Vertexcom MSE1021/MSE1022 HomePlug GreenPHY SPI Ethernet controllers
A small family of SPI-attached Ethernet-over-powerline chips from Vertexcom that bridge a host processor to a HomePlug GreenPHY powerline network. They are mostly used inside electric-vehicle charging equipment and industrial control gear, where data has to travel over existing AC wiring rather than dedicated Ethernet cabling.
recommendation
It should stay in the kernel because the parts are still sold new by Vertexcom in 2025 for EV charging and industrial powerline applications, and the driver continues to receive real bug-fix activity upstream, including a double-free fix reviewed in late 2024 and further fixes pulled into v6.15-rc5 in May 2025. Deployments are niche rather than mass-market, but there is no sign of removal discussion and clear evidence of active maintenance.
repository signals
sources
- vertexcom.com
Vendor product page still listed MSE1021/MSE1022 HomePlug GreenPHY parts with ordering information and EV charging / industrial applications in 2025.
- lkml.org
Networking pull for v6.15-rc5 included Vertexcom mse102x fixes, indicating ongoing upstream maintenance rather than removal.
- lkml.indiana.edu
Public review traffic existed in late 2024 for a net patch fixing a double-free in mse102x, showing real bug-fix activity.
- cateee.net
LKDDb lists CONFIG_MSE102X with supported compatibles vertexcom,mse1021 and vertexcom,mse1022 across current kernel series.
- lkml.org
Original RFC describes MSE102x as a HomePlug GreenPHY SPI-attached network chip family.
codex reasoning notes (technical)
Local shell inspection of Kconfig and mse102x.c identified a real SPI Ethernet driver for Vertexcom MSE1021/MSE1022; local git log showed first merge on 2021-12-13 and substantive fixes through 2025-05-12. URLs were obtained via web search results: Vertexcom vendor page for current sale status, lkml.org / lkml.indiana.edu pages for lore-visible maintenance traffic, and cateee LKDDb for in-tree support coverage. No removal discussion surfaced in the searched lore-indexed results; combined with recent fixes, that supports keep rather than deprecate. Deployment appears niche but extant, mainly EV charging / industrial HomePlug GreenPHY systems, so use is low rather than none.