Redpine wireless gone after upgrade into 6.6.0-1

Hardware Librem 5
21

Note that I did the following on a Librem 5 with Crimson. I downloaded the build:deb:archive and installed the debs as root with:

deb install ./*.deb

I did get this warning (I guess it is not relevant):

N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '/root/testkernel/linux-headers-6.6.0-1-librem5_6.6.83pureos2~cri1+librem5ci89612.275183266_arm64.deb' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)

I restarted the Librem 5 and will see if the Redpine WiFi module will disappear or not. I will report back later.

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22

The disappearing of the Redpine WiFi also occurs on the 6.6.83pureos2~cri1 kernel:

uname -a
Linux crimson 6.6.0-1-librem5 #1 SMP PREEMPT 6.6.83pureos2~cri1+librem5ci89612.275183266 2025- aarch64 GNU/Linux
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23

As expected, as that’s the version that introduced the changes I’m talking about. What I want to know is how it behaves on 6.6.83pureos1 and earlier.

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24

I tried to find the artifacts for 6.6.83pureos1_cri1 but the pipeline for this version seemed to have failed as well. If you want I can test with 6.6.83pureos1_cri1, but then the pipeline has to be run again for this version, I guess.

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25

You can install 6.6.83pureos1~byz1. I have relaunched the pipelines too in case you’re feeling pedantic :stuck_out_tongue:

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26

Thanks, I was not sure if there might be differences between the byz and cri kernels. That is why I asked.

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27

The only difference is that it’s being built targeting and using particular distro’s toolchain. Usually that would mean library version mismatches in dependencies, but in case of the kernel it just boils down to compiler version.

Sometimes there may be some patch that’s reverted in the backport to keep compatibility with older userspace, but there’s no such thing in this case:

$ git diff --stat pureos/6.6.83pureos1_byz1..pureos/6.6.83pureos1_cri1
 .gitlab-ci.yml   |   2 +-
 debian/changelog | 120 +++++++++++++++++++++++-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 debian/gbp.conf  |   2 +-
 3 files changed, 25 insertions(+), 99 deletions(-)
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28

I installed 6.6.83pureos1~cri1.

Edit: removed probably incorrect part.

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29

The current behavior here is the following:
It never comes up at boot, but then a flick of the switch brings it up.

It hasn’t happened anymore like when I reported the issue and had to flick the switch dozens of times.

I am abroad now and will be for 2 months more, so I am wary of fooling around too much and downgrading again.

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30

Thanks to Opensource, Purism/Linux like dropped support for the Libre booting Redpine wlan card, as Opensource it is not interested on supporting Libre Booting wlan to mainline Linux because AntiGNU rhetoric this include calling Kernel to Linux which is super unethical, so this is why i never,never call Kernel to Linux.

As Redpine kinda it is not supported on Linux mainline, this mean that Redpine is obsolete for Librem 5 instead need to go for non Libre booting wlan card like SparkLan as it is mainlined as opensource programmer love free bug fixes via vendors.

What i know there are tons of bug fixes and features on Redpine via Software and Hardware like Redpine Rv: 1.5 and RSC v: Newer, however Purism never pushed to Librem 5, so zero effort for Gnu Redpine.

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31

After a few days of having 6.6.83pureos1~cri1, I come back on my previous statement.

It looks that the Redpine is better (always?) found with this kernel. Sometimes it will take a while, but now I have the impression it is better than 6.6.83pureos2~cri1`.

I will keep running 6.6.83pureos1~cri1 for some time longer to see if my impression really holds.

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