TP-Link TL-WN725N version 2 with 3.8 Kernel

[kyle_l88]

Hey guys, I am hoping this is in the right section. I have been looking around for a few days now and so far what I can tell is that this USB Wifi dongle aka TL-WN725N V2 works out of the box on openelec and other distros. It seems people have compiled the modules for other kernel versions and in some of the distros it's already included. It seems that there is not a module around for the 3.8.13+ kernel that we are running in Xbian Beta 1. Does anyone have any idea how I could get this working? I am somewhat familiar with building and compiling drivers from scratch for linux normally but it seems there is a lack of info for this kernel so far. Maybe it's too new still and no one has really attempted to create a module yet and pass it around ( I remember that people were passing around the .ko file for this wifi dongle for other flavors of xbmc ).
Any help or direction would be much appreciated.

---

Andd.. I Just realized this should be in Hardware as I found another thread topic there on this. That being said I wonder if there is a way to build a new module for the 3.8 kernels

[mk01]

(15th Jul, 2013 12:28 AM)kyle_l88 Wrote:  Andd.. I Just realized this should be in Hardware as I found another thread topic there on this. That being said I wonder if there is a way to build a new module for the 3.8 kernels

with each xbian-package-kernel package, we create also xbian-package-kernel-headers. this package contains development enviro for (mostly) modules development.

clone the git repo https://github.com/liwei/rpi-rtl8188eu.git and compile with running this command from inside the "rpi-rtl……" directory

Code:

CONFIG_RTL8188EU=m make -C /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/build  M=`pwd`

the original git source is compatible with 3.6, 3.5, I patched it against 3.8. but no idea, whether correctly, I don't have the card (have not tried compiling against 3.9, but does not compile agains 3.10).

and found this one "git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu.git", this one compiles against 3.10.0 …
just run

Code:

make

[kyle_l88]

Okay awesome that is very helpful. I managed to get the headers installed and cloned the repos but it seems I am missing something a long the way. I'm guessing its some package for the source of the kernels?
Here is the output:

Code:

make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE= -C /lib/modules/3.8.13+/build M=/root/rtl8188eu  modules
make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.8.13+'
  CC [M]  /root/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.o
In file included from /usr/src/linux-headers-3.8.13+/arch/arm/include/asm/page.h:161:0,
                 from include/linux/mmzone.h:20,
                 from include/linux/gfp.h:4,
                 from include/linux/slab.h:12,
                 from /root/rtl8188eu/include/osdep_service.h:36,
                 from /root/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.c:23:
/usr/src/linux-headers-3.8.13+/arch/arm/include/asm/memory.h:22:25: fatal error: mach/memory.h: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
make[2]: *** [/root/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.o] Error 1
make[1]: *** [_module_/root/rtl8188eu] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-headers-3.8.13+'
make: *** [modules] Error 2

This happens in both git repo's if I build with either of the directions you showed above.
Currently I am looking around for other things I may need to install.
Thanks for the help.

[mk01]

(15th Jul, 2013 08:25 AM)kyle_l88 Wrote:  This happens in both git repo's if I build with either of the directions you showed above.
Currently I am looking around for other things I may need to install.
Thanks for the help.

the package is missing few include files. I surprised it's available online in this form, where you have the headers deb from? It needs to be taken out, or updated.

to avoid more hassle, just take the attachment unpack it and copy to /usr/src/.../include .

so the hierarchy will be "/usr/src/.../include/mach/[all_the_files.h]"

mk

ok, you don't have to tell me, 3.8.13+ and 3.9.7 on git has those files missing. the last 3.9.8+ (distributed in beta1.1) is ok.
even the older have been compiled with group scheduling enabled, thus making impossible to use "renice". test / try the wifi as you have the setup now, but I would upgrade to the latest. the source you took should be ok, on 3.10.0 compiled without issues.

[kyle_l88]

Awesome! So after messing around with the kernel headers since they wouldn't install for some reason I was finally able to build the second git repo that you showed me. I might as well outline the steps here as people will probably want to do this in the future .

