AIC8800DC Linux Driver (Patched)

Out-of-tree Linux driver for the AIC8800DC USB Wi-Fi chipset, based on upstream 6.4.3.0 with compatibility fixes. DKMS-aware: rebuilds itself on every kernel update.

Supported devices

USB ID	Device	Chip	Calibration
a69c:88dc	AIC reference	8800DC	generic
a69c:88dd	AIC reference	8800DW	generic
a69c:88de	UGREEN AIC-AX300	8800DW	generic
368b:88de	UGREEN AIC-AX300	8800DW	generic
368b:88df	AIC reference	8800DW	generic
2357:0147	TP-Link Archer TX1U Nano	8800DW	_2357
2604:0013	Tenda W311MI v6.0	8800DC	_2604
2604:0014	Tenda U2	8800DC	generic
2c4e:0114	Mercusys MA14N	8800DC	_2c4e
3625:0110	TP-Link AX300	8800DC	_3625

Most of these ship in USB mass-storage mode and show up as a69c:5721, a69c:5722 or a69c:572a until the udev rule ejects them, so check lsusb after plugging in rather than before.

Calibration is the per-device TX power table in fw/aic8800DC/aic_userconfig_8800dc_<vid>.txt. Sticks marked generic fall back to AIC's reference values instead of the OEM's.

a69c:8801 is in the driver's device table, inherited from upstream. This package ships 8800DC firmware only, so an 8801 has nothing to load.

Adding a rebranded stick takes three matching driver entries, not a config change. Open an issue with the lsusb ID instead of patching the device table by hand.

Install

# Debian / Ubuntu
sudo apt install dkms build-essential linux-headers-$(uname -r) eject

# Arch
sudo pacman -S dkms linux-headers base-devel eject

# Fedora
sudo dnf install dkms kernel-devel kernel-headers eject

Then:

git clone https://github.com/Kiborgik/aic8800dc-linux-patched.git
cd aic8800dc-linux-patched
sudo ./install.sh
sudo ./test.sh   # optional sanity check

Update

git pull + reinstall in one step (run as your normal user, not sudo):

./update.sh

Uninstall

sudo ./uninstall.sh

Troubleshooting

Driver loads but no wlan0 appears. The dongle is probably stuck in USB mass-storage mode. AIC's own sticks show up as a69c:5721, a69c:5722 or a69c:572a until they are ejected; lsusb tells you which. The udev rule in tools/aic.rules runs eject to flip them into Wi-Fi mode; if eject isn't installed or the dongle enumerates as a CD-ROM (sr0 instead of sd*), nothing happens. Manual fix:

sudo apt install usb-modeswitch
sudo usb_modeswitch -v a69c -p 5721 -KQ   # use the PID lsusb showed
# wait a few seconds, then:
ip link show
dmesg | tail -30

Secure Boot. The .ko must be signed for Secure Boot to load it. See your distro's MOK (Machine Owner Key) docs.

Kernel hang or no boot after install. This driver is tested on x86_64 and arm64. Untested platforms (ARMv7 32-bit, single-core, exotic embedded boards) may hang during firmware download or USB enumeration. Capture logs over a serial console or journalctl -k -b -1 and open an issue.

Manual / cross-compile build

cd drivers/aic8800
make
sudo make install
sudo depmod -a
sudo modprobe aic_load_fw aic8800_fdrv

For Rockchip / Allwinner / Amlogic, set the platform variables in drivers/aic8800/Makefile before building.

Build for another kernel without rebooting

sudo dkms build -m aic8800dc -v 6.4.3.0-patched.15 -k <other-version>
dkms status