State of bluetooth & wifi drivers in linux-libre

[Divya Ranjan]

Hello Linux-Libre,

I am aspiring to contribute to linux-libre. Currently I use GNU Guix as my GNU/Linux system, which runs linux-libre as its kernel. For the most part, I have zero kernel-related issues. The one issue that I have as of now is related to bluetooth/wifi drivers. What does work with linux-libre out of the box is my Logitech B170 wireless mouse. But what doesn’t work, is a 2 in 1 Wireless + Bluetooth dongle from Swiztek. The chip it has is RTL8821CU using the IEEE802.11 a/b/g/n/ac protocl.

Now, from what I’ve found, the linux drivers[0] for this chip are openly available under libre licensing. Realtek distributes them under GPLv2. And while my dongle worked out of the box in mainline linux kernel, it does not with linux-libre, so I believe this driver is missing. Thus,

1. Can this driver be added to linux-libre to support all the dongles that come with this chip?
2. If so, what is the process, and how can I proceed with that?

>From the products I’ve checked, this chip seems to be relatively popular among wifi devices such as dongles and external adapters. So, such an addition would help with linux-libre in working out of the box for uses of these devices. Also, is there a list of wifi/bluetooth drivers that are currently supported by linux-libre? What work is being done in extending it? For example, from the open-source available drivers for 802.11 network cards[1] how many are we actually supporting?

I’d like some information on this, as I start on contributing to this end. I am an admirer of linux-libre, and it would only make me feel better if I can use my skills to make it a bit better. While I don’t particularly have experience in working with network products, I do have experience in programming, especially in low-level languages such as C. With some support on how things are done with linux-libre, I hope to contribute.


Regards,
[0]: https://github.com/morrownr/8821cu-20210916
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_open-source_wireless_drivers
-- 
Divya Ranjan,
Philosophy, Mathematics, Libre Software.