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Date:      Fri, 31 Dec 2021 23:56:44 +0000 (UTC)
From:      "Bjoern A. Zeeb" <bz@FreeBSD.org>
To:        Daniel Ebdrup Jensen <debdrup@FreeBSD.org>
Cc:        wireless@FreeBSD.org
Subject:   Re: Regarding iwlwifi(4)
Message-ID:  <alpine.BSF.2.00.2112312350300.68830@ai.fobar.qr>
In-Reply-To: <20211231223823.jlkycqdphy6xpy5u@geroi.local>
References:  <20211231223823.jlkycqdphy6xpy5u@geroi.local>

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On Fri, 31 Dec 2021, Daniel Ebdrup Jensen wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
>     I'm not really sure whether this is related to the manual page
>     itself or the driver, so bear with me please.
>
>     Reading the manual page, it's not immediately clear what devices
>     are supported without going not just to the source but seemingly
>     outside of the tree completely - so maybe it'd be a good idea to
>     list the devices; going by src/sys/modules/iwlwifi/ it's a pretty
>     good collection and I'm sure a lot of people would like an easy way
>     to know whether theirs are supported or not.

I'll add that to the man page.  It's a bit of a silly thing we once
started a long time ago and definitively is needed for other chipset
which are massively reselled by a gazillion vendors.

I'll try and see if I can automatically generate that list as
otherwise every new driver update lately almost added new IDs.


>     Another thing I noted is that there's it's a bit ambiguous whether
>     iwlwifi(4) is supposed to replace iwm(4) and perhaps others - but
>     from the blobs in the before-mentioned folder, I'm assuming that
>     that is the intention. If it is, then there should probably be some
>     sort of documentation on how this is to be achieved; I'd assume
>     it's done via hints, but having to figure out how from first
>     principles isn't the easiest (I know I'd struggle, although I might
>     eventually succeed).

If you want to try iwlwifi on a currently supported iwm(4) device,
there is info on the wiki page which I am still editing *sigh*.

The idea is to probably long-term not have both drivers but before we
can get there, iwlwifi needs to improve and have parity on a few
things with iwm(4).


>     If the only impediment is ENOTIME, I'd be happy to work on making
>     the mdoc changes, provided I can have a enlightenment in how to
>     figure out:
>     1) Exactly which devices are supported
>     2) The steps to ensuring that iwlwifi(4) gets used over iwm(4) and 
> others.

My current suggestion is: if you have a working iwm(4) only try
iwlwifi(4) at this time if you have an actual need or do want to try.
This recommendation might change in a month or 4.

There's a lot of people with newer chipsets than iwm(4) supports who
do not have that option currently.


I hope the updated wiki page will clarify some of this.


Happy New Year 2022!
Bjoern

-- 
Bjoern A. Zeeb                                                     r15:7



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