laptop HP 15-db0400ng: questions regarding WLAN

[Rosika]

Hi all, 

I´m asking on behalf of a friend of mine. So I have limited access to her laptop´s specs, but I know some of them.

I want to help my friend set up Linux Lite on her laptop, which is a HP 15-db0400ng.
Originally it came with WIN 10 preinstalled.

That was a few years ago and as the laptop couldn´t handle WIN satisfactorily she wanted me to install Bodhi Linux.
In the meanwhile Bodhi has reached EOL and now she wants me to to install Linux Lite 6.4 on her laptop.

I remember back then there was a wlan issue. Bodhi didn´t seem to detect the built-in WLAN.

I found out that it´s the "Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11b/g/n/ac (1x1) Wi-Fi und Bluetooth 4.2 combined"
(https://support.hp.com/de-de/document/c06067315#AbT0 )

The problem is: my friend cannot find any ethernet cable despite the fact that she really should have one. :023:

Before tackling the task I just want to ask around:
What´s it like in Linux Lite 6.4? Does it (i.e. the kernel) by any chance come with a driver for it already preinstalled?

inxi -F says:

Code:

Network: Card-2: Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11ac PCIe Wireless Network Adapter
         driver: rtl8821ce

     
 
And if LL doesn´t support the device out-of-the-box: Is there a way of installing the driver without having internet connectivity available beforehand, i.e.: off-line?

Many thanks in advance and many greetings.

Rosika  :wave

[stevef]

Hardware for Linux suggests kernels 5.9 and later have the drivers.

https://linux-hardware.org/index.php?id=...-17aa-c024

If correct then Linux 6.x should be good.

Searching the Internet for "Offline installation of Realtek RTL8821CE" will link to plausible instructions for installing using rtl8821ce-dkms files downloaded separately.

[Rosika]

Hi stevef, 

thanks a lot for your reply.

Hardware for Linux suggests kernels 5.9 and later have the drivers. [...]
If correct then Linux 6.x should be good.

Oh, that sounds good then.
Thanks for the link. I´ll take a closer look a t it.

I was just thinking: I myself am running Linux LIte 6.2 as my productive system.
Yet I can´t seem to find the respective driver.

Code:

locate ".ko" | grep -i 8821ce

/usr/lib/modules/5.15.0-52-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw88/rtw88_8821ce.ko
/usr/lib/modules/5.15.0-71-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw88/rtw88_8821ce.ko
/usr/lib/modules/5.15.0-72-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/realtek/rtw88/rtw88_8821ce.ko

It seems it isn´t the right driver, no “rtl” one.  :dft006:

Or am I mistaken in my assumption?

Many greetings from Rosika  :wave

[stevef]

rtw88_8821ce.ko is the 'in-kernel' device driver module for Realtek 8821CE PCI wireless network adapter so you would expect it to be present in Linux Lite 6.2 (kernel 5.15).

[Rosika]

Hi stevef, 

rtw88_8821ce.ko is the 'in-kernel' device driver module for Realtek 8821CE PCI wireless network adapter

Thank you so much for the confirmation.
So this is the right driver after all.

I was thrown off the track by the fact that there is the rtw-part in the driver whereas  the device is called "Realtek RTL8821CE 802.11b/g/n/ac ".

So it looks like I´ll be able to get WLAN running on my firend´s laptop out-of-the-box.

Thank you so much for your kind help. :043:

Many greetings from Rosika  :wave