Realtek 8152 usb ethernet adapter not working

[maxnoe]

What are you trying to do?

Using a realtek 8152 USB to ethernet adapter

What did you expect to happen?

A working ethernet link

What actually happened?

The device is recognised by udev:

[   27.325547] configfs-gadget gadget: high-speed config #1: c
[  215.806554] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8150
[  220.094436] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 2
[  223.015096] usb 1-1: new full-speed USB device number 3 using ohci
[  223.246344] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=0bda, idProduct=8152
[  223.246507] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[  223.246566] usb 1-1: Product: USB 10/100 LAN
[  223.246611] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: Realtek
[  223.246652] usb 1-1: SerialNumber: A0CEC8052DDF

But ip link does not show any new ethernet link.
On my arch notebook, the usb2ethernet adapter is recognised immediately and a new network link is created using the r8152 kernel module.

This kernel module is not available on the ev3dev

What hardware and software are you using (including version numbers)?

Image file:         ev3dev-jessie-ev3-generic-2017-02-11
Kernel version:     4.4.47-19-ev3dev-ev3
Board:              LEGO MINDSTORMS EV3 Programmable Brick
Revision:           0006
Brickman:           0.8.1
ev3devKit:          0.4.3

[maxnoe]

For comparision, here the dmesg output on my arch notebook:

[Feb14 00:01] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 15 using xhci_hcd
[  +0.357323] usb 1-3: reset high-speed USB device number 15 using xhci_hcd
[  +0.240799] r8152 1-3:1.0 eth1: v1.08.7
[  +0.568797] r8152 1-3:1.0 enp0s20f0u3: renamed from eth1
[  +0.027458] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): enp0s20f0u3: link is not ready
[  +0.028067] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): enp0s20f0u3: link is not ready
[  +2.170547] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): enp0s20f0u3: link becomes ready

[dlech]

It looks like we don't have CONFIG_USB_RTL8152 turned on in the EV3 kernel. I will enable it in the next kernel release.

[maxnoe]

Awesome.

Any chance to get it running with the current image?

[dlech]

You could compile your own kernel. See https://github.com/ev3dev/ev3dev-buildscripts.

[maxnoe]

How long do you expect it to be till the next release with the updated kernel?

[dlech]

Probably about 2 months.

[maxnoe]

I downloaded the driver from realtek here:
http://www.realtek.com.tw/Downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=14&PFid=55&Level=5&Conn=4&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false

I installed the linux-headers-ev3dev-ev3 package.
I also had to run:

sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.47-19-ev3dev-ev3/ /lib/modules/4.4.47-19-ev3dev-ev3/src
sudo ln -s /usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.47-19-ev3dev-ev3/ /lib/modules/4.4.47-19-ev3dev-ev3/build

But then the compilation fails with

make -C /lib/modules/4.4.47-19-ev3dev-ev3/build SUBDIRS=/home/robot/r8152-2.08.0 modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/src/linux-headers-4.4.47-19-ev3dev-ev3'
  CC [M]  /home/robot/r8152-2.08.0/r8152.o
In file included from ./arch/arm/include/asm/hardirq.h:6:0,
                 from include/linux/hardirq.h:8,
                 from include/linux/interrupt.h:12,
                 from include/net/flowcache.h:4,
                 from include/net/netns/xfrm.h:9,
                 from include/net/net_namespace.h:28,
                 from include/linux/netdevice.h:43,
                 from /home/robot/r8152-2.08.0/r8152.c:15:
./arch/arm/include/asm/irq.h:7:23: fatal error: mach/irqs.h: No such file or directory
 #include <mach/irqs.h>
                       ^
compilation terminated.

[dlech]

The kernel has a built-in driver. I would not use the one from realtek.

[maxnoe]

After downloading the file irqs.h from the linux source repo, I could build the module, the r8152.ko file exists, but /sbin/modprobe r8152 says undefined symbol:

$ dmesg
...
[  891.296447] r8152: Unknown symbol mii_nway_restart (err 0)

So I'm probably missing the mii kernel module

[dlech]

Did you run depmod?

[maxnoe]

Now it worked

[dlech]

Try this...

package.zip

[maxnoe]

What's that?

I got it working anyway, after running depmod and modprobe r8152

[dlech]

a kernel package with the mainline kernel driver enabled

[maxnoe]

Ok, will try it out tomorrow, thanks for the support!

[dlech]

Fix has been released in kernel 4.4.59-19-ev3dev-ev3. To upgrade, make sure your EV3 is connected to the Internet, then...

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-image-ev3dev-ev3