Explore the Kernel make install secret

[cooker]

@ xalius,  Thanks for your reply on another post (quote below) I just saw.

https://forum.pine64.org/showthread.php?...1#pid35801

The 'correct' way to do this is like ayufan does to make a debian package and then use flash-kernel to update the things in /boot and /lib/modules... I usually do it quick and dirty when I try things out and just copy Image to /boot/efi and the modules to /lib/modules manually... but make backups before you do that in case your new kernel doesn't work as expected or something goes wrong while moving the files around...

I guess with more and more people building their own configs and kernel versions, we need to write some tutorial on how to do that on ARM boards, but it's not really different from PC's, just that usually there is u-boot instead of grub and the additional issue of updating the dtb (devicetree) in case there were changes in the hardware config...

I use your quick and dirty approach, following the "make -j 5", I
$ sudo make modules_install        # it creates /lib/modules/4.4.112-g4865855c/...
$ sudo make firmware_install
$ sudo cp /home/me/linux-kernel/arch/arm64/boot/Image /boot/efi/Image
$ sudo cp /home/me/linux-kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/{ath9k.ko, ath9k_common.ko, ath9k_htc.ko, ath9k_hw.ko} /lib/modules/4.4.112-g4865885c/kernel/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/.

I ignore the arch/arm64/boot/dts/rockchip/rk3328-rock64.dtb this time
reboot

I can now modprobe ath9k.
But "ip a" does not show the new device, I check dmesg

Code:

rock64@rock64:~$ dmesg | grep ath                                               
[    4.825180] systemd[1]: Reached target Paths.                                
[    6.620774] usb 4-1: ath9k_htc: Firmware ath9k_htc/htc_9271-1.4.0.fw requested
[    6.637612] usb 4-1: Direct firmware load for ath9k_htc/htc_9271-1.4.0.fw fai
led with error -2                                                               
[    6.637638] usb 4-1: ath9k_htc: Firmware htc_9271.fw requested               
[    6.637722] usb 4-1: ath9k_htc: Failed to get firmware htc_9271.fw           
[    6.648731] usb 4-1: ath9k_htc: USB layer deinitialized                      
[    6.648988] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath9k_htc

all three usb ports give same error.

Is it dtb related?
or
I better try other kernel source (mainline, vanilla, etc)
or
....