Kernels and Headers - choosing the right kernel

Hi folks - 1st post.

Been lurking and reading posts …

I’m using Manjaro because of what seems to be great support for proprietary drivers. I was a very inexperienced MXLinux user until a month or so ago - Manjaro solved a problem ‘out of the box’ with my graphics card - all I wanted from any Linux distribution was :
A useful browser - everyone does that…
Blender 2.9 - everyone does that …

Making my GT650Boost TI Graphics card perform using CUDA - not the easiest thing in the world in MXLinux - piece of cake in Manjaro - so I’m now a Manjaro man …

Ok so now i have Blender using CUDA on my Card in Manjaro - but my wifi has always been flaky.
Bought and installed a new USB Wifi card - RTL88x2bu chipset - installing drivers from their website using Arch Linux guidance - they were not Manjaro specific - but install worked.

My Wifi is live - but I know only achieves 50% of Win10 - same location and hardware - just a hardswitch to swap Windows / Linux.

I have Virgin 200 - all’s fine by cable - 200+ mbps.
Aging HP laptop in the same room - 100mbps Wifi.
Basically incoming internet access is fine.

Self build Linux desktop with internal PCIE Wifi AC51 card - 70mbps tops - usually 20ish - varies between 5 - 50mbps everyday - massive battle to try and get the right drivers installed.

I have a hardware switch for a 6 drive set-up: 1TB Manjaro SSD - 1 Win10 250G SSD +data drives.

I buy a TrendBros USB Wifi adaptor AC1l (AC1200) - needs a RTL88x2bu driver.

(Some very interesting posts here and elsewhere - folks have varying experiencewith this USB driver)

Eventually here’s the question :

I have Linux 5.10 - (I def want that because that makes my card work CUDA in latest Blender 2.9) ~

I’ve read many many posts - there seems to be a potential fix using AUR Linux Headers and Github - that will *probably / maybe * get my wifi card perfoming better - probably with Kernel 5.9

This is where i’m struggling : ~ I want Linux 5.10 and proprietary drivers for my Graphics card thankyou Manjaro -works - but I might need a different kernel and headers for the wifi card to get best performance from it ?

Apparently AUR has RTL88x2bu-dkms etc etc build available…

If i build and install that - will it kill my Graphics Card and CUDA performance ?
Given a choice i’ll take fast CUDA - slow WIFI. (Because i can press a button reboot and browse in a Win10 build at 130+mbps…

I dont know how to ask this question - I think my graphics card works with 5.10 and its headers - but my Wifi card doesnt - it might need something else …

Also I’ve noticed - I’m listening to Spotify whilst writing this and it does a weird stuttering thing i’ve never heard before …

Tried to post an INXI using the adice here : https://forum.manjaro.org/t/how-to-provide-good-information/874 - i dont think it worked properly …

Here’s INXI :
‘’’

