Package: firmware-realtek Version: 20250410-2 Severity: normal X-Debbugs-Cc: [email protected]
The bluetooth audio over `rtl8852bu` has issues with audio stuttering pretty much at random. It sounds as if the packets are out of order, and once such state has been entered, the media must be temporairly paused to escape it. After many days of testing, I've narrowed it down to be related to the firmware binary and not OS (or platform) itself. The firmware blob present in the `firmware-realtek/stable 20250410-2` is 2 versions behind the `linux-firmware` upstream. ``` # This is the one installed locally timax in ~ λ md5sum /lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_fw.bin f6ab38a34886fd6876c8c30d9fc3a18c /lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_fw.bin [...] timax in ~/Development/linux-firmware-git on main λ git rev-parse HEAD 1db833e68de88cd3f7f6612a5552b3e671e36ef0 timax in ~/Development/linux-firmware-git on main λ git log --oneline -- rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_fw.bin 8bcc91d13bbe rtl_bt: Update RTL8852B BT USB FW to 0x42D3_4E04 c1a6a1a2030f rtl_bt: Update RTL8852B BT USB FW to 0x098B_154B bb5d129bceaa rtl_bt: Update RTL8852B BT USB FW to 0x0474_842D 9c2bf7af8bc2 rtl_bt: Update RTL8852B BT USB FW to 0x049B_5037 bf3697e4c2a8 rtl_bt: Update RTL8852B BT USB FW to 0x04BE_1F5E 59def907425d rtl_bt: Update RTL8852B BT USB FW to 0x0447_9301 0c4f8161e1d0 rtl_bt: Update RTL8852B BT USB FW to 0x048F_4008 0061a2dde6c3 rtl_bt: Update RTL8852B BT USB firmware to 0xDBC6_B20F fe3ec816766a rtl_bt: Add firmware and config files for RTL8852B timax in ~/Development/linux-firmware-git on main λ md5sum rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_fw.bin 7445c08fbf38c3022fe35becd8c980b8 rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_fw.bin timax in ~/Development/linux-firmware-git on main λ git checkout c1a6a1a2030f^ 2> /dev/null timax in ~/Development/linux-firmware-git on main~324 λ md5sum rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_fw.bin f6ab38a34886fd6876c8c30d9fc3a18c rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_fw.bin ``` After replacing the firmware blob with the newest one from `linux-firmware` the issue no longer occurs. ``` timax in ~/Development/linux-firmware-git on main~324 λ md5sum /lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8852bu*.bin 49951f548b87ea0258d128195ef6e0cf /lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_config.bin 7445c08fbf38c3022fe35becd8c980b8 /lib/firmware/rtl_bt/rtl8852bu_fw.bin ``` Looks as non-stable contains newer `firmware-realtek` version, I am submitting this bug only to inform the issue exists and maybe for backports. Thanks, Mateusz -- System Information: Debian Release: 13.3 APT prefers stable-updates APT policy: (500, 'stable-updates'), (500, 'stable-security'), (500, 'stable') Architecture: amd64 (x86_64) Kernel: Linux 6.18.0-rc5-localbuild (SMP w/12 CPU threads; PREEMPT) Locale: LANG=en_US.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_US.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8), LANGUAGE=en_US:en Shell: /bin/sh linked to /usr/bin/dash Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system) LSM: AppArmor: enabled firmware-realtek depends on no packages. firmware-realtek recommends no packages. Versions of packages firmware-realtek suggests: ii initramfs-tools 0.148.3 -- no debconf information
