Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 08:29:07 -0700 From: "Kevin Oberman" <oberman@es.net> To: "Wilde, Donald" <dwilde@sandia.gov> Cc: Frank Altpeter <frank@altpeter.de>, freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org Subject: Re: change in iwi-firmware operation Message-ID: <20060515152907.7B91245042@ptavv.es.net> In-Reply-To: Your message of "Mon, 15 May 2006 07:44:34 MDT." <040DF00BF960A24897B5B3EFBE63FE8A0240BEC9@ES20SNLNT.srn.sandia.gov>
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> Date: Mon, 15 May 2006 07:44:34 -0600 > From: "Wilde, Donald" <dwilde@sandia.gov> > Sender: owner-freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: Frank Altpeter [mailto:frank@altpeter.de] > Sent: Monday, May 15, 2006 7:25 AM > To: Wilde, Donald Cc: freebsd-mobile@freebsd.org > Subject: Re: change in iwi-firmware operation > > Hi there, > > Wilde, Donald wrote on 2006-05-15 at 15:12:13 CEST: > Hi, All - > > > I have a Centrino (2200G) equipped Dell Inspiron 6000, and had it > working reasonably well with the iwi firmware. > > I just updated to the version in ports as of a few days ago, and > discovered that the firmware won't stay firm. > > Sure. The firmware is not permanent. It must be loaded on boot every > time ... I'm running ipw which provides an ipw.sh startup script in > $PREFIX/etc/rc.d which has to enabled with ipw_enable="YES" - i > assume the same fits for iwi driver... > ========================= > ========================= > ========================= > > Thanks for the pointer, Frank, > > Hmmm. Kinda defeats the meaning of 'firmware', and I'm going to start > worrying about write-cycles of the FLASH. Dunno what's in a Centrino > system, (anybody?) although it's likely Intel NOR FLASH, which should > be good for 100K-cycles. Even so, WHY would one need to load FLASH > every boot? It is not hard on the flash as the iwi (and many other newer cards) don't have flash at all. They use RAM, which is much less expensive. It saves money, but means that the "firmware" must be loaded after every power cycle. It's a real pain and, because of the wording of the license, the firmware may not be included in the FreeBSD distribution. That's why the port to get the firmware. Note that this applies to Intel and Broadcom based cards, but others do allow the inclusion of the binary in distributions, so you don't need to install a port for the Atheros or most Asian parts. With margins on these things is razor thin, saving a few cents on RAM vs. flash can be the difference between a successful product and a failure. -- R. Kevin Oberman, Network Engineer Energy Sciences Network (ESnet) Ernest O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) E-mail: oberman@es.net Phone: +1 510 486-8634
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