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Date: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 11:00:46 -0600
From: "David G. Andersen" <danderse@cs.utah.edu>
To: Wesley Morgan <morganw@chemikals.org>
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Cc: freebsd-security@freebsd.org, "Jos? M. Fandi?o" <freebsd4@fadesa.es>
Subject: Re: atheros chips dangerous?
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Wesley Morgan just mooed:
> I agree, the Atheros driver is fantastic. The driver may be "binary" in 
> some ways, but I think we got the best of both worlds. The vendor is 
> providing every scrap of information necessary without having to give away 
> trade secrets, and FreeBSD got a driver authored by a developer who is 
> probably one of the most qualified people in the world to work on it. I 
> know I go out of my way to purchase and recommend Atheros-based wireless 
> devices because of this.
> 

It's not just trade secrets - it's FCC regulations, as phk alluded
to.  Customers are not allowed to have the ability to configure a
device to operate outside its allowed frequency and power range.

  -Dave

-- 
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