bes2600 driver

[diederik]

The Mac randomization is coming from the bes2600 driver every boot and that is very weird

Maybe some of the other Pinetab2 Users here can tell, if they have the same Problem ?

PS: By the way, i tested SailfishOS Port from @piggz
The port itself is very stable, but the same problem with the random MAC-Addresses...

They should as it's a bug in the driver (or firmware).

It was not the best decision to choose BES2600 Chip for the PineTab2. In 2023, a chip which have only 802.11a/b/g/n and has not been tested on modern kernels is really very weird.
PineTabV has normal Realtek Chip with 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax
Why the hell?

Supply chain issues is the cause for the BES2600 driver. I agree that not having ac was disappointing.
The PineTab-V uses the same chipset as used by various other Pine64 devices and is and works fine.

The Gitlab page with source code for the bes2600 is maintained by 1 Person. Last commit was 4 month ago. I am very doubt, we will ever see a stable bes2600 for the Pinetab2

Because the Problem is complex, because the chip is mess and because its maintained only by one person (which done a very good job, but stil...)

Maybe Pine64 will see the Problem and will bring out replacement mainboards for PineTab2 with a normal wifi chip.

I would be VERY surprised if Pine64 would bring out replacement boards.

Unless someone(s) start working on the driver (which could mean writing a new one from scratch), I don't think we'll see any change in the (poor) state of the bes2600 driver.

IIRC, the 'maintainer' of that driver has said he has no interest in working on it. Consequently ...

The driver is MONTHS away from being useful ...

... I now think I was WAY too optimistic when I wrote that.