Re: TL-WN725N v3 support in urtwn(4)?

[Ramiro Aceves <ea1abz%gmail.com@localhost>]

El 24/9/25 a las 15:37, adr escribió:
> On Wed, 24 Sep 2025, Ramiro Aceves wrote:
> > Thanks for information, Greg. Perhaps it would be a good thing playing 
> > with TL-WN725N in my Thinkpad x260 for a while instead of the built-in 
> > card to see how it works now (it is 10.1 now).
>
> I wouldn't take a model of the man page as a guaranty that things
> are going to work ok. I think all will agree here that two fields
> netbsd has been lacking behind are usb and wifi, and anyone who
> has hacked with usb and wifi understands why, and I'm sure will
> appreciate the time expended by people to improve the situation.

Hi Adr

I also appreciate those people who are system and programming experts,my 
brain explodes once I see more than 50 lines of code together ;-)

> I remember not so long ago when plugging or unplugging a usb keyboard
> was a life threating situation (in all BSDs, to be fear).
>
> So you have the two of them combined here, good luck! If you are using a
> laptop and your wifi module gets fried, ask for advice to the list and
> replace it, don't go usb. Of course if you have a usb device try it and
> report to help improve the situation.

Thanks for information. I bought TL-WN725N cause someone recommended it 
time ago (I do not remember now exactly). Of course if the internal 
Thinkpad dongle gets fried I will try something not USB. In my case the 
dongle was intented to be used in the Raspberrypi ZeroW and USB was the 
only posibility.

Now the internal Thinkpad wifi is this one:


[     1,015962] iwm0 at pci2 dev 0 function 0: Intel Dual Band Wireless 
AC 8260 (rev. 0x3a)
[     1,015962] iwm0: interrupting at msi3 vec 0
[    10,955156] iwm0: hw rev 0x200, fw ver 22.361476.0, address 
44:85:00:e7:97:30

I works stable but speeds are far behind Linux on the same computer. 
FreeBSD is better but also not at the Linux level.


For curiosity I have just connected the TL-WN725N and it says the following:


[  1307,870747] urtwn0 at uhub1 port 1
[  1307,870747] urtwn0: Realtek (0x0bda) 802.11n NIC (0x8179), rev 
2.00/0.00, addr 7
[  1307,990745] urtwn0: MAC/BB RTL8188EU, RF 6052 1T1R, address 
e4:fa:c4:52:ac:4c
[  1307,990745] urtwn0: 1 rx pipe, 2 tx pipes

rev2.00 means versión 2? In the case it does not say anything about v2 
or v3, neither in the dongle markings.

I will test it on NetBSD-10.2 for some time to see how it works.

Also have a Raspberrypi official WIFI dongle:


[  1826,802640] bwfm0 at uhub1 port 1: Broadcom (0x0a5c) Remote Download 
Wireless Adapter (0xbd1e), rev 2.00/0.01, addr 8
[  1826,802640] bwfm0: Firmware file default:    brcmfmac43143.bin
[  1826,802640] bwfm0: Found Firmware file: brcmfmac43143.bin
[  1827,102640] bwfm0: address a0:64:8f:55:f6:9c
[  1827,102640] bwfm0: wl0: Apr  3 2014 04:43:32 version 6.10.198.66 
(r467479) FWID 01-32bd010e
[  1827,462641] bwfm0: detached
[  1827,462641] bwfm0: at uhub1 port 1 (addr 8) disconnected

I tried it in the ZeroW and worked the same as de internal one. Random 
network disconects.


> I've used _a_lot_ of usb wifi devices, to bring connectivity
> especially to arm boards, and the experience can be enormously
> frustating. My best experience by far has been with this RTL8192CU
> device:
>
> https://aliexpress.com/item/1005001578780748.html

Thanks for sharing! >
> The white one, I'm pretty sure the small black one is a realtek.
> Try to find the one with the model "NW362". I didn't buy from this
> store, I just made a search to show the list the model.

Thanks, I will right them down in my notes just in case I need a dongle. 
Now I do not use them now.

> And avoid those small ones, no matter the chipset. Netbsd wifi
> drivers are primitive and these little f*ers can get extreamily
> hot!

Thanks for advice.
Ramiro.

> adr