Feature Request: Enable RTL8852CU (rtw89_8852cu) for TP-Link Archer TX50UH/ AX3000 - USB ID 35bc:0101

Support & help
1

:pushpin:Question Description

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Please describe the problem you’ve encountered in detail:

  • Description:
    I am a Patron user on a Surface Pro 7. I am trying to use a high-gain Wi-Fi 6 USB adapter: TP-Link Archer TX50UH (AX3000). The device is detected on the USB bus (ID 35bc:0101), but no driver is bound to it.

After technical analysis via shell, I found that while the rtw89 PCIe modules are present, the USB-specific module (rtw89_8852cu) is missing from the current kernel build (6.6.99-09011-gfdc62122de5f-dirty).

  • Requested Action:
    Please enable CONFIG_RTW89_8852CU=m in the next kernel update for the Surface Pro 7 image and ensure the Asian-market USB ID 35bc:0101 is included in the driver’s device table.

:computer:System & Device Information

  • Hardware & System Configuration:

    • Processor: Intel Core (Surface Pro 7)
    • Graphics Card(Please specify if there’s a discrete graphics card): Intel Iris Plus Graphics
    • RAM: 16 GB
    • FydeOS Version: v22.0 (Platform 16503.20.22.8)

  • Relevant System Logs:

    • Open the Chromium browser and enter /var/log/messages to retrieve logs.
    • Log Details:
      usb 3-2: New USB device found, idVendor=35bc, idProduct=0101, bcdDevice= 3.00 usb 3-2: Product: Archer TX50UH usb 3-2: Manufacturer: TP-Link Analysis: find /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/ -name "*8852*.ko.gz" only shows rtw89_8852ae and rtw89_8852a. The required rtw89_8852cu module is missing.

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2

You are using a Surface Pro 7. Why are you using a USB WiFi adapter?

3

Range and gain extension, faster speed, wider coverage, … all the things a usb wifi dongle is made for. Especially, when you are in public/ outside, the power of the internal wifi antennas are not strong enough to connect to (public) WIFIs or Hotspots.

4

Surface Pro 7 uses the Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 chip. In terms of performance, it is essentially the same as the USB Wi-Fi dongle you are using. The only potential advantage of the USB adapter is the external antenna.

However, RTL (Realtek) Wi-Fi adapters are quite complex. The issue is not only the driver; the firmware often needs to be adjusted manually as well. You may try following this guide:

In general, RTL network cards on Linux usually require manual adjustments and are not truly plug-and-play.

5

First of all they need the driver as mentioned in my request (did nearly the steps mentioned in your repost, as you might see in my log, the driver is missing). I know, that I have to adapt the USB dongle to work properly, but actually can’t (see requirements). And yes, for me it is all about the antennas. But, FydeOS also reduces the power of the internal antennas via power management. I first set that off and got better performance, but still not enough.

6

This kind of support for a specific external peripheral is not part of the typical requirements for Surface device compatibility, so I suspect the official team may not add this driver for you.

You could try recompiling the surface-linux kernel yourself and then replacing the kernel on your device.

Here is a tutorial on how to replace the kernel:

7

I appreciate the suggestion. However, as a Patron subscriber, I am hoping for official support since the RTL8852CU is becoming a standard for high-performance Wi-Fi 6 USB adapters. Recompiling the kernel on an immutable system like FydeOS is a significant overhead for an end-user.