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Author Topic: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?  (Read 579 times)

Offline GNUser

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where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« on: August 18, 2024, 03:15:19 PM »
I'm considering getting a few of these mini pci-e cards to upgrade my home's old laptops to 802.11ac. The cards use the mt7612en chipset. According to this, the mt7612en chipset is supported by the in-kernel driver mt76. It seems I just need to grab the correct firmware file and it should work.

Does anyone know whether any of the firmware files in firmware-mediatek.tcz would work for the mt7612en chipset? I cannot find any files in the TCL15 x86_64 repo that contain the string "mt7612en" anywhere.

Offline CentralWare

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #1 on: August 18, 2024, 03:28:49 PM »
I just did a keyword search and this came up: wireless-mac80211fix-6.1.2-tinycore64.tcz
After looking at the file listing, it looks like your 76x2 is in there:
Code: [Select]
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt7601u/mt7601u.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7603/mt7603e.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7615/mt7615-common.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7615/mt7615e.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7615/mt7663s.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7615/mt7663u.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7615/mt7663-usb-sdio-common.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76-connac-lib.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76-sdio.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76-usb.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x02-lib.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x02-usb.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x0/mt76x0-common.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x0/mt76x0e.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x0/mt76x0u.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x2/mt76x2-common.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x2/mt76x2e.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x2/mt76x2u.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7915/mt7915e.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7921/mt7921-common.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7921/mt7921e.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7921/mt7921s.ko.gz
/usr/local/lib/modules/6.1.2-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7921/mt7921u.ko.gz


Offline GNUser

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #2 on: August 18, 2024, 03:34:14 PM »
Hi CentralWare. I'm pretty sure wireless-KERNEL.tcz in TCL15 x86_64 repo has the kernel module (driver) that I need:

Code: [Select]
./usr/local/lib/modules/6.6.8-tinycore64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt76x2/mt76x2e.ko.gz

What I'm looking for is the proprietary firmware (.bin file) that would also be needed for this card to work.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2024, 03:37:45 PM by GNUser »

Offline Paul_123

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #3 on: August 18, 2024, 03:57:11 PM »
There is a firmware-mediatek.tcz extension.

if all else fails, all firmware for linux is kept here. https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/

dmesg should tell you the name of the firmware its trying to load, if it is failing?
« Last Edit: August 18, 2024, 03:58:57 PM by Paul_123 »

Offline GNUser

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #4 on: August 18, 2024, 04:08:07 PM »
Hi Paul_123.

dmesg should tell you the name of the firmware its trying to load, if it is failing?

I haven't bought it yet. There is also the possibility that the firmware is embedded and it only needs the driver, similar to the situation with the Atheros AR9382. I'll buy one and try it out.

Offline GNUser

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #5 on: August 30, 2024, 11:34:57 PM »
I finally got my hands on a wireless network card (this one) that has the mt7612en chipset. It's working great in my X230 ThinkPad with coreboot and TCL15 x86_64.

This chipset uses the mt76x2e driver (provided by wireless-KERNEL.tcz) and two firmware files: mt7662.bin and mt7662_rom_patch.bin (both provided by firmware-mediatek.tcz). That's right, the firmware files do not have mt7612 anywhere in the filename--that would be too obvious ::)

I just want to point out to aus9 that there are two issues with firmware-mediatek.tcz:

1. the .info file states that mt7662.bin and mt7662_rom_patch.bin have been deleted from the extension, which is not true (both .bin files are still present in the extension, fortunately).

2. mt7662_rom_patch.bin is provided as /usr/local/lib/firmware/mediatek/mt7662_rom_patch.bin. However, the mt76x2e driver is hardwired to look for /lib/firmware/mt7662_rom_patch.bin. The wireless card only works if the file (or symlink) is placed in the expected location.

I'll also send aus9 a PM with these two observations. Thread is solved :)

P.S. I see aus9 is still not reachable by PM. That's a bummer. I'm assuming aus9@linuxquestions.org is his email account? I'll give it a shot. I don't have an account on linuxquestions.org so can't send him a PM there. I'm surprised that an extension maintainer cannot be reached via TCL forum PM.
« Last Edit: August 30, 2024, 11:45:37 PM by GNUser »

Offline CentralWare

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #6 on: August 31, 2024, 12:20:41 AM »
P.S. I see aus9 is still not reachable by PM

(Coffee spews onto the screen from unexpected laughter...)  Welcome to Open Source!

Yeah, I can imagine some people out there prefer peace and quiet! :)  They don't want to get involved with the day-to-day so they only show up when called for duty.

Some folks...  there's a language barrier (which in itself can be very frustrating on one or both sides - so it may be avoided) and for
others, they can simply get lost in "life in general" which I can relate to all too well at times, so you find yourself received with a
monotone voice stating "...the programmer you have reached has been temporarily disconnected.  Please try your PM again later."
<click>

There's also a few out there who are sadly no longer with us and fewer yet who have a clue that such things even took place.

We're hoping to change all of this.

Make a note to yourself regarding things you'd change with this extension - when our next extension related project is launched,
you'll be able to treat .info information the same way you'd edit the Wiki so little updates such as this are almost effortless when
people are willing to spend the extra minute to tweak things into perfection!

Offline GNUser

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #7 on: August 31, 2024, 06:51:58 AM »
(Coffee spews onto the screen from unexpected laughter...)  Welcome to Open Source
My comment about him not being reachable was not a complaint or a demand.

The idea of requiring contributors to be invested enough in TCL to at least have a forum/PM account does not seem outlandish to me. But if TCL developers want a low threshold to accept what they deem to be valuable contributions, that's also fine of course.
« Last Edit: August 31, 2024, 06:58:23 AM by GNUser »

Offline Paul_123

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2024, 08:00:46 AM »
He deleted his account.  We will deal with maintainer-ship as needed. 

The /lib/firmware issue is common, I’m pretty sure I rebuilt the extension in the piCore 15 repo already.  I thought it might have been just a raspi issue.

Offline curaga

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #9 on: August 31, 2024, 10:27:46 AM »
Yeah aus9 has deleted his account and rejoined something like a dozen times by now. His extensions have been good, he just likes to take a break occasionally.
The only barriers that can stop you are the ones you create yourself.

Offline GNUser

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #10 on: August 31, 2024, 10:52:56 AM »
Fair enough. Better to take breaks than burn out. I have used (and currently use) several of his extensions and they generally work perfectly.

when our next extension related project is launched,
you'll be able to treat .info information the same way you'd edit the Wiki so little updates such as this are almost effortless when
people are willing to spend the extra minute to tweak things into perfection!
I sometimes discover cosmetic errors in my extensions' .info files but don't want to bother the developers to fix them. Being able to fix them myself after submission, wiki-style, would be really nice.

Offline Rich

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #11 on: August 31, 2024, 11:30:33 AM »
Hi GNUser
... I sometimes discover cosmetic errors in my extensions' .info files but don't want to bother the developers to fix them. Being able to fix them myself after submission, wiki-style, would be really nice.
It's no bother. If you see something, say something, and I'll fix it. :)

Offline GNUser

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Re: where to download firmware for mt7612en chipset?
« Reply #12 on: August 31, 2024, 11:40:08 AM »
Good to know, Rich. Thank you :)