ASIX USB to 2.5G/Gigabit/Fast Ethernet Linux driver (ax_usb_nic.ko)

This is the official ASIX USB 3.2 / USB 2.0 to 2.5G/Gigabit/Fast Ethernet Linux driver source for AX88279A, AX88279, AX88179B/A, AX88772E/D, and AX88178A controllers (module name: ax_usb_nic.ko), which is suitable for edge AI computers, Desktop/Notebook/POS, USB Ethernet dongles, docking stations, smart mobile device cradles, game consoles, smart camera/IP STB, 5G/LTE router/gateway, and smart home/office devices applications.

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ASIX USB Ethernet ICs

• ASIX USB Ethernet Chips

Supported ICs

These controllers are bound by the ax_usb_nic network driver. All ASIX devices enumerate under VID 0x0B95; the exact IC is selected by the USB bcdDevice value.

IC	USB VID:PID	bcdDevice	Interface
AX88279A	0B95:1790	0x0500	USB 3.2 to 2.5G Ethernet Chips
AX88279	0B95:1790	0x0400	USB 3.2 to 2.5G Ethernet Chips
AX88179B, AX88179A	0B95:1790	0x0200	USB 3.2 to Gigabit Ethernet Chips
AX88179	0B95:1790	0x0100	USB 3.2 to Gigabit Ethernet Chips
AX88178A	0B95:178A	—	USB 2.0 to Gigabit Ethernet Chips
AX88772E, AX88772D	0B95:1790	0x0300	USB 2.0 to Fast Ethernet Chips

AX88179B and AX88772E are newer silicon revisions of AX88179A / AX88772D respectively; they enumerate under the same IDs and are handled by the same driver. They are also covered by the bundled programming tool (below).

Bundled flash / eFuse programming tools

The package also ships user-space programming utilities that support:

Tool	Supported ICs
ax88179a_programmer	AX88179B, AX88179A, AX88772E, AX88772D
ax88279_programmer	AX88279A, AX88279
ax88179_programmer	AX88179

Compatible OEM / third-party adapters

The driver also binds the following AX88179-based OEM products:

Vendor	USB VID:PID
Sitecom	0DF6:0072
Lenovo	17EF:304B
Toshiba	0930:0A13
Samsung	04E8:A100
D-Link	2001:4A00
Magic Control	0711:0179

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Prerequisites

• Linux kernel sources installed and matching the running kernel.
• Kernel built with USB host support (XHCI / EHCI / OHCI / UHCI).

Build

make

On success, ax_usb_nic.ko is produced in the current directory.

Install & load

sudo make install            # install module into the system
sudo modprobe ax_usb_nic     # load
sudo modprobe -r ax_usb_nic  # unload
modinfo ax_usb_nic           # module info

Additional install targets:

sudo make udev_install       # install udev rule to avoid CDC driver binding
sudo make blacklist_install  # blacklist the in-box ax88179_178a driver (reboot required)
sudo make install_all        # install driver + all configuration files

Manual load

sudo modprobe mii
sudo insmod ax_usb_nic.ko
sudo rmmod ax_usb_nic

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License

GPL-2.0. Portions of this driver derive from the Linux kernel; original copyright notices are retained in the respective source files.

Copyright (c) ASIX Electronics Corporation.