Larry Finger [off-list ref] writes:

On 08/25/2016 08:17 AM, Jes Sorensen wrote:

quoted

Lobachevskii Vitalii [off-list ref] writes:
The realtek devices all require firmwere to operate correctly,
including the 8192c series. There are a bunch of commands flying back
and forth between the driver and the firmware.

If your device happens to work without loading the firmware then you
have an old firmware blob loaded.

At least this is the case for the USB version of the device, and I find
it highly unlikely the PCIe version is any different.

Trying to remove the firmware loading error is just plain silly.

I have not bothered my Realtek contacts with such a question, but I
have a plausible explanation. If an RTL8192CE functions without
loading external firmware, it is because the device has minimal
function built in the default firmware. Mostly this rudimentary
firmware is used to boot the device and to download the firmware for
complex wireless communication. Rudimentary wifi functions would be
needed for wake-on-lan operations. The fact that Realtek has never
implemented WOL for the 8192C chips is highly suggestive that they do
not function very well in that capacity.

If the RTL8192CE actually runs without loading external firmware, then
I am quite sure that it will be restricted to 802.11g at the most, and
more likely 802.11b. If it handles any 802.11n capabilities, then that
firmware will certainly not have any of the bug fixes applied to the
firmware since the earliest release.

You are certainly allowed to configure your system any way you want,
but please do not send any such "fixes" to the kernel sources. They
will NEVER be accepted!

Configuring a kernel without firmware loading capacity is indeed silly.

Makes perfect sense, but as you also correctly point out, it means the
device actually is running some firmware, but we have no idea what state
or version it is. Trying to run a device with this level of firmware is
both risky and makes it hard to rely on correct operation.

Of course it also makes this whole ostrich process even more pointless,
since the device is in fact running firmware - pretending it isn't is
just silly.

One more thing, yes you can apply this patch to your own degraded
kernel, but if you ship it, kindle remove ALL email addresses of any
driver authors in it. None of us wants to waste our time on bug reports
because of this.

If you truly want to run your system without firmware, I hear there are
great bargains for NE2000 and 3c501 cards on ebay :)

Jes