Need to load Mediatek MT7921

[djlsky]

I have been using Bionic pup for a few years. I recently had to get a new PC ASUS M1603 with AMD Ryzen CPU. It has a Mediatek MT7921 WIFI card. Is there a way go add the driver to Bionic. I am not technical and the sites that I have found require a build process that I am not comfortable with. If not Bionic are there any Puppy versions that do support the MT7921. Thanks, Dennis

[mikeslr]

Plugging "MT7921" into the specialized google search engine, https://psearch.puppylinux.com/ revealed this thread started by DirectFX, viewtopic.php?p=75682#p75682. To make a long story short, in order for a Puppy (any operating system) to access the internet via wifi, its kernel (think engine and chasis upon which other components are build) must support drivers that can communicate with the wifi adapter and there must be also present firmware needed for that wifi. Drivers must be compiled under a kernel; but firmware is more flexible. Once you have the right firmware it will work with any kernel.

Your computer is too new for the drivers and firmware available to Bionicpup's Kernel. The necessary driver was in the 5.15.80 kernel used in S15Pup64 recently published by peebee. You can obtain S15Pup64 here, https://distro.ibiblio.org/puppylinux/p ... -22.12.htm

At the time DirectFX sought assistance, although S15Pup64 had the driver it did not have the ncessary firmware. Ozsouth was gratiuos enough to provide a pet. viewtopic.php?p=75771#p75771.

I don't know the current status of S15Pup64. Perhaps it's changed kernels (and thus included drivers); and perhaps its added the necessary firmware for your computer. But at this point I would suggest the most logical steps would be to deploy S15Pup64 and try it before installing ozsouth's firmware pet.

[ozsouth]

@djlsky - This is where it gets messy - mt7921 has a few drivers - most kernels only have 7921E, but I've included Common, E, S & U in my 6.1.34 kernel. First, please run in a terminal: dmesg | grep mediatek
(that's a pipe symbol after dmesg - usually shift & \ keys).
Should show which 7921 you have. If is 7921E, then latest s15pup64_22.12 or fossapup64_9.6 v4 will service it.

Otherwise, you need a kernel with these running & then install my 7921fw .pet that mikeslr has linked.
My kernel 6.1.34 (use the ubuntu derivative) & howto are here: viewtopic.php?p=91656#p91656 . Use at own risk.

[djlsky]

Thanks to all for your support and recommendations. I'll give them a shot and let you know how this newbie faired.

[djlsky]

I was able to create a puppy with S15Pup64-22.12-230618. Using the WiFi dialog I was able after several iterations to load WAN0 and got the internet working.
Thanks, to ALL and then some. Dennis