Installing drivers for RTL8851BU

Hardware Support
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1

Hi,
First of all, I’ll say that I’m a new Linux user and I’m not entirely sure what I’m doing. I bought the TP-Link TX10UB card and I can’t get it installed. I need the Bluetooth to work as well (do I need to install separate drivers for that? If so, which ones?). I checked on Windows, and the card uses the RTL8851BU chipset. I found a few GitHub repositories with the driver (https://github.com/biglinux/rtl8831 or GitHub - kwankiu/rtl8851bu: Linux Driver for USB WiFi Adapters that are based on the RTL8831BU and RTL8851BU Chipsets), but the installation attempt always ends the same way. I do the following:
git clone (...)
cd {downloaded directory}
sudo make
sudo make install
[install -p -m 644 8851bu.ko /lib/modules/6.8.0-58-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/sbin/depmod -a 6.8.0-58-generic]
sudo modprobe rtl8851bu
[modprobe: FATAL: Module rtl8851bu not found in directory /lib/modules/6.8.0-58-generic]

The system version is Zorin OS Lite 17.3.

2

This is your source.
Did you use DKMS install?

After performing these steps, run
sudo dkms install .

DKMS is Dynamic Kernel Module Support, allowing the module to be lifted to each kernel upgrade.

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3

Did the DKMS install work?? I tried with DKMS but ended up just using 'make' and 'modprobe' to get going.. Just wondering! I also have an rtl8812au / rtl8821au but, doesn't seem to work as well. Only tops out ~100Mbps.. weird. May play with it to see what all I can do with it.

4

The module name in the modprobe command should be "8851bu", without the "rtl" prefix.

The driver probably doesn't know the USB ID of the TX10UB. You need to add it to os_dep/linux/usb_intf.c like so:

#ifdef CONFIG_RTL8851B
	/*=== Realtek demoboard ===*/
	{USB_DEVICE_AND_INTERFACE_INFO(USB_VENDER_ID_REALTEK, 0xB851, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff), .driver_info = RTL8851B},
	{USB_DEVICE_AND_INTERFACE_INFO(0x3625, 0x010b, 0xff, 0xff, 0xff), .driver_info = RTL8851B},
#endif /* CONFIG_RTL8851B */

Then recompile, reinstall, and reload it.

Also, you need to install usb_modeswitch. This device pretends to be a CD-ROM drive when you first plug it in. usb_modeswitch should automatically switch it from CD-ROM mode to wifi+bluetooth mode for you.

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