Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2012 21:42:38 +0000 From: Peter Harrison <peter.piggybox@virgin.net> To: Da Rock <freebsd-questions@herveybayaustralia.com.au> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Realtek RTL8191SEvB Linux driver? Message-ID: <20120105214238.GA1478@ideapad.piggybox> In-Reply-To: <4F04DB08.8020100@herveybayaustralia.com.au> References: <CAFpTYWM3ppJsVo-qZC=OXWHW1U5zAt3y5m==6hFw3JQNH%2B5NAg@mail.gmail.com> <4F02A3CE.7020404@herveybayaustralia.com.au> <20120103071028.4964dd33@scorpio> <4F030E00.5020806@herveybayaustralia.com.au> <Pine.GSO.4.64.1201031101580.7621@age7.nber.org> <4F038F8F.3090701@herveybayaustralia.com.au> <alpine.LFD.2.00.1201031922400.26468@nber4.nber.org> <4F03A678.6050903@herveybayaustralia.com.au> <904803AA-31CD-41EC-927A-51A9EB49DEB6@googlemail.com> <4F04DB08.8020100@herveybayaustralia.com.au>
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Thursday, 5 January 2012 at 9:04:40 +1000, Da Rock said: > On 01/05/12 07:01, Peter Harrison wrote: > >On 4 Jan 2012, at 01:08, Da Rock wrote: > > > >>On 01/04/12 10:38, Daniel Feenberg wrote: > >>> > >>>On Wed, 4 Jan 2012, Da Rock wrote: > >>> > >>>>On 01/04/12 02:10, Daniel Feenberg wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>>On Wed, 4 Jan 2012, Da Rock wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>>>On 01/03/12 22:10, Jerry wrote: > >>>>>>>On Tue, 03 Jan 2012 16:44:30 +1000 > >>>>>>>Da Rock articulated: > >>>>>>> > >>>>>>>>On 01/03/12 11:15, Jeffrey McFadden wrote: > >>>>> > >>>>>Don't ndis(4) ndiscvt and ndisgen(8) essentially accomplish what the > >>>>>OP is requesting? See the handbook section 12.8.1.1: > >>>>> > >>>>> http://www.freebsd.org/doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/handbook/config-network-setup.html > >>>>> > >>>>>or the man page for ndiscvt: > >>>>> > >>>>> http://www.gsp.com/cgi-bin/man.cgi?section=8&topic=ndiscvt > >>>>> > >>>>> > >>>>>While doing the conversion looks a bit beyond what we would expect of > >>>>>an end-user, it does seem to offer a path for using hardware whose > >>>>>manufacturer does not support FreeBSD. Is there anything beyond > >>>>>licensing issues preventing such drivers from being included in the > >>>>>distribution, or made downloadable in FreeBSD form? > >>>>Oh yes, it is possible, just not probable :) > >>>At > >>> > >>> http://sourceforge.net/apps/mediawiki/ndiswrapper/index.php?title=Category:USB > >>> > >>>almost 800 compatible devices are listed. Not everything, but I have > >>>found that a willingness to spend a few dollars on a different card > >>>helps immensely in enjoying FreeBSD and Linux. For me at least it is > >>>easier to find a compatible card than to write a compatible driver. > >>Indeed :) > >> > >>I did notice that the card in question wasn't on that list. But my own > >>experience with ndiswrapper and wifi cards were far less than > >>satisfactory- the firmware always got in the road. But I may have just > >>been too stupid at the time :) > >>>I would also observe that most people involved with computers, whether > >>>as users or developers, have little symphathy for people with different > >>>needs from the device. This is a great impediment to progress. It is a > >>>mistake to assume that because you don't need something, another > >>>person's desire for it is illegitimate. In this case, I fully agree that > >>>it is an injustice that hardware vendors do not supply FreeBSD drivers, > >>>but that does not mean that users requiring such drivers are immoral or > >>>of poor character, and therefore to be ignored or insulted. There is > >>>little that FreeBSD coders and users can do about that injustice > >>>directly, however it is within their power to mitigate it with the NDIS > >>>wrapper. If that wrapper allows another user to enter the FOSS world, > >>>that will (in the fullness of time) contribute to reforming the vendor. > >>No they are absolutely not of poor character, I agree. Some messages can > >>be misconstrued, though, in that the replies can be terse and more > >>logical than sympathetic. Sometimes it is easier to replace with a > >>different card than flog a dead horse, although a user may take offense > >>for emotional or financial reasons more than logical. > >> > >>Mitigation is a difficult path as I have found personally, although NDIS > >>helps immensely with wired nics (not so much of a problem these days), > >>and I believe Luigi Rizzo's work with the linuxulator and drivers is to > >>be applauded ten fold. It takes a great deal of time though- I put > >>forward the idea when I was still a BSD pup not entirely realising the > >>challenges :) Luigi (and his colleagues) has been working hard ever since > >>to facilitate the more challenging aspects of multimedia drivers (whether > >>or not that had to do with my comments or not, I don't know). > >Da Rock, > > > >I've been using ndis drivers successfully with a Broadcom chip in my > >Lenovo s10-e since I bought it some years ago - to the extent that I've > >not yet switched over to the native drivers now available. > > > >I didn't find using ndisgen too problematic. Just a case of finding the > >right driver files and following the manpage. I'd strongly recommend > >trying it in preference to a usb stick (been there, done that) or buying > >new hardware - although I'd agree that depending on the model changing a > >mini-PCI card isn't necessarily that difficult (I changed it t an Intel > >card in my other Dell laptop some time ago - remember to attach the > >internal aerial cable!). > Make no mistake I'm not being facetious. How did you do it? > > The biggest problem I had was that there are multiple firmware for > different scenarios that are loaded. One for base station mode, one for > adhoc, and one more I think... They got in the way of using it correctly. Da Rock, The short answer is, I'm not honestly sure. It was a couple of years ago and it's given absolutely no trouble since - a genuine "fit and forget" solution. I remember it as being a question of finding and unpacking the right file then using the .sys and .inf files to create a kernel module using ndisgen. Don't recall having any problems with firmware. The only issue I recall was I think to do with converting the .inf file to unicode, but I might have mis-remembered that. Sorry I can't be more help. Peter Harrison. > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-questions@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-questions-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
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