u/rtl8821cerfe2

▲ 36 r/linux

Looking for old Realtek wifi cards and USB adapters

Hi!

I'm looking for old Realtek wifi cards and USB adapters for my hobby, which is fixing/improving their Linux drivers:

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/?h=v7.1-rc2&qt=author&q=rtl8821cerfe2

If you're in the EU (+ Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein?) and you have a device you want to donate, please message me here or email me. (You can find my email address in any of the commits listed at the link above.)

Some of these devices can still be bought today, so money can help too.

  • RTL8188SU / RTL8191SU / RTL8192SU

    These USB adapters used to be supported by the r8712u module, but it was removed in kernel 6.13 because it used outdated APIs and no one did anything about that for years. r8712u probably can't support WPA3, so the goal is to add support for this chip to rtlwifi, which already supports the PCIe version.

  • RTL8191SE / RTL8192SE

  • RTL8723AE

  • RTL8192CE

  • RTL8192DE

  • RTL8723BE

  • RTL8192EE / RTL8192EEBT

  • RTL8723AU

    This was a special module used in some Lenovo Yoga laptops. I'm hoping it can be hooked up to a USB cable, since it uses USB to communicate with the system.

  • RTL8188CUS

    Lots of USB adapters used this chip but they're out of stock now.

  • RTL8192DU with two USB interfaces ("bNumInterfaces 2" in lsusb)

    This is an unusual USB adapter that can work in both the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band at the same time. Products that likely have this variant of the chip: SAPIDO AU-5125, SAPIDO AU-5015, Planex GW-USFang300, Planex GW-USDual300, Planex GW-USUltra300.

Newer devices are also welcome:

  • RTL8821CU (wifi + bluetooth) / RTL8822BU (wifi + bluetooth) / RTL8812CU (wifi only)

    These would be just to have a complete collection, as I already have other versions of these chips.

  • RTL8723DE

  • RTL8821CE

  • RTL8822BE

  • RTL8814AE

    As far as I can tell this is only found in desktop cards, which I can't use unless it's actually a mini PCIe card in an adapter.

  • RTL8852AE

  • RTL8852BE

  • RTL8852CE

  • RTL8922AE

  • RTL8922DE

reddit.com
u/rtl8821cerfe2 — 1 day ago

Looking for old Realtek wifi cards and USB adapters

Hi!

I'm looking for old Realtek wifi cards and USB adapters for my hobby, which is fixing/improving their Linux drivers:

https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/log/?h=v7.1-rc2&qt=author&q=rtl8821cerfe2

If you're in the EU (+ Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein?) and you have a device you want to donate, please message me here or email me. (You can find my email address in any of the commits listed at the link above.)

Some of these devices can still be bought today, so money can help too.

  • RTL8188SU / RTL8191SU / RTL8192SU

    These USB adapters used to be supported by the r8712u module, but it was removed in kernel 6.13 because it used outdated APIs and no one did anything about that for years. r8712u probably can't support WPA3, so the goal is to add support for this chip to rtlwifi, which already supports the PCIe version.

  • RTL8191SE / RTL8192SE

  • RTL8723AE

  • RTL8192CE

  • RTL8192DE

  • RTL8723BE

  • RTL8192EE / RTL8192EEBT

  • RTL8723AU

    This was a special module used in some Lenovo Yoga laptops. I'm hoping it can be hooked up to a USB cable, since it uses USB to communicate with the system.

  • RTL8188CUS

    Lots of USB adapters used this chip but they're out of stock now.

  • RTL8192DU with two USB interfaces ("bNumInterfaces 2" in lsusb)

    This is an unusual USB adapter that can work in both the 2.4 GHz band and the 5 GHz band at the same time. Products that likely have this variant of the chip: SAPIDO AU-5125, SAPIDO AU-5015, Planex GW-USFang300, Planex GW-USDual300, Planex GW-USUltra300.

Newer devices are also welcome:

  • RTL8821CU (wifi + bluetooth) / RTL8822BU (wifi + bluetooth) / RTL8812CU (wifi only)

    These would be just to have a complete collection, as I already have other versions of these chips.

  • RTL8723DE

  • RTL8821CE

  • RTL8822BE

  • RTL8814AE

    As far as I can tell this is only found in desktop cards, which I can't use unless it's actually a mini PCIe card in an adapter.

  • RTL8852AE

  • RTL8852BE

  • RTL8852CE

  • RTL8922AE

  • RTL8922DE

reddit.com
u/rtl8821cerfe2 — 1 day ago