First of all, I'm aware that there's no driver yet for the internal wifi / bluetooth device. I've been using a combination of USB-A to USB-C adapters to do all manner of things from usb tethering off my phone, utilizing a USB-A wifi adapter, and using a USB to ethernet adapter. While all of these options previously worked with the danctnix installation, none of them appear to be functioning with Mobian.
I did have to use the USB to ethernet adapter with the danctnix installation first in order to update the OS before the USB wifi adapter would function.. and I figure I might need to do something similar with the mobian install.. but I've run into a bit of an issue.
At some point, the USB tethering on my phone just.. decided to stop working with things (I think that's a phone thing, though.) The USB ethernet adapter worked with danctnix and the USB wifi adapter worked once I upgraded the device.. but after installing U-Boot and Mobian according to the instructions, while the operating system appears to function, I cannot get any level of network connectivity to hopefully get my wifi adapter functioning.
Interestingly, both the USB to ethernet adapter and the USB wifi adapter show up under `lsusb` and there's a "usb0" connection that shows as "unavailable" when running `nmcli`, but I'm at a bit of a loss at this point for what to do now.
Does anyone have any ideas about how I might go about getting some kind of network connectivity on the device?
For now, I would stick with the standard configuration: (DanctNIX), unless you’re a programmer.
The Debian WIKI doesn’t have a network configuration page for a reason; they don’t have a working solution yet.
Satisfied PinePhone, Pinebook Pro & PineTab2 owner; Thank you Pine64Team for your work! 
(07-23-2023, 08:30 PM)Cornelia Xaos Wrote: I've been using a combination of USB-A to USB-C adapters to do all manner of things from usb tethering off my phone, utilizing a USB-A wifi adapter, and using a USB to ethernet adapter. While all of these options previously worked with the danctnix installation, none of them appear to be functioning with Mobian.
Can you share the exact type of network/wifi adapters?
The 'friendly' identifier is hopefully enough, but `lsusb` also outputs a USB ID in the form of <4-numbers-or-a-to-f>:<4-numbers-or-a-to-f> and that uniquely (and precisely) identifies the device.
The Mobian system has 2 types of issues:
- Missing kernel modules for several devices
- The 'non-free-firmware' archive component is not enabled and thus no firmware is available or installed. Especially wifi devices often require it to function at all
Quote:The USB ethernet adapter worked with danctnix and the USB wifi adapter worked once I upgraded the device.. but after installing U-Boot and Mobian according to the instructions, while the operating system appears to function, I cannot get any level of network connectivity to hopefully get my wifi adapter functioning.
The danctnix update gave you a new kernel where some extra modules were likely enabled. Possibly some extra firmware too.
While Mobian lacks it. Even after enabling 'firmware-non-free' and installing the firmware package my wireless device needs, it still doesn't work. Which is 99% certain due to missing kernel modules, which are present in 'normal' Debian kernel (and is therefor also much larger in size).
The USB non-wireless NIC does work, but the weight of the adapter and cable likely isn't too good for my USB-C-to-A adapter.
Quote:Interestingly, both the USB to ethernet adapter and the USB wifi adapter show up under `lsusb` and there's a "usb0" connection that shows as "unavailable" when running `nmcli`, but I'm at a bit of a loss at this point for what to do now.
The kernel sees the USB ID and therefor knows what it is. But if the kernel module which would make it work isn't available, then it can't make it actually work.
I noticed the usb0 thing too, but I don't know where that's coming from.
Sorry for the delay on this.. been very busy. 
(07-24-2023, 10:19 AM)dachalife Wrote: For now, I would stick with the standard configuration: (DanctNIX), unless you’re a programmer.
The Debian WIKI doesn’t have a network configuration page for a reason; they don’t have a working solution yet.
