Test kernel with Broadcom BCM43xx wireless support.

[Dan Williams]

On Thu, 2006-01-05 at 17:04 -0500, Andrew Overholt wrote:
> On Thu, 2006-01-05 at 21:48 +0000, David Woodhouse wrote:
> > On Thu, 2006-01-05 at 16:42 -0500, Andrew Overholt wrote:
> > > Unfortunately, NM keeps resetting the rate to 54M and even trying to
> > > subvert it with iwconfig eth0 rate 11M calls during its operation, it
> > > keeps going back to 54M.
> > 
> > Hm, I didn't think NetworkManager set the rate. Is it taking the device
> > down and bringing it back up again? Does it work if you don't use
> > NetworkManager?
> 
> I'm not sure how NetworkManager works exactly.  I think it might
> actually be taking it down and bringing it back up again.  I've CCd Dan
> Williams since he'll know what's happening here.
> 
> Yes, it works if I don't use NetworkManager.

NM does try to set the bitrate to 0 in infrastructure mode.  According
to the WEXT spec, a bitrate of 0 means "default" or "unset", which means
the card needs to clear any previously set bitrate and switch to its
default bitrate.  If you set a particular bitrate on the card, it is
supposed to maintain that rate no matter what.  Even if it would
normally switch bitrates in response to changes in signal strength
(which is normal), if the bitrate of > 0 is set, the card must keep that
rate.  Sending a 0 turns off the force-set bitrate.

Ad-Hoc mode is quite different, since most cards don't really work well
in this mode (specifically, Atheros, orinoco, and possibly others)
unless the bitrate is set explicitly.  So NM attempts to set a bitrate
of 11Mbps here by default.  Broken, I know.  Drivers should probably get
fixed I guess.

NM also brings devices down and back up again in a few cases.  This is
usually in an attempt to clear settings from the card.  If the
driver/card has issues with a ~IFF_UP followed by an IFF_UP, then it
needs to get fixed I'd assume...

What exactly are the issues that the driver has with NM?

Dan