[john@MANJARO ~]$ inxi --admin --verbosity=7 --filter --no-host --width
System:
  Kernel: 5.10.32-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 10.2.0 
  parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-5.10-x86_64 
  root=UUID=df10f0bf-e4a3-4a61-a142-980b06dec23b rw quiet apparmor=1 
  security=apparmor resume=UUID=089eaa24-e67a-4152-af6e-2ef6d4ef2286 
  udev.log_priority=3 
  Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.24 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 vt: 7 
  dm: LightDM 1.30.0 Distro: Manjaro Linux base: Arch Linux 
Machine:
  Type: Desktop Mobo: ASUSTeK model: M5A97 R2.0 v: Rev 1.xx serial: <filter> 
  BIOS: American Megatrends v: 2603 date: 06/26/2015 
Battery:
  Message: No system battery data found. Is one present? 
Memory:
  RAM: total: 15.54 GiB used: 3.83 GiB (24.7%) 
  RAM Report: permissions: Unable to run dmidecode. Root privileges required. 
CPU:
  Info: 6-Core model: AMD FX-6350 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Bulldozer 
  family: 15 (21) model-id: 2 stepping: 0 microcode: 6000852 cache: L2: 2 MiB 
  bogomips: 46958 
  Speed: 1402 MHz min/max: 1400/3900 MHz boost: enabled Core speeds (MHz): 
  1: 1402 2: 1404 3: 2572 4: 3258 5: 3284 6: 3033 
  Flags: 3dnowprefetch abm aes aperfmperf apic arat avx bmi1 clflush cmov 
  cmp_legacy constant_tsc cpb cpuid cr8_legacy cx16 cx8 de decodeassists 
  extapic extd_apicid f16c flushbyasid fma fma4 fpu fxsr fxsr_opt ht hw_pstate 
  ibpb ibs lahf_lm lbrv lm mca mce misalignsse mmx mmxext monitor msr mtrr 
  nodeid_msr nonstop_tsc nopl npt nrip_save nx osvw pae pat pausefilter 
  pclmulqdq pdpe1gb perfctr_core perfctr_nb pfthreshold pge pni popcnt pse 
  pse36 rdtscp rep_good sep skinit ssbd sse sse2 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm 
  svm_lock syscall tbm tce topoext tsc tsc_scale vmcb_clean vme vmmcall wdt 
  xop xsave 
  Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: Not affected 
  Type: l1tf status: Not affected 
  Type: mds status: Not affected 
  Type: meltdown status: Not affected 
  Type: spec_store_bypass 
  mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via prctl and seccomp 
  Type: spectre_v1 
  mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full AMD retpoline, IBPB: conditional, STIBP: 
  disabled, RSB filling 
  Type: srbds status: Not affected 
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:
  Device-1: NVIDIA GK106 [GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost] vendor: Gigabyte 
  driver: nvidia v: 460.73.01 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm bus-ID: 01:00.0 
  chip-ID: 10de:11c2 class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: Logitech B525 HD Webcam type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 10-2.2:8 chip-ID: 046d:0836 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
  Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.11 driver: loaded: nvidia display-ID: :0.0 
  screens: 1 
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 s-size: 508x286mm (20.0x11.3") 
  s-diag: 583mm (23") 
  Monitor-1: HDMI-0 res: 1920x1080 hz: 60 dpi: 82 size: 598x336mm (23.5x13.2") 
  diag: 686mm (27") 
  OpenGL: renderer: GeForce GTX 650 Ti BOOST/PCIe/SSE2 
  v: 4.6.0 NVIDIA 460.73.01 direct render: Yes 
Audio:
  Device-1: AMD SBx00 Azalia vendor: ASUSTeK driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel 
  bus-ID: 00:14.2 chip-ID: 1002:4383 class-ID: 0403 
  Device-2: NVIDIA GK106 HDMI Audio vendor: Gigabyte driver: snd_hda_intel 
  v: kernel bus-ID: 01:00.1 chip-ID: 10de:0e0b class-ID: 0403 
  Device-3: Logitech B525 HD Webcam type: USB driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo 
  bus-ID: 10-2.2:8 chip-ID: 046d:0836 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
  Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.10.32-1-MANJARO running: yes 
  Sound Server-2: JACK v: 0.125.0 running: no 
  Sound Server-3: PulseAudio v: 14.2 running: yes 
  Sound Server-4: PipeWire v: 0.3.26 running: no 
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
  vendor: ASUSTeK P8 series driver: r8169 v: kernel port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0 
  chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200 
  IF: enp2s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-2: Realtek RTL8812AE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter 
  vendor: ASUSTeK driver: rtl8821ae v: kernel port: c000 bus-ID: 05:00.0 
  chip-ID: 10ec:8812 class-ID: 0280 
  IF: wlp5s0 state: down mac: <filter> 
  Device-3: Realtek RTL88x2bu [AC1200 Techkey] type: USB driver: rtl88x2bu 
  bus-ID: 11-1:2 chip-ID: 0bda:b812 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter> 
  IF: wlp4s0u1 state: up mac: <filter> 
  IP v4: <filter> type: dynamic noprefixroute scope: global 
  broadcast: <filter> 
  WAN IP: <filter> 
Bluetooth:
  Message: No bluetooth data found. 
Logical:
  Message: No logical block device data found. 
RAID:
  Message: No RAID data found. 
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 2.5 TiB used: 307.04 GiB (12.0%) 
