Files

T

BFE Engineering 42fb386f60 docs: ASCII typography and style normalization across all repo text

Replace every em dash with real punctuation (rewrites, not hyphen swaps)
in docs, code comments, scripts, configs, and the port records; convert
en dashes, curly quotes, ellipsis glyphs, arrows, and section signs to
ASCII; drop machine-writing tell phrases from living docs. ADR titles
now use a colon. The M2 bring-up DTS model string carried an em dash
into the patch series and its record echoes; fixed at both, and the full
series re-verified to apply cleanly onto pristine 6.18.46. One comment
in freshness.h deliberately names the em dash glyph the UI renders as
the unknown mark; that is data, kept as prose naming it.

Verified: cargo tests (sim, config-lint, rs485-bridge), shellcheck,
both driver MC/DC harnesses, patches-apply.

2026-08-31 12:31:27 -06:00

2.6 KiB

Raw Blame History

AIC8800 wifi: VERIFIED on warden-c8a3 (self-built 6.18.46), 2026-08-25

Result: wifi works end-to-end on our self-built Linux 6.18.46. Modules built from the ported source (vermagic 6.18.46 SMP mod_unload ARMv7 p2v8), loaded on the panel, downloaded firmware to the AIC8800DC, created wlan0, and completed a live RF scan.

Evidence (serial console, _b slot = our 6.18 kernel)

insmod aic8800_bsp.ko -> firmware download OK: aicwf_patch_config_8800dc done, Start app: 00120000, BSP_RC=0.
insmod aic8800_fdrv.ko -> ieee80211 phy0: HT supp 1, VHT supp 1, HE supp 1, FDRV_RC=0.
wlan0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> ... link/ether <device MAC>
iw dev wlan0 scan found real APs (SSIDs/BSSIDs redacted for publication):
- the site AP at 2412 MHz, -43 dBm
- a neighboring guest AP at 2412 MHz, -73 dBm
- +several more, correct signal strengths -> RF path fully functional.

Why MODULES, not built-in (=y)

Built-in device_initcalls run BEFORE the dw_mmc/SDIO controller probes. Initcalls are sequential: aicbsp_init blocked 3.3-7.5 s doing the eager chip bring-up, and the mmc controller only probed at 7.9 s (SDIO card at 8.2 s), AFTER aicbsp had already given up (aicsdio.c:597 2 s down_timeout -> sdio_unregister_driver). Extending the timeout can't help (aicbsp blocks the very mmc probe that would enumerate the card, a deadlock). Loaded as modules AFTER boot (mmc up, card at 4 s), insmod aic8800_bsp registers the SDIO driver against an already-present card -> probe fires immediately -> firmware download -> fdrv -> wlan0. This is the vendor-proven flow.

Kernel-size fix (needed to boot the wifi kernel at all)

The wifi kernel grew the gzip zImage to 12.12 MB; rockchip U-Boot loads the kernel blob at 0x8000 and relocates the DTB to 0xc00000 (12 MB), so a >~11.95 MB zImage overruns the FDT at U-Boot load time (Sysmem Error: KERNEL overlap with FDT) and FLARE-AB falls back to _a. Switched CONFIG_KERNEL_GZIP -> CONFIG_KERNEL_XZ: zImage 12.12 MB -> 8.15 MB (module build), ~4 MB headroom under the FDT. Also the right call for a firmware kernel. (Uncompressed Image is ~30 MB; the ARM decompressor relocates the FDT at runtime, so only the U-Boot LOAD-time overlap mattered: proven by the kernel booting once the zImage fit.)

Boot-time auto-load (follow-up, deployment layer, not the kernel port)

Modules were insmod'd manually for this verify. Production auto-load needs a loader that inserts aic8800_bsp.ko -> aic8800_fdrv.ko (-> aic8800_btlpm.ko) in order from wherever they're staged; the vendor insmod_wifi.sh references a different variant (aic_load_fw.ko/bcmdhd.ko, absent here). Track in the rootfs.

2.6 KiB Raw Blame History