Pre-compiled updated mwlwifi drivers for stable releases

Yet another new release available:

[*] This merge also comprises a long list of changes, mostly related to 88W8997 (I don't know of any device that uses that chip, by the way):

  • Added firmware for 88W8997 (version 8.4.0.11).
  • Added code to support 88W8997.
  • Enlarged minimum head room from 64 to 128.
  • Fixed problem: ack socket buffer is not correct.
  • Added code to calculate tx init rate.
  • Added code to support mesh.
  • Corrected channel setting for KF2.
  • Corrected station adding for KF2.
  • Corrected power setting for KF2.
  • Modified the code to avoid warning from mac80211.
  • Added code to display channel definition for vif.
  • Added code to display mesh IEs of mesh vif.
  • Added host command set slot time for KF2.
  • Added host command EDMAC control for KF2.
  • Added extra HW feature for KF2.
  • Removed non-ported features for KF2.
  • Added code to check and dump BOOTP/DHCP packets.
  • Upgrade 88W8997 firmware to 8.4.0.15.
  • Change driver version to 10.3.6.0-20170912.
  • Upgrade 88W8997 firmware to 8.4.0.23.
  • Adjusted tx headroom based on chip type.
  • Change driver version to 10.3.6.0-20171019.
  • Avoided copy of rx status to save CPU utlization.
  • Corrected the way to change tx headroom.
  • Upgrade 88W8997 firmware to 8.4.0.26.
  • Don't ack null or qos null data packet.
  • Change driver version to 10.3.6.0-20171129.
  • Added header file etherdevice.h.
  • Removed compile error and warnings.
  • Change driver version to 10.3.6.0-20180420.
  • Added code to support 88W8997.

As always, I won't be able to test this myself until the weekend, so it should be handled with care.

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Great news, hopefully @davidc502 is able to get those into his builds :+1:

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@eduperez The latest driver build from today is working fantastic as always. I've been running it since it hit my RSS feeds approximately 5-10 minutes after you uploaded it to Github. I've got around 6 hours or so of uptime right now and have not experienced any issues.

When 18.06 goes stable, are you going to compile just for 18.06 or would you compile for both (17.x and 18x)?

Thank you for your efforts, always appreciated.

I'm glad to know it works, thanks!

Now it only takes me five minutes to compile, upload, and announce each new release. When 18.06 comes out, I would not mind doing two releases in parallel.

Just tried the new driver it works but I have found the new driver doesn't seem to support MCS 8 thu 15 so only achieves 135Mb on older 5ghz chipsets that support 300Mbps

Rolled back to not last driver but driver before (I had it to hand) and that seems to support the higher speed MCS Values.

The 88W8997 appears to be an older chip (not hot off the press) targeted at low power consumption. It is a wave 2 AC device, but only has 2x2 mu-MIMO.

I only found one product containing it, which was an M.2 connectorised wlan card
AzureWave AW-CM308NF

For future, the exciting one to watch for is 88W9064, which is of the same family for the WRT series chips, but will be 802.11ax capable, and has “zero wait” DFS, whatever that means.

@c0manche Are you BrainSlayer, by a chance (https://github.com/kaloz/mwlwifi/issues/302)?
There is a new release available, that should fix the issue you reported:

@eduperez no I am not I just stumbled on the bug when I noticed my xbox one was no longer connecting at 300Mbps

I did report it though last night on Kalozs repo

I will download the new version and check it later thanks

My mistake, sorry... I saw that bug report, exactly the same as you reported here, and misread that someone called BrainSlayer had opened it; now I see it was you, I need more coffee.

Been running latest driver over 24hrs now running great no problems

@eduperez Would you consider compiling a build for 18.06.0-rc1? Thank you for your time.

Yes, I have everything ready, was just waiting for the official announcement. I am currently traveling, will do it as soon as I get back to my computer.

However, the version included in the most recent snapshot (and I guess that on RC too) tends to be fairy updated, so probably there is no reason to rush.

Unfortunately, RC1 is failing to build for me: there is some patch for usbip that gets rejected, and the whole process halts; I'm currently investigating the issue.

Thank you for letting me know, I appreciate it.

usbip is currently without maintainer, but there is one patch proposal in https://github.com/openwrt/packages/pull/6062

That should be applicable also for 18.06, I think.

I just dissabled usbip completely, and it finished building, thanks. But it does not seem to be creating all the firmware packages (in 18.06.0, firmware files go into separate packages), and I am looking into it.

Ok, looks like all other firmware files are not needed for the devices supported by OpenWrt, so let's try this:

Files available at https://github.com/eduperez/mwlwifi_LEDE/releases/tag/c2f82f1

mwlwifi driver version 10.3.8.0-20180615 commit c2f82f1 for LEDE 17.01.4:

  • All platforms
    • kmod-mwlwifi_4.4.92.10.3.8.0-20180615-c2f82f1-9326_arm_cortex-a9_vfpv3.ipk

mwlwifi driver version 10.3.8.0-20180615 commit c2f82f1 for LEDE 18.06.0-RC1:

  • WRT1200AC, WRT1900AC, and WRT1900ACS
    • kmod-mwlwifi_4.14.50.10.3.8.0-20180615-c2f82f1a-1_arm_cortex-a9_vfpv3.ipk
    • mwlwifi-firmware-88w8864_10.3.8.0-20180615-c2f82f1a-1_arm_cortex-a9_vfpv3.ipk
  • WRT3200ACM
    • kmod-mwlwifi_4.14.50.10.3.8.0-20180615-c2f82f1a-1_arm_cortex-a9_vfpv3.ipk
    • mwlwifi-firmware-88w8964_10.3.8.0-20180615-c2f82f1a-1_arm_cortex-a9_vfpv3.ipk

This is highly experimental, I haven't even installed 18.06.0-rc1 myself, and there is a good chance that you will brick your device.

It didn't brick, after:

WRT3200 in /tmp # opkg install kmod-mwlwifi_4.14.50.10.3.8.0-20180615-c2f82f1a-1_arm_cortex-a9_vfpv3.ipk mwlwifi-firmware-88w8964_10.3.8.0-20180615-c2f82f1a-1_arm_cortex-a9_vfpv3.ipk  --force-downgrade
Downgrading kmod-mwlwifi on root from 4.14.50+2018-03-30-fcaea79a-1 to 4.14.50+10.3.8.0-20180615-c2f82f1a-1...
Downgrading mwlwifi-firmware-88w8964 on root from 2018-03-30-fcaea79a-1 to 10.3.8.0-20180615-c2f82f1a-1...
Configuring kmod-mwlwifi.
Configuring mwlwifi-firmware-88w8964.
WRT3200 in /tmp # wifi
'radio2' is disabled
'radio2' is disabled
WRT3200 in /tmp #

Both active radios came up and seem to be working well. I've only just installed them tho.

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These latest drivers are working absolutely great here now on 18.06 RC1. Thank you so much for your time and effort in sharing these, much appreciated. I will continue running some more tests but so far my initial testing is very positive.

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@eduperez, could you please confirm if the drivers you posted include this commit mentioned in another thread: https://github.com/kaloz/mwlwifi/commit/c2f82f1ac18ed7fb48be1eb8d678a3cf32192069 ?
Thanks!