  SMART Message: Required tool smartctl not installed. Check --recommends 
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Samsung model: SSD 870 QVO 1TB 
  size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s 
  rotation: SSD serial: <filter> rev: 1B6Q scheme: MBR 
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Hitachi model: HDS721010CLA332 
  size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s 
  rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> rev: A3EA scheme: GPT 
  ID-3: /dev/sdc maj-min: 8:32 vendor: Seagate model: ST3500620AS 
  size: 465.76 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s 
  rotation: 7200 rpm serial: <filter> rev: HP21 scheme: MBR 
  ID-4: /dev/sdd maj-min: 8:48 vendor: Seagate model: ST3250820AS Q 
  size: 232.89 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s 
  serial: <filter> rev: E scheme: GPT 
  Message: No optical or floppy data found. 
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 914.42 GiB size: 898.99 GiB (98.31%) 
  used: 85.82 GiB (9.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1 label: N/A 
  uuid: df10f0bf-e4a3-4a61-a142-980b06dec23b 
  ID-2: /mnt/6ABC-5634 raw-size: 463.73 GiB size: 463.62 GiB (99.98%) 
  used: 213.91 GiB (46.1%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/sdc1 maj-min: 8:33 
  label: BACKUPS uuid: 6ABC-5634 
  ID-3: /mnt/7D28ABF135B57E28 raw-size: 931.51 GiB size: 931.51 GiB (100.00%) 
  used: 7.31 GiB (0.8%) fs: ntfs dev: /dev/sdb1 maj-min: 8:17 
  label: WIN LINUX SHARE 1TB uuid: 7D28ABF135B57E28 
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) 
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 17.09 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 
  dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2 label: N/A 
  uuid: 089eaa24-e67a-4152-af6e-2ef6d4ef2286 
Unmounted:
  ID-1: /dev/sdc2 maj-min: 8:34 size: 2 GiB fs: swap label: swapMX 
  uuid: 04316724-de63-4ac9-bc52-c7c8ed434688 
  ID-2: /dev/sdd1 maj-min: 8:49 size: 200 MiB fs: vfat label: EFI 
  uuid: 70D6-1701 
  ID-3: /dev/sdd2 maj-min: 8:50 size: 232.57 GiB fs: ntfs label: WIN10-ONLY 
  uuid: 3FDF7FE034CD88F6 
USB:
  Hub-1: 1-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 5 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-2: 2-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 5 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-3: 3-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-4: 4-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 5 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-5: 5-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 5 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-6: 6-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-7: 7-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 4 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0001 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-8: 8-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-9: 9-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s 
  chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-10: 10-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 2.0 
  speed: 480 Mb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0002 class-ID: 0900 
  Hub-11: 10-2:7 info: Terminus Hub ports: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s 
  power: 100mA chip-ID: 1a40:0101 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 10-2.2:8 info: Logitech B525 HD Webcam type: Audio,Video 
  driver: snd-usb-audio,uvcvideo interfaces: 4 rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s 
  power: 500mA chip-ID: 046d:0836 class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter> 
  Hub-12: 10-2.3:9 info: Dell Keyboard Hub ports: 3 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  power: 90mA chip-ID: 413c:1002 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 10-2.3.1:11 info: Dell SK-8125 Keyboard type: Keyboard,HID 
  driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 2 rev: 1.1 speed: 12 Mb/s 
  chip-ID: 413c:2002 class-ID: 0300 
  Device-2: 10-2.4:12 info: Sunplus Innovation Optical Mouse type: Mouse 
  driver: hid-generic,usbhid interfaces: 1 rev: 2.0 speed: 1.5 Mb/s 
  power: 98mA chip-ID: 1bcf:0005 class-ID: 0301 
  Hub-13: 11-0:1 info: Full speed (or root) Hub ports: 2 rev: 3.0 
  speed: 5 Gb/s chip-ID: 1d6b:0003 class-ID: 0900 
  Device-1: 11-1:2 info: Realtek RTL88x2bu [AC1200 Techkey] type: Network 
  driver: rtl88x2bu interfaces: 1 rev: 3.0 speed: 5 Gb/s power: 504mA 
  chip-ID: 0bda:b812 class-ID: 0000 serial: <filter> 
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 28.8 C mobo: N/A gpu: nvidia temp: 41 C 
  Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A gpu: nvidia fan: 41% 
Info:
  Processes: 241 Uptime: 10h 19m wakeups: 0 Init: systemd v: 247 
  tool: systemctl Compilers: gcc: 10.2.0 alt: 8 clang: 11.1.0 Packages: 1205 
  pacman: 1188 lib: 340 flatpak: 5 snap: 12 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.0 
  running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.04 
[john@MANJARO ~]$ 

