Realtek rtl8723bs sdio adapter

[stridast76]

Ok, I'm expecting a reply along the lines of "um have fun, and good luck, you'll need it"

I've installed ubuntu 14.04.1 on my Pipo W2. It's a windows 8.1 bay trail tablet, the wifi chip in it is a realtek 8723bs wifi/bt chip. This is not supported of course by ubuntu. so no wifi right now. Ubuntu boots with no problem, and I've got grub2 configured now for the stupid 32 bit uefi setup. I've found the following info to build a driver for the wifi: https://github.com/hadess/rtl8723as

This is from someone who's doing similar work on a different bay trail tablet with the same wifi chip.

Other problems with this tablet that might be relevant to answers: It boots 14.04 ubuntu just fine. but wont boot 14.10 at all. the screen goes weird even with video=VGA-1:800x1280e reboot=pci,force in the command line, and no quiet or splash. Hard to troubleshoot what's going on with 14.10 when I cant even read any text to post, so I'm stuck working with the older kernel in 14.04

The problem is, while I've been using lubuntu for a couple years, I don't know anything about how to turn this into a working wifi driver to get it working. More to the point, I don't know enough to really be sure of what questions to ask, which really makes it harder to just google the information and research it. I am not looking for someone to spoon feed me step by step instructions, just for someone to point me in the right direction, so I can try to work this out. Even if it takes a couple months of reading and experimenting to get it to work, I want to get this working and learn as much as I can in the process. Anyone help me with what I should be looking up?

[chili555]

Ohhh, sorry! I can't give you the answer you expect.

The process is usually something like this, with a temporary working internet connection:

sudo apt-get install build-essential linux-headers-generic git
git clone https://github.com/hadess/rtl8723as.git
cd rtl8723as
make
sudo make install
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe 8723bs

It 'makes' with one warning but no errors on my 14.10 system. It doesn't call for firmware, so, assuming your device is covered, it ought to spring to life.

I await your report of success.

[stridast76]

ok, thank you thank you. everything went fine, until the end, when i just get the following:

stridast@stridast-Vega-8008W:~/rtl8723as$ sudo make install
make -C /lib/modules/3.13.0-37-generic/build SUBDIRS=/home/stridast/rtl8723as modules_install
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-37-generic'
INSTALL /home/stridast/rtl8723as/8723bs.ko
Can't read private key
DEPMOD 3.13.0-37-generic
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.13.0-37-generic'
stridast@stridast-Vega-8008W:~/rtl8723as$ sudo modprobe 8723bs
modprobe: FATAL: Module 8723bs not found.

[chili555]

Please try:

cd ~/rtl8723as
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe 8723bs

It worked for me.

Does it drive your device?

[stridast76]

well, it worked, at least in the fact that it didn't have the error that showed up last time. however, no luck with wifi working =/

[chili555]

I'll amend my instructions above for the benefit of the searchers.

Let's see some diagnostics:

dmesg | grep -e 8723 -e RTL
lspci -nn | grep 0280

What is your reference that suggests this is the correct driver so I may study the prior art?

[stridast76]

references that it's the right chip is, with my windows installation the wifi/bluetooth shows up as realtek rtl8723bs sdio (sorry no screenshot handy atm)

googling info on the realtek rtl8723bs I found multiple references to the Onda v975w windows tablet, and threads asking for help regarding it's wifi.

http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.linux....6/focus=127896

and the website the person who is working on porting linux to the onda v975w is here
https://wiki.gnome.org/BastienNocera/Ondav975w

(the link I posted earlier to the driver is from his website)

[chili555]

How about the diagnostics I requested?

If you are having trouble finding the pipe symbol | just post the wireless part of:

lspci -nn

And also the parts of:

tail -n20 /var/log/dmesg

...that relate to RTL or 8723. Thanks.

[stridast76]

Sorry, I had to get home to run the diagnostics. here's the end of the dnesg. not sure where to look to post lspci though

tail -n20 /var/log/dmesg
[ 71.913518] NET: Registered protocol family 31
[ 71.913524] Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
[ 71.913537] Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
[ 71.913544] Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
[ 71.913556] Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
[ 71.927969] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[ 71.927977] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[ 71.927992] Bluetooth: BNEP socket layer initialized
[ 71.947071] Bluetooth: RFCOMM TTY layer initialized
[ 71.947090] Bluetooth: RFCOMM socket layer initialized
[ 71.947106] Bluetooth: RFCOMM ver 1.11
[ 72.024742] type=1400 audit(1414358187.700:8): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf" pid=683 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 72.024761] type=1400 audit(1414358187.700:9): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_load" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=683 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 72.026128] type=1400 audit(1414358187.704:10): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/sbin/cupsd" pid=683 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 72.142804] type=1400 audit(1414358187.820:11): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/sbin/dhclient" pid=738 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 72.142824] type=1400 audit(1414358187.820:12): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action" pid=738 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 72.142836] type=1400 audit(1414358187.820:13): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script" pid=738 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 72.143902] type=1400 audit(1414358187.820:14): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action" pid=738 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 72.143918] type=1400 audit(1414358187.820:15): apparmor="STATUS" operation="profile_replace" profile="unconfined" name="/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script" pid=738 comm="apparmor_parser"
[ 72.221772] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain


00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation ValleyView SSA-CUnit [8086:0f00] (rev 0d)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0f31]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation ValleyView Gen7 [8086:0f31] (rev 0d) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
Subsystem: Intel Corporation ValleyView Gen7 [8086:0f31]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 104
Memory at 88000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
Memory at 80000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
I/O ports at 1000 [size=8]
Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: i915

00:14.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation ValleyView USB xHCI Host Controller [8086:0f35] (rev 0d) (prog-if 30 [XHCI])
Subsystem: Intel Corporation ValleyView USB xHCI Host Controller [8086:0f35]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 103
Memory at 88800000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd

00:1a.0 Encryption controller [1080]: Intel Corporation ValleyView SEC [8086:0f18] (rev 0d)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation ValleyView SEC [8086:0f18]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 255
Memory at 88700000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Memory at 88600000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation ValleyView Power Control Unit [8086:0f1c] (rev 0d)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation ValleyView Power Control Unit [8086:0f1c]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>

[chili555]

I see nothing remotely helpful there. Let's look at:

lsusb
sudo lshw -C network

Your dmesg looks like the bluetooth is working!