I mean.. I am a programmer.. but I don't exactly have time right now to do more than maybe compile a kernel. (Though I don't know if I've ever built a kernel from scratch before.. )
(07-25-2023, 10:12 AM)diederik Wrote: (07-23-2023, 08:30 PM)Cornelia Xaos Wrote: I've been using a combination of USB-A to USB-C adapters to do all manner of things from usb tethering off my phone, utilizing a USB-A wifi adapter, and using a USB to ethernet adapter. While all of these options previously worked with the danctnix installation, none of them appear to be functioning with Mobian.
Can you share the exact type of network/wifi adapters?
The 'friendly' identifier is hopefully enough, but `lsusb` also outputs a USB ID in the form of <4-numbers-or-a-to-f>:<4-numbers-or-a-to-f> and that uniquely (and precisely) identifies the device.
The Mobian system has 2 types of issues:
- Missing kernel modules for several devices
- The 'non-free-firmware' archive component is not enabled and thus no firmware is available or installed. Especially wifi devices often require it to function at all
Quote:The USB ethernet adapter worked with danctnix and the USB wifi adapter worked once I upgraded the device.. but after installing U-Boot and Mobian according to the instructions, while the operating system appears to function, I cannot get any level of network connectivity to hopefully get my wifi adapter functioning.
The danctnix update gave you a new kernel where some extra modules were likely enabled. Possibly some extra firmware too.
While Mobian lacks it. Even after enabling 'firmware-non-free' and installing the firmware package my wireless device needs, it still doesn't work. Which is 99% certain due to missing kernel modules, which are present in 'normal' Debian kernel (and is therefor also much larger in size).
The USB non-wireless NIC does work, but the weight of the adapter and cable likely isn't too good for my USB-C-to-A adapter.
Quote:Interestingly, both the USB to ethernet adapter and the USB wifi adapter show up under `lsusb` and there's a "usb0" connection that shows as "unavailable" when running `nmcli`, but I'm at a bit of a loss at this point for what to do now.
The kernel sees the USB ID and therefor knows what it is. But if the kernel module which would make it work isn't available, then it can't make it actually work.
I noticed the usb0 thing too, but I don't know where that's coming from.
Wifi Adapter: Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0bda:c811 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 802.11ac NIC
Ethernet Adapter: Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0b95:1790 ASIX Electronics Corp. AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet
Unfortunate about the Mobian kernel missing all those features.. I get it's for mobile devices usually so having all the firmware support for additional peripherals can be very unnecessary.. but.. I'd take a bloated option if it was available (at least right now until the wifi driver for the built-in hardware is cleaned up and ready for dkms or however they plan on distributing it..)
Thanks again for any input you all have. If it does end up that I just need to wait a lot longer before I can start using the tablet daily, so be it. (I am a lot more comfortable with debian-based systems than arch ones.. and also think phosh looks way better than plasma mobile.. or at least how it was configued for danctnix.. The UX is definitely more akin to what wanted with phosh.)
(07-23-2023, 08:30 PM)Cornelia Xaos Wrote: diederik Wrote:Can you share the exact type of network/wifi adapters?
The 'friendly' identifier is hopefully enough, but `lsusb` also outputs a USB ID in the form of <4-numbers-or-a-to-f>:<4-numbers-or-a-to-f> and that uniquely (and precisely) identifies the device.
The Mobian system has 2 types of issues:
- Missing kernel modules for several devices
- The 'non-free-firmware' archive component is not enabled and thus no firmware is available or installed. Especially wifi devices often require it to function at all
Wifi Adapter: Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0bda:c811 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 802.11ac NIC
Ethernet Adapter: Bus 003 Device 003: ID 0b95:1790 ASIX Electronics Corp. AX88179 Gigabit Ethernet
Unfortunate about the Mobian kernel missing all those features.. I get it's for mobile devices usually so having all the firmware support for additional peripherals can be very unnecessary.. but.. I'd take a bloated option if it was available (at least right now until the wifi driver for the built-in hardware is cleaned up and ready for dkms or however they plan on distributing it..)
