[mythtv-users] OT: Recommended Wi-Fi NIC for Linux

[Will Dormann]

On 1/29/24 2:32 PM, Gary Buhrmaster wrote:
> I forgot to mention that the kernel will request
> firmware from the max API version supported,
> down to the minimum API version supported
> for that kernel.  


Ok, yeah, this seems to be the case.  Just on a whim, by dropping the 
iwlwifi-ty-a0-gf-a0-86.ucode blob with the rest of the firmwares, Linux 
sill loads the older 83 version.  So presumably this is evidence that 
indeed the kernel does have a maximum version that it'll attempt to load.


It is possible the 6.5 kernel
> only supports ...83... as the highest validated
> firmware version.  As 6.5 is EOL, you might
> need to move to a later kernel to get support
> for a later firmware level (I know kernel 6.7
> supports the version 86 version firmware).


Yeah, it might be an option. Though TBH, this is Ubuntu 22.04 with the 
updated HWE kernel.  I played briefly with the mainline 
<https://github.com/bkw777/mainline> package for installing Ubuntu 
mainline kernel builds.  And while it did install 6.7 OK, it put 
packages in a weird state because the kernel package was built on a 
system that had a newer version of libc than what 22.04 provides.  So I 
pretty quickly jettisoned that idea.

I also briefly played with a Broadcom Wi-Fi adapter that I happened to 
have around and that was a complete nightmare in and of itself that I 
gave up on before getting it completely working.


For now, I've got some iwlwifi module options set to see if they help:
options iwlmvm power_scheme=1
options iwlwifi bt_coex_active=0

But I probably won't be confident that it's had an effect for a week 
maybe.  I've also heard that the ALFA AWUS036AXML is also an option that 
"just works" and well at that, while also supporting Wi-Fi 6E, FWIW.

Failing any of that, I suppose when Ubuntu 24.04 is released, maybe the 
kernel is new enough to avoid most of this trouble.  It's just 
disappointing to see how much of a wild west the whole concept as 
rudimentary as "working wifi" is in the land of Linux in the year 2024.  :-/



-WD