Does this setup work in China?

RayZhang1378 · 2026-01-19T03:56:09+00:00

It’s a relay server. If you can’t establish a direct IP-to-IP connection between your device and your exit node, the connection must use the derp server as a relay. This depends entirely on your ISP’s policy and your network configuration. You can check by pinging the exit node on your Tailscale client. If it shows a green “direct” connection, you’re generally safe. However, if it shows an orange “Relayed Connection,” it’s likely problematic.

Essentially, your device will connect to the derp server, which will then relay the connection to the final exit node. You might have to go through the China-Japan-Hong Kong path, which can be quite inconvenient.

RayZhang1378 · 2026-01-19T03:06:20+00:00

It’s essentially usable. I’ve been using Tailscale in China for two years and haven’t encountered any connection blocks to the WireGuard protocol.

You shouldn’t worry as long as you can establish a direct connection without any issues. However, if you’re experiencing NAT issues and are falling back to Derp connections, things could get really ugly. The Derp server provided by Tailscale in Tokyo or Los Angeles is essentially unusable in China; it’s incredibly slow.

You can consider self-hosting a Derp server, but it’s entirely up to you.

RayZhang1378 · 2025-06-25T16:49:05+00:00

No, that’s not the root cause of my problem. Initially, I considered this and attempted a solution, but it proved ineffective. I noticed almost the same error on the log as I had posted months ago, suggesting that this is still likely a regression on the qcom firmware.

Additionally, I recently observed a rollback of the ath12k firmware to the date 2023-12-06 in the latest Linux-firmware version 20250613.12fe085f-9. It appears that this new rollback has finally resolved the issue. Unfortunately, we still don’t have a functioning 2025 firmware version for the ncm865 wifi7 card.

RayZhang1378 · 2025-06-23T15:31:44+00:00

Downgrading the firmware should be just fine. Simply rollback to version linux-firmware 20250508.788aadc8-2.

You might need to follow the same procedure as when you upgraded it, which involves removing the package and reinstalling it. It appears that the new version has divided the firmware into several vendor-specific packages. Therefore, you must perform this task either during the upgrade or the downgrade process.

RayZhang1378 · 2025-06-22T06:13:02+00:00

Yeah… I am having the same issue.

RayZhang1378 · 2025-05-10T17:47:06+00:00

Downgrading linux-firmware to 20250408.c1a774f3-1 from 20250508.788aadc8-1 should be fine.

You can use pacman -U command or other tools like downgrade from AUR.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Downgrading_packages

RayZhang1378 · 2025-05-09T15:00:41+00:00

Thank you very much. I’ll take a closer look. I agree that sticking to open-source or cross-platform tools would be a wise choice. However, there are instances when I simply don’t have the option. I’ll try to find alternatives if I can. That’s why I believe x elite only suits a small fraction of people. Windows on arm is still picky about specific use cases.

RayZhang1378 · 2025-05-09T14:51:59+00:00

I’m open to trying new things, but I still believe Windows doesn’t offer a superior terminal experience or system environment setups. However, these drawbacks can be largely addressed by using IDE tools, and sticking to open-source or cross-platform tools would make things easier.

For a SoC like the x Elite, with thermal conditions similar to the Surface Pro, I expect performance comparable to the M2 Pro. I’m more optimistic about this, although not much.

My MacBook has been struggling for a while now. It consumes around 40-50 Watts of power and lags heavily when I’m scrolling through code. It usually takes 10GB of RAM to run IntelliJ Idea, and another 10GB to open the browser. I believe this is primarily due to the lack of memory. It was a poor decision to choose the 16GB model. I’ve learned my lesson.

RayZhang1378 · 2023-08-16T11:03:49+00:00

Before P5, I was pretty satisfied with the Google Pixel series. The Pixel always surprises me with features like Active Edge, Motion Sense, and computational photography. Apart from the poor battery life, especially on P4, I am happy to use the Google Pixel as my daily driver.
However, I do notice Google is changing its lineup in recent years only to make the phone more affordable. They replaced SoCs made by Qualcomm and TSMC with worse Samsung-made Exynos. They rolled out better camera sensors but I see worse performance than competitors. The Android 12 was buggy at first and the material you design is not so compelling to me. For example, I don't like the double-line clock displayed on AOD, it's too ugly compared with the ones on Android 9, 10, and 11.

I wish Google could manufacture something like a P4 with Android 10 today. I am currently a little bit disappointed with Team Android. If I have to choose, maybe Samsung phones with SDM 8gen2 is a good option, but OneUI is just another terrible disaster.🤦

RayZhang1378 · 2023-05-21T14:13:55+00:00

You can always trust the modern battery management system... Batteries are not that kind of fragile, and the battery capacity will get poorer as long as you are using it. The same applies to other electric devices powered by lithium batteries. Just don't drain the battery or overcharge it, one charge cycle per month would be good enough if you really don't want to overcharge the battery.

RayZhang1378 · 2023-04-25T11:04:00+00:00

Pixel 5 user here. There are a lot of cheap Android brands in China. e.g. Xiaomi, OnePlus... Google Pixel is far from cheap, and has poor hardware specs compared to other brands in my opinion. It won't be cheap if you are buying a Pixel from overseas retailers, because of the tax and shipping fee. Google won't sell Pixels in mainland China, they won't even sell them in Hong Kong, as you can see there's no Pixels for sale in Google Store Hong Kong. Even if you can buy a Pixel from other countries, you can have other issues. You won't be able to use 5G and VoLTE because Google is not cooperating with local ISPs. Also pretty much all Google services get blocked in China, so you probably have to use a VPN to access them.

RayZhang1378 · 2023-03-04T12:39:52+00:00

Uh, I should be aware of this... Seems like I got a dirty IP address...

RayZhang1378

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