Steps for 3.9.8+ kernel (Xbian Beta 1.1):

Code:

git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu.git
cd rtl8188eu
make
** wait for the module to compile **
sudo install -p -m 644 8188eu.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe 8188eu

And that should be it, the device now shows up in iwconfig. Additional information is here if anyone needs to set up wpa. It seems to work for me fine through the GUI:
http://tech.enekochan.com/2013/05/29/tp-link-tl-wn725n-version-2-in-raspberry-pi/

[passado]

Hello,

I’m having this error:

root@xbian:/home/xbian/rtl8188eu# make
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE= -C /lib/modules/3.9.8+/build M=/home/xbian/rtl8188eu modules
make[1]: Entering directory /usr/src/linux-headers-3.9.8+'
CC [M] /home/xbian/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.o
/bin/sh: 1: scripts/basic/fixdep: not found
make[2]: *** [/home/xbian/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.o] Error 127
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/xbian/rtl8188eu] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory /usr/src/linux-headers-3.9.8+’
make: *** [modules] Error 2

Have a solution?

Regards

[kyle_l88]

(22nd Aug, 2013 08:29 AM)passado Wrote:  Hello,

I’m having this error:

root@xbian:/home/xbian/rtl8188eu# make
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE= -C /lib/modules/3.9.8+/build M=/home/xbian/rtl8188eu modules
make[1]: Entering directory /usr/src/linux-headers-3.9.8+'
CC [M] /home/xbian/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.o
/bin/sh: 1: scripts/basic/fixdep: not found
make[2]: *** [/home/xbian/rtl8188eu/core/rtw_ap.o] Error 127
make[1]: *** [_module_/home/xbian/rtl8188eu] Error 2
make[1]: Leaving directory /usr/src/linux-headers-3.9.8+’
make: *** [modules] Error 2

Have a solution?

Regards

Hey, not sure I have seen this before. I will see what I can figure out when I get some time. I finally got my Pi set up and just wanted to leave it so that I didn't break anything else . That almost sounds like something is missing in the repo or something. The other guy helping me on here may have a better idea, but it seems that its all a bit flakey for this USB Wifi dongle at the moment.

---

Okay so here is one solution. I can give you my .ko file. It's already compiled so you just have to install the module. Look at my other post above and follow the instructions after the compilation part. Here is the link to it on my dropbox public:

3.9.8+ 8188eu.ko file

Keep in mind this is for the 3.9.8+ kernel so I doubt it will work with any other kernels. For that you would need to recompile.

[yani992]

(18th Jul, 2013 09:46 AM)kyle_l88 Wrote:  Awesome! So after messing around with the kernel headers since they wouldn't install for some reason I was finally able to build the second git repo that you showed me. I might as well outline the steps here as people will probably want to do this in the future .

Steps for 3.9.8+ kernel (Xbian Beta 1.1):

Code:

git clone https://github.com/lwfinger/rtl8188eu.git
cd rtl8188eu
make
** wait for the module to compile **
sudo install -p -m 644 8188eu.ko /lib/modules/`uname -r`/kernel/drivers/net/wireless
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe 8188eu

And that should be it, the device now shows up in iwconfig. Additional information is here if anyone needs to set up wpa. It seems to work for me fine through the GUI:
http://tech.enekochan.com/2013/05/29/tp-link-tl-wn725n-version-2-in-raspberry-pi/

Hello,

thanks for the procedure. I was trying to compile the driver in other ways and I got stuck in the middle of the compiling process.
Finally now I have my compiled 8188eu.ko

But I have a HUGE problem now!! After I reboot my RPi, it seems to be dead! I only have the PWR led on constant red light, but nothing else. Xbian does not start anymore.
I re-formatted my SD card and reinstall everything. Everything is working, but after I load the new module the system get corrupted somehow. I even tried with your pre-compiled modeule (just to be sure) and I have the same behaviour.

Does anyone have any idea?

Thank you.

[mk01]

how are you loading the module ?