Source of the Realtek sourcecode

[Matin4359]

Hi, I wanted to know, where do you find the source code of these cards? Are you a Realtek employee?!

[bjlockie]

Realtek does not participate in USB driver development.
Drivers are usually released by manufacturers (Asus, Edup, etc).
I assume they were used to develop the stands compliant drivers that will go into the kernel.

[morrownr]

Hi @Matin4359

I am not a Realtek employee. I simply started this site a few years ago because USB WiFi adapter support in Linux needed help.

If you are interested in Realtek USB WiFi adapter source, the best source these days is the Linux kernel as the source for numerous adapters has entered the kernel over the last 2 years. There is also the source for the Mediatek USB WiFi chips.

If you are interested in learning more about Linux wifi programming or want to test or otherwise help, let me suggest the following two repos that we use to work on drivers that are being up-streamed into the Linux kernel:

https://github.com/morrownr/rtw89

https://github.com/lwfinger/rtw88

For Mediatek:

https://github.com/torvalds/linux/tree/master/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek

Note that the above site is: github.com/torvalds (Linus)

I can provide much more information if you are interested in getting involved. My prediction is that by the time Ubunti 26.04 is released in April of 2026, Linux will have Standards Compliant (mac80211) in-kernel drivers for almost all WiFi 5 and 6 capable chips/adapters. By the time the 2026 LTS kernel is released, I think Linux will have better USB WiFi adapter support than Windows 11. That does not mean the mission of this site is complete as this site will continue to provide a lot of information for Linux users. One particular problems with Realtek WiFi 6 and 7 adapters is that most makers are making their adapters as multi-state (Windows driver onboard) and that is something that Linux users need to avoid. On the other hand, WiFi 6 and 7 adapters that use Mediatek chips are almost all single-state (no windows driver onboard) and this gives Mediatek a leg up on Realtek.

Any questions?