CFG80211 support in wpa_supplicant

[Maxim Levitsky]

On Fri, 2010-01-15 at 11:54 -0800, Dan Williams wrote: 
> On Fri, 2010-01-15 at 11:25 +0100, Holger Schurig wrote:
> > > Also NM doesn't show proper signal levels. I also created more 
> > or less a hack to make it work:
> > 
> > > +       if (max_qual->updated & IW_QUAL_DBM)
> > 
> > 
> > That looks like NM's signal level is still based on WEXT, 
> > IW_QUAL_xxx looks like a wext identifier.
> > 
> > On my device I use a self-written app that get's the signal/noise 
> > via nl80211 (like the "iw" tool), and then it works pretty nice.
> 
> Yeah, NM's signal quality code hasn't been touched in quite a while.
> I'd appreciate suggestions for fixing it up...  Given that mac80211
> drivers will now only return level, and I believe only in dBm, and often
> without a noise floor, what should the calculation look like?

I don't know yet an exact formula, but I know solid facts about quality
versus dBm:


* anything above -80 dBm is plain perfect.
* -80 to -85 is more or less ok, but expect trouble.
* -86 to -89 is very low, unstable connection, almost unusable
* -90 is the signal at which it pretty much disappears.

I also strongly dislike the signal bars that NM has now. Sure they are
pretty, but they give much less information about signal level that old
progress bar indicators.

But if you add the dBm near the indicator, it would be just perfect.


Best regards,
Maxim Levitsky

> 
> Dan
> 
> 
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