‘’’

Hi @Johnny3Gloves ,
Could you post the output of the following terminal command?
rfkill list all

I saw that your PCIe wifi card is down and I wish whether it could be possible to be blocked, by software or by hardware.

You can also install linux54 which is a LTS kernel. BTW, I suggest you to post the output in order to solve first what is first. That you could use Blender and the internet connection without using different kernels. I do not know whether the linux54 kernel will detect your video card as fast as linux510, but you could try.

Hope this help, regards

I dont really know how to ask :

Seems like https://github.com/RinCat/RTL88x2BU-Linux-Driver

is an option : but can i have that and keep my 5.10 BLender CUDA capability.

(I suppose - if I timeshift my current setup - and try above - can i restore from a saved timeshift as if i didnt try ? )

Sorry - i know i’m not using the correct terminology -

thanks for helping an old bloke …

J

[john@MANJARO ~]$ rfkill list all
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy1: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

How do i post properly ?

<pre><font color="#55FF55"><b>[john@MANJARO</b></font><font color="#FFFFFF"><b> ~</b></font><font color="#55FF55"><b>]$</b></font> rfkill list all
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: phy1: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
</pre>

did that work?

Hi @Johnny3Gloves ,
You could post properly when the text is between three backticks ``` .

I do not see any problems with your Realtek RTL88x22bu driver, which I saw is up and running.

Did you have a key on your ASUSTek laptop to enable the wifi signal of the Realtek RTL8812EA ?

Please, could you post another output from the terminal command?
lsmod | grep libphy

Regards,

Yes that’s kinda the point of Timeshift, being able to restore the system in a previous state.

Know that Timeshift is not a tool to backup your home folder so going back will keep changes in your home, which is good, but if you make bad configs stored in your home you’ll keep bad configs even after restoring the system to previous state (not sure if it would be the case here but just to let you know, files in home would (and should) not be touched with Timeshift by default (and this is what you want).

Hi j8a

libphy 151552 3 r8169,mdio_devres,realtek

(I got it - not an apostrophe !!!)

Yes the RTL88x2bu works - not blazingly fast - but ok - drops out a bit as well.

thanks

J

1 Like

I don’t really understand kernels and headers and dkms

I’ve read somewhere that there is an updated driver a few months ago in GitHub for this very device and Manjaro.
That Github says make sure to install the correct headers.

The reason i’m reluctant to mess with kernel versions is because the very reason i changed to Manjaro in the first place was because it was recommended as the best distro to easily setup the correct drivers for Graphics cards - which it is - and which worked perfectly for me straight off.

I think i’ve posted elsewhere - I don’t want to lose CUDA capability on my graphics card - and to do that I have to use 5.10 kernel.
I think the trouble is that the official driver from the wifi manufacturer supports only on 5.9 kernel.

Thats why i think i should try this Github driver :
https://github.com/morrownr/88x2bu

I know i’m not explaining this well enough - but i don’t know the terminology - sorry !

I am tinkering, I know.

and the point about Timeshift was - if I messed with this and installed a different kernel and headers that killed CUDA in some way - would a Timeshift bring it back again ?
I don’t know the correct terms - but does Timeshift include the Kernel and headers ?

thanks !

J3G

So yes, again.

For your WIFI, did you try to install/build the DKMS driver from Pamac (Add/Remove Software in application menu)?

To do so, enable the Arch User Repository, the AUR support from Pamac preferences and you can also enable updates from AUR (this way if the AUR packages you installed got updated, you will receive the updates), then install the headers for the kernels you have, which is apparently 5.10 so install from Pamac linux510-headers (make sure it is from official repositories, and not the AUR as after enabling the AUR, Pamac will list from both official Manjaro repositories and the AUR when you search), and then search for 88x2bu in Pamac and install/build the package rtl88x2bu-dkms

It should be enough in theory.

For the headers, these are files that allow to compile things to work with your kernels, you need to have the corresponding headers for each kernel you have installed (if you have linux510 and linux512, then you need linux510-headers and linux512-headers).
DKMS allows to automate building things for your kernels when they are updated, for example, on the next Linux 5.10 kernel update, DKMS will automatically rebuild the WIFI drivers you installed from AUR with DKMS.

PS: if you need to install something external, I do not recommend to manually mess with things, the easier option is as I instructed above, to look for what you want from the AUR, as it will be already pre-made to install properly in Arch Linux (and consequently in Manjaro without issue, most of the time).

2 Likes

Omano - thankyou - very clear.

I’ll try that later this evening - hopefully its the difference that allows this wifi device perform better.

Many thanks

J3G