Thanks again for any input you all have. If it does end up that I just need to wait a lot longer before I can start using the tablet daily, so be it. (I am a lot more comfortable with debian-based systems than arch ones.. and also think phosh looks way better than plasma mobile.. or at least how it was configued for danctnix.. The UX is definitely more akin to what wanted with phosh.)
https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb:0bda-c811 indicates that a 6.2/6.3 kernel with the right configuration should be enough for your wifi device. And you very likely need the firmware-realtek package. The 'normal' Debian kernel has support for that device since 6.4.1-1~exp1.
https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb:0b95-1790 indicates any non-ancient kernel could work ... but looking a bit further hints that it may be trickier then initially thought.
You could try building a kernel from this branch: https://salsa.debian.org/diederik/linux/...aster-next which is based on Debian's 6.5-rc3 kernel (which hasn't been released yet)
@ Cornelia Xaos
please don't give up! I got my PineTab2 recently and had pretty much the same problem (but another wifi adapter).
I'm not involved in development at all, so what I'm posting here is not a definitive guide, but I asked in mobian matrix/irc channel and Julian helped me out with these steps:
Quote:Please enable the staging repository by adding
Code: deb http://repo.mobian.org/ staging main
Code: sudo apt update && sudo apt install linux-image-6.4-rockchip
You will actually also have to add non-free-firmware at the end of the deb http://repo.mobian.org trixie main line in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mobian.list file, and run sudo apt update && sudo apt install firmware-realtek. So, if you haven't already done that, it makes sense to modify the file once, add both things, then run sudo apt update && sudo apt install firmware-realtek linux-image-6.4-rockchip, before then rebooting. That way, everything is done at once.
If you are wondering how to update without working wifi, you can follow this link for connection sharing from your PC via USB https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php...pc-via-usb
Again, I'm not involved in mobian, so these instructions might be already outdated, but I'm sure they are happy to help
(09-02-2023, 07:06 AM)lllll Wrote: @Cornelia Xaos
please don't give up! I got my PineTab2 recently and had pretty much the same problem (but another wifi adapter).
I'm not involved in development at all, so what I'm posting here is not a definitive guide, but I asked in mobian matrix/irc channel and Julian helped me out with these steps:
Quote:Please enable the staging repository by adding
Code: deb http://repo.mobian.org/ staging main
Code: sudo apt update && sudo apt install linux-image-6.4-rockchip
You will actually also have to add non-free-firmware at the end of the deb http://repo.mobian.org trixie main line in the /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mobian.list file, and run sudo apt update && sudo apt install firmware-realtek. So, if you haven't already done that, it makes sense to modify the file once, add both things, then run sudo apt update && sudo apt install firmware-realtek linux-image-6.4-rockchip, before then rebooting. That way, everything is done at once.
If you are wondering how to update without working wifi, you can follow this link for connection sharing from your PC via USB https://wiki.mobian-project.org/doku.php...pc-via-usb
Again, I'm not involved in mobian, so these instructions might be already outdated, but I'm sure they are happy to help
It works for me, but the package linux-image-6.4-rockchip doesn't exist. I've installed linux-image-6.6-rockchip instead.
Code: #!/bin/bash
# System update
sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y
#(Optional) USB WiFi drivers
sudo echo "deb http://repo.mobian.org/ staging main non-free-firmware" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
sudo apt install linux-image-6.6-rockchip
Hello! Long time, very busy.
I gave it another shot tonight, and some progress! I grabbed the latest mobian installer and installed it. The installer definitely seems to have come along.. and now comes with the 6.6 kernel!
Unfortunately, the wifi adapter still does not work.... despite the fact that the page you linked, ........
I spied "firmware-realtek" in your post, @diederek , and went back to my device. Fiddled with the apt sources list to properly grab the non-free-firmware and installed firmware-realtek.. and now it works.. It finally works. 
So.. thanks to everyone who contributed to this chat. It's still not as nice as the built-in working (any idea where to see what the current status of that is?) but it's much better than having to sit connected by a cable and leagues better than networking just not working.
Thanks again!
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