Arch Linux User Repository

To all having an issue with this driver: please try https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/rtl8814au-aircrack-dkms-git alternatively.

OK, I've just got the 8814au device and it appears to work in AP mode, to some extent, but it definitely looks like there's a VHT-related incompatiblity / disagreement between the driver and hostapd. (I had to disable ~all the VHT capabilities.) There are numerous options I can't turn on (when compared to ath10k), so I'll just file bugs for these on GitHub, so that someone knows about them. :-)

The most important kernel module option is: rtw_switch_usb_mode=1. Then (and only then) you get the device to connect at USB 3.0 speeds (as lsusb -t says):

|__ Port 2: Dev 18, If 0, Class=Vendor Specific Class, Driver=rtl8814au, 5000M

Hi, will this driver (and/or rtl8812au) work with hostapd? There are lots of confusing (and sometimes contradictory) statements about this on the web, unfortunately. :-(

rtl8814au : This comment suggests that it should work, but it's in no way clear. Some issues at aircrack-ng seem to even suggest that their rtl8812au driver should also support the 8814 chipset. Is that indeed the case? Does it apply to the 5.2.20 version here on AUR?

rtl8812au : Even after reading this and this, I still have no clue about AP support. :-/ It may kinda' sorta' work, perhaps with a different hostapd… Is there a howto for this?

(Context: I run a 5GHz 802.11ac AP on ath10k (with hostapd), but need to move it from PCIe to a USB device. Because ath10k_usb devices don't seem to exist, I was hoping that this rtl8814au device or this rtl8812au device could help.)

There is no official driver 5.1.5 for 8814au. The latest sources that can be found are based on 4.3.21 (which is what is used there). However, 5.1.5 for 8814au is a hack of 5.1.5 that was released for 8812au at some point, with hal files for 8814au copied over from 4.3.21. They did a lot of work, we can assume that it was good work. However the same hack could not be done using 5.2.20 (the latest version for 8812au) due to a significant codebase change. I am happy to try to package 5.1.5 from aircrack if that helps though. But I will not have a 8814au adapter to test it. And would I break 8813au compatibilty? (although this chip is very rare).

Does anyone know the differences between this and other drivers?

https://github.com/astsam/rtl8812au https://github.com/aircrack-ng/rtl8812au/tree/v5.1.5

Thanks!

@escapement: this is good to read. Note that credits go to the patch developers. I am only a packager and tester at the moment!

Working like a champ with 4.15 kernel! I'm running Manjaro... I got lazy... I don't know if they push out the kernels before Arch officially does, but I've have 4.15 for a while... Couldn't use 4.14 because there were problems with my amd graphics... Thank you so much for fixing this!

@Foolz: good to hear. Modprobe failing to load is probably related to Manjaro specifics, look at the logs for more info.

@zebulon

Thank you so much for your work. I wasn't able to load the module with modprobe earlier. However, after the latest kernel update today, everything works again, for some reason.

I have just pushed the patches for kernel 4.15, should now compile with the kernel in Testing. Please re-install the driver for an automated recompilation via DKMS.

@escapement: kernel 4.15 is still in testing. Probably this driver will require patches, will see if they are ready.