Hardware grant request: T430 + M.2 adapter for rtw89 (RTL8922AE) driver testing

["Toghrul. M" <toghrul.m%tuta.io@localhost>]

Hi,

I'm developing a NetBSD driver for the Realtek RTL8922AE (rtw89) WiFi 7 adapter, and I'm running into a work problem. I only have one laptop, so I'm forced to develop/debug and test on the same machine. This makes it very hard to isolate driver bugs from environment issues, and it means a bad build can leave me without a working system to keep debugging on.

I'd like to request a grant to cover a dedicated test setup:

- A Lenovo ThinkPad T430 to use as a secondary test machine (approx. $199)

- An M.2 to mini-PCIe adapter/converter, since the T430 predates M.2 and the RTL8922AE is an M.2 card ( approx. $46)

- A second RTL8922AE card to install in the test machine ( approx. $27-40, depending on whether I source from a more or less reputable seller)

This would let me keep a stable development environment on my main laptop while safely using the T430 as needed during testing.

A bit about the project:

- Driver target: Realtek RTL8922AE (rtw89), a from-scratch net80211 driver ported from Linux's rtw89 driver, since NetBSD's existing rtwn(4) only goes up to 802.11ac

- Current status: attach, BAR/MSI setup, chip identity, and the DMA/H2C command pipeline are all working and hardware-verified via VFIO passthrough. I'm now on firmware download (multi-firmware container parsing is in progress); firmware handshake, RX-to-net80211 wiring, and scan/auth/assoc are still ahead

- Repo: https://codeberg.org/ToghrulMammadli/netbsd-rtw89

- Estimated total cost: roughly $272-285 (laptop + adapter + card), plus shipping/tax

Let me know if you need more detail on the driver's progress or if there's a better process for hardware grant requests. I can provide receipts or report back on progress as a condition of the grant.

Thanks for considering this,

Toghrul Mammadli. 

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