From owner-freebsd-stable@FreeBSD.ORG Sat May 31 00:31:18 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DFD7637B401 for ; Sat, 31 May 2003 00:31:17 -0700 (PDT) Received: from anduin.net (anduin.net [212.12.46.226]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with SMTP id BC0F043F3F for ; Sat, 31 May 2003 00:31:16 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from ltning@anduin.net) Received: (qmail 52605 invoked from network); 31 May 2003 07:31:14 -0000 Received: from celduin.net (HELO ?U??BD?E??B8??????j) (81.0.162.106) by anduin.net with SMTP; 31 May 2003 07:31:14 -0000 From: Eirik Oeverby To: Sam Leffler In-Reply-To: <068101c326e3$f5cd9af0$52557f42@errno.com> References: <20030530190455.621065D04@ptavv.es.net> <068101c326e3$f5cd9af0$52557f42@errno.com> Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <1054366245.255.8.camel@ranger.anduin.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.3.3 (Preview Release) Date: 31 May 2003 09:30:45 +0200 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit cc: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org Subject: Re: WLAN support X-BeenThere: freebsd-stable@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Production branch of FreeBSD source code List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Sat, 31 May 2003 07:31:18 -0000 Hi, This sounds very interesting - I do hope you find time to look more into this soon. I'm also planning an upgrade of my WLAN, and 802.11a and g are both being considered. If you do not have time to find and fix these problems, perhaps someone else? /Eirik On Fri, 2003-05-30 at 21:44, Sam Leffler wrote: > > > I've got a list of possible WLAN NICs and am wondering if somebody > > > has any experience using one of them with FreeBSD 4.x? > > > > > > Netgear WG511 (Cardbus) or WAG511 (Cardbus, 5 + 2.4 GHz) > > > SMC 2802W (PCI) or 2835W (Cardbus) > > > D-Link DWL G520 (PCI) or DWL G650 (Cardbus) > > > Belkin 802.11g/+ (don't have a product name by hand, PN PCI: > > > F5D7000, PN Cardbus: F5D7010 - not yet on market) > > > > > > All of these cards are 802.11g devices (54 MBit/s). > > > > > > What about support on FreeBSD for these devices? Any experience? > > > > Eliminate any 802.11g cards Any card that supports this is not going to > > work. The reason is legal. Those cards may be programmed to operate > > an any of a wide range of frequencies and powers and any release of the > > register definitions could result in transmissions on frequencies not > > allowed in that location. This could result in large penalties to the > > manufacturer, so they will only release the specs under an NDA that is > > totally incompatible with open source. In the industry there has been > > talk of cryptographic techniques for setting such things, but there are > > not current or near future products that will support this. > > > > I read a good article on this about a month ago, but I don't remember > > where. I think I got the pointer on /. > > > > Sorry, but this is wrong. There is _one_ manufacturer of wireless parts > that has a radio of the sort you describe. Other manufacturers control > their radios entirely on the card and are not releasing programming details > for reasons other than FCC compliance. > > > > I would like to setup one FreeBSD box (4.7 / 4.8 or even 5.0/5.1) > > > as a router and have at least one notebook connected wireless > > > (running both Win2k and FreeBSD). > > > > > > As I was reading that the high speed wireless devices are having a > > > better operating range compared to 802.11b devices, I don't want to > > > install 802.11b devices. > > > > Sorry. Maybe some day, but not any time soon. > > I've had a "working" driver for Atheros hardware for several months now but > am unable to make it available because of a bug that renders it unusable in > noisy environments. This is not a problem with the hardware. This is a > problem in my code that has been very very difficult to identify. The > driver supports all Atheros products used in 11a, 11a+b, and 11a+b+g cardbus > and mini-pci cards. The driver is for 5.x systems and is unlikely to ever > be backported to 4.x because it depends on many changes in the network > infrastructure. Until then folks are pretty much stuck with 11b cards based > on chips from Intersil. > > Sam > > _______________________________________________ > freebsd-stable@freebsd.org mailing list > http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-stable > To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-stable-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"