Tertiary firmware and correct RIDs

[Dominique Blas]

Le Mercredi 13 Novembre 2002 20:53, Pavel Roskin a ?crit :
> Hello, Dominique!
>
> > I've retrieved a tertiary firmware for Prism2 (works only on PCMCIA) from
> > the Net.

[...]

>
> I have posted a patch for ESSID setting:
>
> http://lists.shmoo.com/pipermail/hostap/2002-November/000297.html
>
Yep, I saw this. Thanks for it.

> I'm sure there are other little details that need to be fixed.  I hope to
> fix them soon, because I want to make a firmware based OpenAP, and
> linux-wlan-ng is a bit too heavy for embedded systems.
>

I know of linux-wlan of
Of course I' d prefer using HostAP for all the reasons you mentionned in your 
other mail : 
	open source ;
	stable ;
	well written ;

In my little dream world I'd imagine that HostAP replaces the totality of the  
tertiary firmware.
That would be a convenient way for every people wanting to manage the whole 
chipset.

But it seems not possible for reasons I'm not able to understand right now : 

	are RIDs a virtual notion only exported by secondary and tertiary
	 firmwares without real existence in the MAC processor ?
	
	why do we need absolutely a secondary or a tertiary firmware ?

	since the RAM downloading depends on primary firmware why can
	we redevelop all the funtionnalities in an external process like HostAP that
	is to say to make a whole replacement of the tertiary software by HostAP?
	

> If you want to use your card as an access point now, check linux-wlan-ng -
> I posted some fixes to their mailing list
> (http://lists.linux-wlan.com/pipermail/linux-wlan-devel/) that actually
> make it work as an AP.  You'll need prism2dl (search the web) to program
> the firmware with that driver.  Note that prism2dl is extremely unsafe
> compared to prism2_srec from HostAP - make sure that prism2_srec says the
> firmware is OK.
>
> > 	1. How can I do to retrieve the documented list of correct and new RID
> > 	to make this firmware work (I'm currently looking to neutralize ESSID in
> > 	beacon frames) ?
>
> I hope somebody else can answer that question.  Otherwise, you can search
> the web or sign an NDA with Intersil.

I'm in the process of signing a NDA with Intersil but they don't seem to be 
very motivated saying that their priorities are the asian market.
The problem they don't want to see (don't want to show us they can see?) is 
that most of the adapters reaching the european market are made in Ta?wan or 
China !
What I can see from my little point of view is that, if there is nobody to 
develop on that chipset in Europe or elsewhere except Asia, no product can be 
build upon it.
I think that's what one called "a strategic walkthrough".


> > 	2. How can I be sure this firmware is well working ?
> > 	Looking to a trace through another wlan interface on
> > 	the network doesn't show any beaconing frame.
>
> Set up Ethereal and check captured packets.

I did that but I think I have to apply your patch first.

Thank you,

db