that are working for me, so my brain can actually be used for tasks like this instead of needing constant distraction!
Bon courage, comrade !
Good luck! Even if it’s hacky and broken it will still beat half of the wireless adapter drivers from Realtek.
Just saw this, omg you’re the goat :3
This just reminded me I swapped one of these chips for some Zio WiFi Intel chip (secondhand, but yeh >w<) cuz I needed WiFi fast on BSD on my new laptop like a year or 2 ago and forgot about it >w<
I also got similarly horrible vibes from the Linux driver lol, I’m pretty sure it didn’t even work on the distros I tried it on for whatever reason (is this shit even upstreamed??)
Since I actually have hardware (somewhere around here…), if u want I might be open to collaborating…
I’d be glad to collaborate! DM me and we can work out how to set that up.
I don’t know if you and @uokgerku@hexbear.net managed to link up, but I’ve been digging through source and docs on both the NetBSD and Linux side of things to see what it would take to give NetBSD’s amdgpu a version bump. I’d love to get roped in. I probably can’t help with the wifi, but there is still plenty to trade notes on.
They messaged me on Matrix. Is there a way to make a group chat on there? I’d be glad to add you to the party.
